Wearing red in Bangkok
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under thailand
Not much for Red Shirts to do, except sell red shirts
My only day in Bangkok a few weeks ago, I wandered the streets and, in particular, the Red Shirt protest zone. The protests are making the news more frequently as the political situation worsens and violence breaks out.
I can’t pretend to sort out the full politics, but the tension includes a healthy dose of class struggle. The Red Shirts, the protesters that are camped in the Thai capital, are mostly poor villagers with nothing better to do, led by a populist leader. They accuse the other side — the Yellow Shirts — and the current government of being morally bankrupt and only focused on urban wealth.
I should also note that it’s generally accepted, if not publicly agreed to, that there’s corruption on both sides of the political-cum-violent struggle.
Tempers are clearly rising now, but the one day I was there, things were peaceful. Aside from a bit of rallying which I stayed away from, the Red Shirts mostly were hanging out as above and below. Police were on guard, but seemed half-asleep at their posts when I spoke to them briefly. Continue reading this entry » » »
Tags: bangkok, journalism, photography, politics, protest, red shirt, red shirts, street, thailand
A plea from the uninsured…
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under united states
Today, in Washington, D.C., on the floor of the chamber of the U.S. House, your elected officials will tilt on the topic of health care. This is being billed as a marquee showdown, an epic vote.
I’ve read through parts and summaries of reports from the Congressional Budget Office and followed the big news outlets now and then, but I can’t claim to have been very diligent. I also will note that this blog is mostly a-political. After the better part of four years as a political reporter, I find politics vital but bluster and bombast all the same.
But I will offer a personal plea now for calm, cool reason. And for compassion. And for common sense, which tells us the system is broken for more than 30 million Americans, myself included.
I will try to be brief:
Continue reading this entry » » »
Tags: cluster, congress, exercise, health, health care, india, medicine, politics, poverty, united states
Mountain road cricket
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under india
Just don't hit it into the valley just out of frame
Quite regularly, the Darjeeling region in West Bengal organizes a bandh, or strike, to show support for creation of a separate state called Gorkhaland. On those days, the usually choked, winding mountain road and rail tracks between Ghoom and Darjeeling are practically empty.
Perfect time for a pickup cricket game. Indians will play anywhere, after all.
Of course, on the other side of the road, the valley plummets hundreds of meters. Best not to swing for that side.
Tags: cricket, darjeeling, gorkhaland, india, mountains, photography, politics, strike
Kenyans to Obama: Stick it to our idiotic government
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under kenya
I fully expected Kenya’s honeymoon affair with America to end when the Obama administration dropped the threat of a travel ban on numerous Kenyan politicians alleging they had stood in the way of reform. Here was the superpower trying to dictate local politics.
Instead, according to most of the locals I spoke to, Obama had won points, rather than lost them.
Kenyans for decades have labored under corrupt regime after corrupt regime since independence from the British in 1963. Even the country’s celebrated first leader, Jomo Kenyatta, is considered to have been corrupt. And don’t get me started on Daniel arap Moi. His legacy of gutting the constitution lingers today; so does his plundering the treasury (and really the economy).
Continue reading this entry » » »
Tags: barack obama, corruption, daniel arap moi, government, jomo kenyatta, journalism, kenya, maasai, mwai kibaki, nairobi, politics, raila odinga
I love the smell of fish guts and fresh vegetables
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under kenya
Kenya’s major cities boast gleaming shopping centers and 24-hour big box marts (detailed previously).
Bush villages however rely on a more traditional option: sprawling open air markets.
I visited Ahero‘s weekly market last week to see and smell and taste. There, I met Tom Odero, a 56-year-old retired Army sergeant major, who is active in politics and now farms rice in his quiet days.
Continue reading this entry » » »
Tags: ahero, drought, economy, farming, fish, kenya, kisumu, market, mwai kibaki, nakumatt, photography, politics, raila odinga, village
