Red Journeys

Red Journeys is a firsthand account of the emergence and expansion of the red-shirt protests in Bangkok that took place in 2010. It traces the origins of the protest, focusing on the unique voices, stories, and motives of those who participated in the movement. Based upon hundreds of interviews and weeks spent alongside the red shirts in the middle of the protest, Sopranzetti vividly depicts daily life in the heart of the movement: its personalities, routines, rumors, and organization. As the peaceful occupation descended into violence and neared its tragic end, he describes the final moments of the protest when red shirts faced off with the Thai military. Styled engagingly between ethnography and daily blog, Red Journeys offers an unprecedented analysis of the biggest social movement in Thailand to date and highlights the discrepancies between the "official" media portrayal of the protest and the reality on the ground. "The forty days between April 10 and May 20, 2010, changed Thailand forever. History will look back and try to make sense of the tragedy, and its meaning to Thai history will remain controversial for decades to come. Beyond history's verdict, the bravery, sacrifice, suffering, and determination of the protesters will forever be remembered. Claudio Sopranzetti has recorded the human component so vividly that we can hear the voices and cries of the people and can imagine their lives in those moments. This is as important as any verdict of history." -Thongchai Winichakul, University of Wisconsin Claudio Sopranzetti is a doctoral student in the Department of Social Anthropology at Harvard University.