James Nachtwey Shot in Bangkok

Well the situation in Bangkok is getting pretty bad....there has been a lot of violence and death's. I don't think it would take much for it to escalate into something a lot more serious....not far off "being in a war zone"
 
I was there on Wednesday night and walked around 2 areas with a lot of protestors and armed officials. Although noisy and very packed it was, from what I saw a peacefull demonstration. I didn't feel in any danger at all.
 
I live in Thailand, not in Bangkok though. what I can tell from farang (foreigner) perspective, the two sides red and yellow shirts are both sponsoring "protesters" to capital with free food and other perks. its generally very peaceful and laid back affair, listening concerts and then political speeches. but both sides have hard line that have been provoking opposing side now for months, and yes it has got nasty occasionally. still, so far majority of demonstrators are not angry mob that want to burn everything in its path.

things erupt like this in Thailand every now and then. it was much more serious back in 2006 when Thaksin (then prime minister) was ousted from his position and exiled, by military coup.
 
I find it depressing. Thailand is supposed to be a Bhudist country. I can't imagine that many of the people involved in this mess have stopped to think how Siddharta Gautama would consider their actions.

🙁
 
The number of hippocrites in this world certainly outnumber the number of religions. After all, many popes also have functioned as war generals..etc.. There were riots in Bangkok when I was there over twenty years ago. You could hear shots from the streets, but most people just carried on as usual. Bangkok protest seem to be traditional form of expression. More than a couple of times, they have gone out of control.
 
Anyone interested in Nachtwey should watch the award winning movie "War Photographer" by Christian Frei. It is about Nachtwey.

The most telling thing about Nachtwey is the priority in which he lists his accomplishments in his personal Bio:

[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]He has received numerous honours such as the Common Wealth Award, Martin Luther King Award, Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award, Henry Luce Award, Robert Capa Gold Medal (five times), the World Press Photo Award (twice), Magazine Photographer of the Year (seven times), the International Center of Photography Infinity Award (three times), the Leica Award (twice), the Bayeaux Award for War Correspondents (twice), the Alfred Eisenstaedt Award, the Canon Photo essayist Award and the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Grant in Humanistic Photography. He is a fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and has an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the Massachusetts College of Arts.[/FONT]
 
getting shot is one of the problems there, but furthermore the country is corrupt at the highest levels, when the people suffer these situations arise...unfortunately.
 
jarski said:
I live in Thailand, not in Bangkok though. what I can tell from farang (foreigner) perspective, the two sides red and yellow shirts are both sponsoring "protesters" to capital with free food and other perks. its generally very peaceful and laid back affair, listening concerts and then political speeches. but both sides have hard line that have been provoking opposing side now for months, and yes it has got nasty occasionally. still, so far majority of demonstrators are not angry mob that want to burn everything in its path.

things erupt like this in Thailand every now and then. it was much more serious back in 2006 when Thaksin (then prime minister) was ousted from his position and exiled, by military coup.
Click to expand...


To clarify it's not RED vs. YELLOW this time. It's the PDRC (People's Democratic Reform Committee) which is led by Suthep. Many foreigners are completely unaware of the current situation and sadly many Thais are brainwashed by this man. The original point of the demonstration was to remove the Shinawatra family from office. However now Suthep is leading a personal army to gain power himself. He is on a suicide mission for personal gain while masquerading as a "common man"

This man (Suthep) is anything but common and greatly connected with many of the wealthiest families and business in Thailand. In reality he is more or less the same type of person that he claims to be fighting against (Yingluk and Thaksin)

He has ordered his followers to block the voting booths and forbid people from voting. If Thai people are able to vote surely he will lose. His supporters are mainly Bangkok based and if the entire country is allowed to vote it's possible that Yingluk will win again from the majority of other provinces.

So to put it simple, it's 2 people waging war against each other while pretending it's in the interests of the Thai people. (which it isn't at all)
 
Also, Jarski. Don't let the street festivals fool you.
It's easy to walk past it as a foreigner. However if you're Thai and you go in one of those areas without a whistle or some shirt that claims support of Suthep you will get hustled.

A couple Thai people I knew got assaulted because they weren't wearing a whistle around their neck while walking past the demonstration in Siam.
 
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