Politics/Violence

Weapons of mass applause

Posted on by stephen t berg / 8 Comments

PAD rally clapper This morning, sporadic clashes are still be going on between Thai police and PAD (People’s Alliance for Democracy) protesters. The police are using barbed wire and tear gas. The protesters, for their part, are armed with, "weapons to chase away the evil that has twisted the minds of this government," namely, purple clappers.

If I lived here, I would come understand that the main reason for the formation of PAD, and the on-going anti-government demonstrations, was the corruption of the Thai government, lead by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin, bowed by pressure, is now in exile. He has been replaced by prime minister Somchai Wongsawat. However, Somchai happens to be the brother-in-law of Thaksin. And so the current  protest, from what I gather, is about abandoned promised reforms, and the “re-Thaksinisation” of the government.

Well, yesterday morning (not sure if you’re getting this news where you are) the police moved in on the protesters. Instead of lobbing the tear gas canisters, the police fired the cylinders directly at the crowd of 20,000. Many injuries, some serious, and one death–a young female protester. (picture is from Bloomberg news)

The government says the 100-plus injuries were inflicted by protesters running into each other. (However, deputy prime minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh has resigned over the "incident.")

dataThe protesters retaliated by throwing marbles into the police headquarters.
In the mean time, her majesty (Thailand is still theoretically a constitutional monarchy) pledged 100,000 baht to treat all injuries, including paying for a prothesis for one man who lost a leg (presumably by running into a fellow protester).

From what I’m seeing and hearing on Thai TV, (I found a Thai channel in English) the protesters are mostly women sporting yellow shirts and headbands printed with big bold letters which translate as “Save the Country.”

It has the potential to get uglier than it already is. But the Internet is still working, news is getting out, and their is no military music playing on all the channels.

So I’m taking the day to myself, and heading back downtown via Bangkok’s invigorating transit system. (Came back to the Avana Hotel last night, using the transit.)

It will work like this: I’ll catch one of a thousand possible antiquated, rust scarred rolling hulks, resembling buses. To do this I may have to cross a lane or two, buses don’t always stop at the curb. I’ll then be spilled out onto a crowded semi-sidewalk. Pressed in, shoulder to shoulder, I’ll follow the crowd–I don’t have a choice in this–and find a gate that will lead me to a very modern, overly air conditioned, sky-train, that will take me, after a transfer, to Bangkok’s city centre. A place that must be seen to be believed–and makes our place in downtown Edmonton look absolutely rural. (Yup, I’m a small town boy.)

But–having been strongly advised–I’m thinking I’ll stay clear of the Govt. House today.

Poverty

Bangkok Slums – Mahadthai 1

Posted on by stephen t berg / 2 Comments

Noi is as tall as a garden fence, but she comes with a giant constitution, and an even bigger heart. Her partner, Thorn, same character, except taller, rounds out their "team." They are slum sitters–they call it ministry–looking after about 160 elderly people in nine different Bangkok slums.

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I spent a morning with them. We visited Mahadthai 1, the largest of the nine. We brought cans of food for families and milk for babies.

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Som is 70 and takes care of his daughter’s baby. The baby needed milk this day. And Som was living on pulverized and boiled weeds for the past few days. Happy for the canned food we brought, he expressed it by sharing his family history.

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I met only beautiful people, gracious and warm–bowing when we met, bowing when we parted–but came away sick to my stomach for experiencing their conditions.

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Noi and Thorn do this everyday, six days a week, half day on Thursday. They visit, gossip with the older ladies, laugh a lot, leave cans of food, and pray with as many as will let them. Everyone does.

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One lady, they tell me, became a Christian. Another lady who had been a Christian went back to Buddhism when her husband and son died within a couple of months of each other.

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Sanom is 72. She asked Noi if she thought she was still sexy. Noi reached over and pulled Sanom’s top down just an inch and said, "There, now you are." They translated all this for me, and laughed more on the telling.

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People survive by picking garbage, and selling it to a recycling business. They make a little over 100 baht per day. That’s about $3.00.

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Boonmee is 73 and in reasonably good shape, but is going blind and can no longer pick garbage. Now his wife does it all.

Spirituality

My own personal driver

Posted on by stephen t berg / 2 Comments

Me and Ai Apparently I hired my own personal driver. How was I to know. I paid 3800 baht for a tour–sounded okay. It would get me downtown and then over to wat Phra Kaew, (the temple of the Emerald Buddha) and the Grand Palace, and then over to the sleeping, or reclining Buddha. Anyway, those were the pictures I pointed to in the tour display.

I signed up, got my pack, and waited for people to start waiting for our bus. Instead Ai, pronounced "A," showed up and lead me out through a side door– bowing, and assuring me through other humble gestures, and kindly sounding Thai phrases, that I was to come with him. I followed him to a well-used Volvo. He opened the door, and I, dutifully, got in.

Riverlady Ai knew at least 5 English words–"hello, meet, wait, thank you." And I knew 1 Thai word and a name. Sawatdee-khrab, which means hello.(If you’re female you say, Sawatdee-kaa), and Chao Phraya, the river that runs through Bangkok and the one I wanted a boat ride on–if there was time before it got dark. Other than Ai singing along to Thai pop songs, (he knew all the words) we rode in delicious silence, me grinning at every new sight, and Ai, once in a while, looking over at me and smiling back.

Boat driverAi was amazing. He would get me through a maze of madness– three-wheeled taxis, bicycles, scooters and cars…I thought New York had crazy traffic–to a temple or some such place, point me in a direction, then disappear. I would forget the time, walk and wander (and wonder), and then when I came back to the vicinity, he would spot me and be at my side.

(Superlative couple of days. Will post much more, as soon as I find a way to charge my laptop battery with 220 Bangkok volts. Just know this: the Emerald Buddha is a fake, he’s made of jade!)

Sweet, I did get the boat ride! (Yes, Ai got me my own personal boat driver) The "River lady" sold me a couple Thai lagers. So perfect, on a 36 degree Bangkok day. (Bought one for the boat driver, he thanked me and bowed profusely.)

Beauty/Spirituality

An airport meditation

Posted on by stephen t berg / 2 Comments

Serviceair carriers, baggage trolleys, conveyers on wheels, F-150’s racing around under the wheels of E-190’s and A-340’s, like hounds chasing cattle. All the scurrying–hilarious and necessary. In the distance, a plane tilts into the sky and is gone.

Above the pitch, an imperceptible curve of horizon holds the autumn colours under its tongue. Soon this brilliance will be swallowed up. But for now, all these yellow and orange deities transfuse their beauty. They are neither eternal nor omnipotent, but there is grace in their rule, and mercy in the hope of their return.

This sets me to wondering about omnipotence. Can there be great love and mercy in it? I’m not sure. There isn’t much in the Newtonian God–that omnipotent technician, scrupulous list keeper, calculating cartographer–that Lego Lord, as Annie Dillard called him; that great Neolithic proprietor, as Teilhard de Chardin called him.

Flight to Hong Kong Fortunately this marble monolith God has been sick and wobbly for a while now. And even though he keeps getting propped up and polished by a stratum of worshippers, the cracks are widening, as his clay feet crumble. How right and proper to keep hacking away at this god.

And how right to beware of erecting a mirror-image of this dying god. It’s a very real temptation that would leave us with a featureless God of no consequence. And great Love, that greatest feature, may not be omnipotent but it is never inconsequential.

In the end, it’s a well meaning but futile exercise to fret over any of God’s omni’s. All I know is that the edge of the world, just now, is blazing outside my window. The earth, all lit up from within. God’s immanence. And all around, the press of space. God’s transcendence.

And now, while flying over Taipei, I eat my supper. From where I come, it’s 4:30 AM. These things amaze me.   (Posted from Hong Kong, Oct 3, 8:40 PM)