Understanding Thailand
Articles from our Understanding Thailand, ongoing series, which take a look at the deeper background of the Kingdom, examining its culture, history and material conditions. These are primarily for outsiders to gain a better understanding of Thailand.
Haji Sulong – Patani’s Reformer, Martyr and Father
The name Haji Sulong is little known in Thailand proper, despite being considered a hero and the founding father of the modern separatist movement in Thailand’s deep south ‘Patani’ region. Little is known outside the region about the conflict that erupted following his death, showing just how localised a civil war can be. This nescience is embodied in Haji Sulong, a man who lived an extraordinary life, was wildly influential and yet almost totally unknown to Thai society at large.
Thai Imperialism and Colonisation
An examination of Thailand’s internal ‘auto-imperialism’, how the state works to capture populations on the fringes of the kingdom and put them to use for the nation’s imperial core. Exploring the roots, history and present day effects of Thai ‘auto-imperialism’.
State Racism in Thailand: Capitalism, China, and Ultranationalism
If in the United States, the police are shown to uphold systemic racism, what are some sources and examples of systemic racism in Thailand? Here Capitalism leads to the exploitation of migrant workers, the State alters attitudes towards Chinese people due to National Agenda changes, and the country’s history of Fascism…
Jit Phumisak, a Eulogy
Jit Phumisak became the first to truly expose Thai history, to lay it bare for what it really was, and inspire a radical attempt to restructure the kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Che Guevara of Thailand, Jit’s legacy as a folk hero of the working class lives on today.
Music For Life
Gabriel Ernst How leftist Thai folk radicalised a generation and continues to inspire today. Deep in the forested mountains in Thailand’s north eastern Phetchabun province on the edge of the Isaan region, on the corner of a bend in the road, sits a small car park with...
Nationalism & Anti-Statehood In Thailand
Gabriel Ernst TAKE A DRIVE anywhere across Thailand and you will be endlessly accosted by flags, national portraits, murals, and statues praising and enforcing Thai identity. The same is true if you turn on the television or radio. Enter any Buddhist temple and you...