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Protesters in Bangkok on October 18 hold umbrellas, a reference to the protests in Hong Kong, where the umbrellas have become the symbol of the protesters
Photo: Geem Drake / imago images / ZUMA Wire
Crowded people march under the high streets of an Asian metropolis and chant slogans.
Young protesters occupy crossroads, but disciplined emergency routes for ambulances.
To protect themselves from feared police violence, they wear construction workers' helmets and gas masks with pink filters.
And over a central square in the city they wave the black flag with the Bauhinia flower, a symbol of the Hong Kong democracy movement.
The images that went out into the world from Bangkok last week gave observers of the Hong Kong protests a strange déjà vu.
It is no coincidence, however, that the protesters in Thailand use similar aesthetics and tactics: the movements have been inspiring each other for months;
online they support each other as the #MilkTeaAlliance.
Failed provocation
The alliance of milk tea drinkers started in April.
At that time, a Thai actor put his like under a photo of a Hong Kong cityscape, the caption of which could be understood to mean that Hong Kong was a state independent of China.
This aroused the anger of Chinese nationalists who, in response, tried to humiliate the actor and his girlfriend, who was also suspected of being critical of China, by poking fun at Thailand's government and king.
But what could have worked according to the logic of Chinese Weibo turned out to be a bad idea on Twitter and Facebook.
Thailand's internet users were only too happy to take on the ball.
In a firework of ironic memes, they countered the accusations of the Chinese trolls, who were apparently overwhelmed by the idea that one could feel anything other than devotion to one's own government.
Thailand's leadership is incapable?
Right!
The king doesn't care about his people, but makes a good life in Germany?
You're right!
Soon users from Hong Kong and Taiwan were flanking the Thais - all countries in which, unlike in China, people like to enjoy their tea sweetened and with milk.
The Milk Tea Alliance was born.
Resistance to overpowering, authoritarian opponents
Since then, Asia's democracy activists have had a hashtag with which they can express their solidarity with one another.
On the occasion of the Taiwanese national holiday on October 10, even Taiwan's vice president ennobled the alliance with a post that has so far collected more than 47,000 likes.
What they have in common is the resistance against overpowering, authoritarian opponents - in the case of Taiwan and Hong Kong the Chinese Communist Party, in the case of Thailand the triumvirate of royalty, military and government.
Hong Kong protesters followed the demonstrations in Thailand with euphoria.
"In solidarity with the people of Thailand, the #MilkTeaAlliance, we will withstand the authoritarian onslaught and regain our freedom," tweeted Joshua Wong.
From exile in London, his colleague Nathan Law advises the Thais: "Be water, my friend" - be like water, flow around the resistance.
A quote from the Hong Kong film star Bruce Lee, who also chose the movement of his hometown as a guide.
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Does the protest reach all of society?
The Thais were happy to accept this proposal - of course, they did not fail to see how much international sympathy the Hong Kong people have enjoyed.
The question is whether they will be more successful.
There are some arguments against it: In Hong Kong, a city of seven million people, up to two million people were on the streets at the same time; in Thailand, with its 66 million citizens, the protests have so far attracted tens of thousands.
Unlike in Hong Kong, not all generations go there to demonstrate equally, but mainly students.
What is similar to the situation in Hong Kong, on the other hand, is the fact that the authorities are introducing draconian laws against the discontented: dozens of Thai spokesmen are already in custody.
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In Hong Kong in 2019 people demonstrated with umbrellas for more democracy, for emancipation from China and against police violence
Photo: Vincent Yu / AP
And yet political changes are emerging that should last.
Just as the Hong Kong Prime Minister Carrie Lam has meanwhile been completely disavowed, the aura of the previously inviolable Thai royal family has vanished.
In an act of considerable courage, protesters in Bangkok sprayed the slogan "Republic of Thailand" on the streets and, previously unthinkable, booed the royal couple's passing convoy.
Suddenly the country is discussing the political role of the monarch, his unheard of wealth, his intimate relationship with the military.
The taboo has fallen, the king is naked.
The spirit of the Milk Tea Alliance has arguably changed Thailand irrevocably.
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