<div>Prachatai talked to Prajak Kongkirati on the anti-democratic movement and the prospects for a peaceful solution to this conflict. &nbsp;</div> <div> </div>

<div>Thailand’s Democrat Party decided to boycott the February 2 general election. This is not the first time that the party has boycotted general election. Why have the Democrats, the oldest political party in the kingdom, repeated their decision? Will the boycott lead to yet another coup d’état? Prachatai talked to Prajak Kogkirati, a political scientist from Thammasat University.</div> <div> </div>

<div>The Rector of Thammasat University (TU) has been condemned by a group of TU lecturers who claim his order to close down the university for 3 days was unreasonable. The order was said to show support for the anti-government group who had called for a strike by the public sector to cripple the government.&nbsp;</div> <p></p>

<div>The bold attempt by the ruling Pheu Thai Party to pass a blanket amnesty bill has greatly upset anti-establishment red shirts. Many red shirts have become uncertain of who to vote for in the next general election. As the amnesty issue has made it clearer that Pheu Thai may not always comply with the will of the red shirts, the idea of establishing an alternative party has been raised and widely discussed. Prachatai talked to a red-shirt supporter, a new alternative party leader and academics to find out about this possibility.&nbsp;</div> <div> </div>

<p>Middle class and well educated Thais will be in for less shock and better equipped to handle political change if they do not cling on to the &quot;tales&quot; of rural folks being politically naive, of all Thais loving one another and coexisting in harmony under a benign father figure, said Thammasat University political scientist Prajak Kongkirati.</p>