THAILAND: Digital Divide Surfaces in Polarised Politics

Analysis by Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, May 6 (IPS) - Nearly eight weeks after anti-government demonstrators occupied the streets of this modern metropolis, virtually crippling two iconic areas, the rage it has generated in the media has exposed another fault line cutting across this kingdom – a digital divide.

The division pits Thais who have turned to the new media for political information and expression – from Facebook and Twitter to blogs and websites -- against those who are rooted in this South-east Asian nation’s oral tradition, where the old media, like radio, are sought.

It is a divide that adds to other chasms that have surfaced since mid-March, when supporters of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) arrived in their thousands from the rural, rice-growing provinces to stage street protests. The confrontation between the economically and politically marginalised supporters of the UDD against a government backed by Bangkok’s elite has invited comparisons of a class war and a town versus country divide.

Violence that erupted since Apr. 10, when a botched military crackdown on the protesters led to 25 deaths and left over 800 injured, even prompted the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, to warn of the country slipping into an "undeclared civil war."

The digital divide hardly surprises analysts, who attribute it to the anger the round-the-clock street protests has triggered. The surge in the number of Facebook users in Thailand last month is directly linked to politics on the streets.

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