ABSTRACT

In the past decade, Thailand lived through an unprecedented period of popular social movements and street protest. Even though this era of mass politics is almost hard to remember after five years of Prayuth Chan-ocha’s military government, in that decade millions of people participated in street protests, organising meetings, political schools, and rallies across the country, from the highlands of northern Thailand to the sleepy Chinese towns of southern Thailand. This period of unprecedented political awakenings and popular direct actions, whether under yellow or red shirts, has generated a sea of analysis, articles, and books and will continue to do so once historians will begin to write about it. This chapter focuses on the Red Shirts and particularly on the five years between the 19 September 2006 military coup and the beginning of their largest political mobilisation in 2010. It sheds light on what often remains unexplored in the study of social movements, namely the genesis of their social composition and political imaginary.