Thai Red Shirts Spill Their Blood
However dysfunctional Thailand's politics may be, it's certainly colorful. In recent times, the main political divide that has split Southeast Asia's famed Land of Smiles (and land of coups) has been between mostly urban, middle-class Yellow Shirts and often poorer, sometimes rural Red Shirts. In March this year, Red Shirt demonstrators occupied the heart of the capital, Bangkok, for weeks in a bid to overthrow the ruling government, which they claimed was elitist and not democratically elected.
To emphasize their fury, the Red Shirts donated hundreds of liters of their own blood, pooled much of it together in large plastic containers and splashed it by the gates of the Prime Minister's home in a "symbolic sacrifice for democracy," as one protester put it. Call it what you will, but we just find it icky. And not particularly effective. After running street battles, the Red Shirts encamped in Bangkok were eventually rounded up or driven away by the Thai military.