JaiRai Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 http://www.globalpos...income?page=0,0 Good piece. Excerpt: "BANGKOK, Thailand — Most male drop-outs living in Bangkok’s most notorious slum, Klong Toei, are presented with two principal career paths: speed dealer or stevedore. The first involves ducking cops, consorting with junkies and hardening your neighborhood’s rep as a crime-infested no-go zone. Klong Toei’s reputation for selling “ya ba†— pink meth tabs that smell like cotton candy when smoked — is second only to its reputation for catching on fire. Flames easily leap between dwellings in the slum, a labyrinth of buildings packed so tight that alleys remain dim under the Thai noontime sun. In lieu of meth, Boat Thammongkul, 20, has chosen to work the nearby docks. “We move heavy stuff at the pier for 500 baht a day,†Boat said. That’s roughly $16 for nine hours at the Klong Toei wharf, a critical hub in Thailand’s export economy and the chief employer of nearby slum dwellers. “Just because people around me sell drugs doesn’t mean we have to,†he said. “Besides, I have a dream. One day, I want to work at a job indoors. With air-conditioning.†Small dreams and hard labor define the view from Klong Toei. But in Bangkok, a city divided by wealth and class, a mere five miles separates the slums from a glam shopping paradise feeding the appetites of an emerging middle class and a rising upper class. Inside the crown jewel of the Thai capital’s malls, Siam Paragon, a second-floor showcase displays a Rolls-Royce Ghost. (Sticker price: $942,000.) Downstairs, Swarovski sells a glittering Hello Kitty pendant chiseled from fine crystal. Weight-conscious ladies can choose from multiple outlets promising to eradicate cellulite with acoustic waves or, for $700, destroy belly fat with a freezing electronic wand. CEOs set on enhancing their karaoke skills can shell out $650 for singing lessons tailored for corporate executives. This is a world unknown to Boat and his friends, a crew sporting the signature look of the Klong Toei dude: shirtless, scribbled up with tattoo ink, lean-muscled bodies shaped by manual labor and a diet of cheap noodles. “You say ‘Klong Toei’ and all people see are junkies,†said Kwan Khetpratum, another 20-year-old dock worker who lives near Boat. “If I walked into the malls, the fancy people would look at me strangely. I’ve never even thought of going there.†Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 Hard work, no doubt - but 500 baht is 200 baht more than the current minimum wage. And if he works 5 days a week, his monthly income is about the same as a university graduate teacher at a government school. Also, the article doesn't suggest any solutions. Nor had the writer ever seen the thugs that accompanied the red shirt protests. There was a clear presence of the upcountry political warlords, who were backing Thaksin in hopes of future rewards. It was not simply a protest by upcountry proles, no matter how much the foreign press tries to present it to have been. Remember the BTS station at Sala Daeng, the one that was closed after Seh Daeng's blackshirts fired .40mm HE grenades at it with an M79, killing and wounding innocent travelers who had nothing to do with the government? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 Hi, "It was not simply a protest by upcountry proles, no matter how much the foreign press tries to present it to have been." Agree completely. It was - and still is - not about inequality, but about which group of rich fuckers got to feed from the trough. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 Thaksin represents northern money. Bangkok money controls the country (all of them Chinese, of course). Thaksin hoped the Bangkok rich folks would accept him as one of them. When they didn't, he tried to place his own people into positions of power. That is what caused the coup, nothing else. He was trampling on the wrong toes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 What gets me is that every Bangkok resident. expat or Thai, *knows* that the shit will hit the fan again and its a matter of when, not if, and yet everyone just carries on as though things will never boil over. I can only assume it's like living in Tokyo or LA - you cant stop seismic activity. so why let it spoil your week ? For all the flak that the border regions cop here, particularly Udon, IMO there is a lot to be said for being able to get out of the country in a hurry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plainsdrifter Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 Don't forget, this is a society and country that is deeply Buddhist and believers in reincarnation. If they have enough merit in this life they will comeback as maybe a billionaire Thai skyscraper dweller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 Plainsdrifter, I really dont know that you have a particularly good grip on how reincarnation is supposed to work, but KS gets angry when we talk about Buddhism so I'll leave it there. He's not pretty when he's angry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 Thaksin believes in magic and sorcerers, but he obviously does not believe in karma. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaiRai Posted December 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 White youth, black youth, better find another solution Why not phone up Robin Hood, and ask him for some wealth distribution? Punk rockers in the UK, they won't notice anyway They're all too busy fighting, for a good place under the lighting The new groups are not concerned, with what there is to be learned They got Burton suits, ha you think it's funny -- turning rebellion into money All over people changing their votes, along with their overcoats... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 White youth, black youth, better find another solution Why not phone up Robin Hood, and ask him for some wealth distribution? Punk rockers in the UK, they won't notice anyway They're all too busy fighting, for a good place under the lighting The new groups are not concerned, with what there is to be learned They got Burton suits, ha you think it's funny -- turning rebellion into money All over people changing their votes, along with their overcoats... If Adolf Hitler Thaksin flew in today They'd send a limousine anyway I'm the all night drug-prowling wolf Who looks so sick in the sun I'm the white man in the Palais Just lookin' for fun I'm only Looking for fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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