<p>OMG.&nbsp; I have only just realized.&nbsp; The insurrection on the streets, the slowly sinking economy, the political polarization that allows no dialogue … it’s all my fault.</p> <p>At first I thought that Suthep and his fellow demagogues were just doing the normal rabble-rousing, picking on the Cambodians as the bogeyman du jour.&nbsp;</p>

<p><em>This article deals primarily with the sacrosanct relationship between the electoral process and democracy, and how the PDRC’s attempt to seize power without the electoral mandate that is required by democracy will lead the country into civil war.</em></p> <p>When the PDRC claimed they were staging a “shutdown” in Bangkok, few anticipated this would also include a shutdown on any meaningful dialogue or conversation, but there you have it (and you can’t say they didn’t warn you in advance).</p>

<div>In many countries, an expression of political will through voting, is seen as fulfilling civic duties, but here in Thailand, voters who fought obstructions and risk their safety to cast the ballots last Sunday were given different labels: “traitors”, “buffalos” and “the uneducated.”&nbsp;</div> <p></p>

<div><strong>2 Victims of Hatred: Reds assaulted in Bangkok</strong></div> <div>Prachatai talked to 2 red-shirts who were assaulted by alleged PDRC guards.</div> <div> </div>

<p itemprop="description">Since the Bangkok shutdown operation was launched by the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) in a desperate bid to oust the government, many people have taken to assessing the political situation on a daily basis - if not more often - and have kept a close watch on the latest words from PDRC secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban, caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and military top brass. In such a period of crisis, however, we also need to try harder to look at the bigger picture.</p> <p></p>