How A Book on the May 18 Democratic Uprising Illuminates Future of Thai Politics

Pandit Chanrochanakit
Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.

Korea and Thailand shares some aspects of political history in common. After World War II the two countries had fallen into authoritarianism. Even Thailand had histories of uprising for, example, October 14, 1976. Due to many factors, the people’s movement was shortly suppressed by the junta’s massacre on October 6, 1976. In late 1980s Thais has struggle for a more democratic regime and be able to negotiate for a better condition.

Thus, the army staged a coup on February 1991, again. Not to mention that the last two decades, Thais experience two coups back in 2006 and 2014. It should be highlighted that the Abhisit Vejjajiva government cracked down a protest in 2010 marking the highest killed in Thai political history. Thailand has descended to a façade constitutional democracy. With the unsayable history since 2006 coup, Thai youth and new political movements have uprisen against the new authoritarian in 2010s.

When the May 18 Memorial Foundation honored Angkhana Neelapaijit with Gwangju for Human Rights Award in 2006, Thailand has already recessed to authoritarian regime. In the midst of political crisis, the revered King Bhumibhol passed away in 2016. Such political history gives us a sign that young activists have come to the front row to fight against the junta and old establishments, and they have been calling for a more participatory democratic regime. The fall of Thai democracy remarks by the last two Thai laureates of Gwangju for Human Rights Award: Jatupat Boonpattaraksa in 2017 and Anon Nampa in 2020.

With this background, Thai youths are curious for a better knowledge on Gwangju Uprising and how Gwangju citizen have fought for democracy and return dignity to Gwangju democratic martyrs. In 2015 I visited Gwangju to observe the memorial services and activities organized by the May 18 Memorial Foundation. I am impressed by the strong commitment of Gwangju citizen and Korean people’s networks to keep the legacy of Gwangju Uprising. I, then, suggest the May 18 Memorial Foundation to translate the books on Gwangju Uprising into Thai language. In late 2015, while I was a visiting scholar in Japan I was commissioned to translate the May 18 Gwangju Democratic Uprising (2015 edition) into Thai. Unfortunately, the political situation in Thailand was still under the junta’s control. The distribution of the 2015 edition was limited.

In late 2020, I was asked to translation the May 18 Democratic Uprising (2020 edition). It was a great honor of mine to be a part of this project since I believe that the scholarships on the history of political struggle of Gwangju and Korean democratic movement in Thailand is so at the margin. Since Korean popular culture in Thailand has been blooming, it is crucial for Thai audience to learn more from Korean history of democratization as well. Besides, the Thai youth movements must learn from Korean experiences. After reviewing and translating the new edition of the May 18 Democratic Uprising, I believe that this new edition is concise and suit for Thai audience, especially for political movements.

With helps from networks of Thai activists, I contact the Common Books, an independent publishing house, to put the manuscript into production with guidelines from May 18 Memorial Foundation coordinators.

I have distributed the books to scholars and academics in universities and research institutes. Of course, I spare the books for the three laureates of Gwangju Prize for Human Rights Award.

For More Details(Thai) : https://fb.watch/6kYi2NLFwe/