In Thailand, the international media is the battleground for political ideas. Protests have become increasingly dramatic and well organised. In October 2008, Red-shirts, in their thousands, donated their own blood and poured it on the walls and under the gates of Government House while Yellow-shirted protesters staged a sit - in at Bangkok airport stranding thousands of tourists and bringing Thailand’s political turmoil to television screens around the world. But behind the arresting symbolism of these protests, issues of democracy, welfare, education and human rights are at stake, in a political crisis that is not going to go away.