In 2020, the youth movement in Thailand regained its momentum, becoming the largest political movement since the 2014 coup. From high school to university students, the youths have been able to organise with widespread public support, as well as build a network of younger generations nationwide. They have been successful in drawing new demographics into the movement by devising creative forms of protest through both symbolic expressions and various activities. Their demands pose a threat to the conservative institutions in Thailand: not only do they oppose the military government and its leader, but they also call into question the frameworks, institutions, social structure and conservative politics embedded in the institutions of family, education, religion, bureaucracy, and the monarchy.*1
*1 Kanokrat Lertchoosakul. Cold War (in) between white ribbons. Bangkok: Matichon, 2021.
In 1997, a new wave of critical publishers rose to the scene. Their owners, editorial teams, and authors were from a different generation than their 1960s forerunners: from OPEN to Fah Diew Kan (2003) to the weekly political magazine, A Day Weekly (2004) to the publishing group and lifestyle magazine, A Day. These new publishers aimed their content towards criticising the government, which at the time was led by Thaksin Shinawatra, as well as scrutinising neoliberalism and corporate monopolies that dominated Thai society, all of which were mostly ignored by mainstream media. They opened up a space for new kinds of politics, from civil society, identity politics, the revisioning of liberal and leftist politics, and, most importantly, sought to make political and social critique accessible and appealing to the younger generation at large. However, such attempts were not very successful. Despite being hailed as legends in the publishing industry, their audience was limited to progressive young readers. Many publishers were also struggling with financial and long-term management problems. OPEN had to close down owing to issues with its CEO in its 8th year.*2 A Day Weekly, a political magazine popular among teens, suffered a similar fate after its inaugural issue due to financial difficulties.*3
*2 Panachai Arepermporn. "Openworlds Announces Business Is Closed. Partners To Open New Publishing Houses" Accessed: 4 September 2564. https://thestandard.co/openworlds-business-closed/.
*3 Pimpaka Ngamsom. "What Happened to A day weekly" Accessed: 4 September 2021. https://prachatai.com/journal/2005/06/4334.
Following the coups of 1999 and 2013, we witnessed a new phenomenon: the rise of a new generation of print media whose contents went beyond a critique of the government or republishing literature from the 1960s. Simultaneously, the print-news-social media hybrid also played a critical part in mobilising the 2020 student movement.
The first phenomena is the rise of a new generation of print media. For example, Aan, a publisher that has branched out of Fah Diew Kan, focuses on literature and sharp literary criticism that addresses social and political concerns during the Red and Yellow Shirts conflicts in Thailand.*4 Sommadhi, a publisher founded in 2008, specialises in translation and publication; their distribution efforts have been foundational in kindling the spirit of the youth.*5 Around the year 2018, the former OPEN team resurfaced as 2 new publishing houses: Bookscape and Salt. The former focuses on publishing criticisms of mainstream politics, economics, and social issues,*6 whereas the latter aims to introduce new scientific and philosophical literature, particularly through non-fiction works and science fiction novels.*7 Illuminations Editions, founded in 2018, is dedicated to publishing critical works by young scholars as well as introducing readers to global classic and modern sociological texts through translation. Within a few years, Illuminations Editions have published almost 40 new titles.*8 The last, but far from least interesting, is Samyan Press, a publisher founded by a group of students from Chulalongkorn University and led by student-activist Netiwit Chotiphatphaisarn. Since its founding in 2015, Samyan Press has published over 40 new titles, the majority of which are works originally written by students as well as translations of books about democracy, socialist democracy, and global case studies of the people’s struggle against dictatorship and authoritarianism.*9
*4 Examples of bestselling titles that have influenced the political education of the new generation include All They Could Do To Us, Dear Love, Common Love: An Intimate Account Of The People, etc.
*5 Jiradet Ophatphanwong. "Tong Piyawit: The Man Who Kept A Publisher Of Difficult Books Alive For A Decade" Accessed: 4 August 2021. https://readthecloud.co/author/jiradet-ophatphanwong/ ; Examples of bestselling titles that have influenced the political education of the new generation include 1984, On King and I, On Bourgeoisie, etc.
*6 Siwapark Jianwanalee. "bookscape, a publisher with a belief in knowledge and faith in books" Accessed: 4 September 2021. https://adaymagazine.com/bookscape ; Examples of bestselling titles that have influenced the political education of the new generation include Common Sense, A Very Short Introduction series, A Little History of Philosophy, Models of Democracy.
*7 Kwanchai Dumrongkwan. "Knowing SALT: A Publisher Full Of Salty Goodness" Accessed: 4 September 2021. https://thematter.co/social/salt/48102 ; Examples of bestselling titles that have influenced the political education of the new generation include What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, Poor Economics, etc.
*8 Dok Fon. "From Rig to Printing Press: A Conversation with "Pipat Pasuthantat" On The Growth of "Illuminations Editions" Accessed: 4 September 2021. https://www.matichon.co.th/entertainment/news_1070994 ; Examples of bestselling titles that have influenced the political education of the new generation include What are Kings?, When Thailand Became A Nation, From Clappers to Whistles, Thailand's Theory of Monarchy: The Vessantara Jataka and the Idea of the Perfect Man, etc.
*9 Examples of bestselling titles that have influenced the political education of the new generation include On Tyranny, A Terrible Student in an Excellent Educational System, A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart, Personal Responsibility under Dictatorship, From Dictatorship to Democracy, etc.
The second phenomenon is the print-news-social media hybrid. This includes instances where the former publishing houses in the 1990s transitioned into a news agency or online media; where publishers are forced to adapt in order to survive the decline in print media sales; or compelled to straddle online and print media to diversify their readership. At the dawn of the internet age, Fah Diew Kan launched an online forum as one of their communication channels to reach younger readers, and it quickly became iconic, delivering one of the sharpest critiques of the government and conservative institutions in the mid 2000s. Later in the 2000s, they migrated to Facebook to organise online seminars and communicate their content to the general public. Aan, Illuminations Edition, and Sommadhi have been organising book launches and seminars online, as well as publishing short essays that are relevant to their new collections of books on their websites and Facebook pages. Sommadhi published a reading list ‘10 books for dissidents,’ that includes 10 essays about the student movement and 20 books for political awakening, which are available for free download.*10
*10 Sommadhi. "The Student Movement: 10 essays for free download" Accessed: 4 September 2021. https://www.sm-thaipublishing.com/content/8386/student-movements-contents.
Apart from utilising online communication tools, publishers like Bookscape have stretched their production line into online platforms like 101. In addition to their publishing house, 101 has successfully published articles and interviews that offer critical viewpoints from a new generation of academics, authors, and thinkers. A Day, which had suffered greatly from their investment in print media, resurfaced as the popular online news agency known as The Standard. Some of their team members went on to launch their own brand of online magazines, such as The Cloud.*11
*11 Prapas Yooyen. "From a day to The Standard: The Secret to Building the Beloved Brand of "Nong Wongtanong"" Accessed: 4 September 2564. https://www.beartai.com/article/tech-article/470108.
Exteen.com, a 2005 Internet forum, became an online news agency called The MATTER who publishes daily news updates. They also founded Salmon, a publishing house, and Minimore, an online bookshop, as well as the Salmon Podcast, which provides audio content for those who don't have time to read. More recently, they launched CONT. (cont-reading.com) that functions like an online collection of recommended reading lists.*12
*12 Wachirawich Kitichatpornpat. " "Small Media Has Bigger Chances To Survive," says Teepagorn Wuttipitayamongkol, founder of The MATTER" Accessed: 4 September 2021. https://thestandard.co/news-business-thematter-champ-teepagorn/ ; Narisa Simamanon. "Salmon Publishing House: The Fish That Swam Against The Changing Currents of the Publishing Industry" Accessed: 4 September 2021. https://urbancreature.co/salmon-publishing/ ; Noppasorn Sriwalas. "13 Titles That Best Represent Salmon" Accessed: 4 September 2021. https://readthecloud.co/salmon-books/.
These new print media and print-news-social media hybrid offer a wide range of analyses and critiques of socio-political problems in a new context. Unlike the kinds of criticisms published before the 1990s, these works are written and translated by young scholars and writers. These contents can be grouped into the following categories.
1. Monarch Studies: many of the books published by Fah Diew Kan, Bookscape, and Illuminations Editions are original works or translations that examine conservative institutions that had hitherto been shielded from public scrutiny. Titles include: What are Kings?, On King and I, The Face of Royal Nationalism, Common Sense, etc.
2. State Criticism: many new generation publishers and online media prioritise a structural approach to addressing problems. These publishers promote systemic analyses and critique of the education, bureaucratic, judicial, military and election systems, the constitution, and the relationship between the state and religion. Titles include When Judges Rule This Land, Coup Court: Judges, Dictatorship and the Law, Prem-ocracy: Thai politics in the Hybrid Regime, Religion and Violence, A Terrible Student in an Excellent Educational System, etc.
3. As society enters a new historical terrain, new publishers produce numerous works of historical criticism. They range from works that revive commoner histories to challenge history written by the ruling class, to works that dismantle historicism and royalism in Thailand as well as history as taught in schools. Titles include Warlords, Feudalism and American Imperialism, The History of Secrets: Political ideologies from Ancient to Modern Age, The Colonialism of Absolute Monarchy, Maps Make a Nation: Nation-states and the Mapping of Thai villages in the Cold War Era, The Truth about the Death of a King (unabridged), etc.
4. Comparative politics: these new publishers and online platforms produce a variety of works that broadens the reader’s horizons of political understanding in both local and global contexts, from parliamentary politics to politics embedded in our everyday lives, to politics of commoners and the deprived. Titles include The Suffering of the Uyghurs Under the Chinese Communist Regime, The Cry for Human Rights, and Ten Myths About Israel from Samyan Press.
5. Studies on global social movements: readers are being directed away from works about the people's and student-led movements in the 1960s and toward new sets of books, news, and information about movements all over the world that have been widely translated, edited, and distributed by new publishers. Titles include Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial India, This Is Not A Drill: An Extinction Rebellion Handbook, Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox For Revolution, etc.
While online media initially sparked political awareness among the young protesters — a phenomenon known as Taa Sawaang or 'eye-opening’ in English — the expansion of print media played an equally important role in ushering new critical content as resources for the movement. These content are not only essential for critical online media, but also the new generation of protest leaders and supporters who have initially been politicised through online media yet need more in-depth knowledge, information, and sources of inspiration.
Despite the fact that online media functions as an effective platform of communication, online media alone cannot ignite the political awakening of 2020. New print media have expanded critical, analytical, and solution-oriented content, and enriched the works of writers and journalists published online. These works help to shape a politically active generation. Long before 2020, Twitter has been a popular means of communication among young people, particularly those who identified as fans of K-drama and K-pop, where it was used to keep up with or vote for their favorite celebrities. This vast cohort of young people, however, became a significant force in the political movement in 2020, thanks to the flood of critical information about their generation's struggle for equal rights and freedom on Twitter. Examples of this can be seen when the statistics for the country's budget spent on the monarchy was exposed, when the ‘eye-opening’ reading lists were published, as well as historical information about the 1932 revolution, the incidents of 14th October and 6th October, and so on. Not to mention the use of hashtags (#) for daily updates on politics and protests.
Apart from producing critical content for online media and shaping a politically active generation, new print media are important resources for producing knowledge and solutions to structural problems. The hunger for new and in-depth information, analyses, and propositions is growing among new readers, to the point that it has revived the book industry with unprecedented sales of books on criticism. These bestselling titles include Warlords, Feudalism and American Imperialism, The Rise and Decline of Thai Absolutism, To Dream the Impossible Dream (Fah Diew Kan); The Politics of Hope (Matichon Books); Common Sense (Bookscape)*13 ; and translated literature like 1984 and Animal Farm (Sommadhi) became highly demanded amongst high school students during the National Book Week. Reading about the political movements in other parts of the world inspires the new generation of protestors to devise new forms of protest and affirm their beliefs in fighting for their rights.
*13 Nattapol Jaijing. Warlords, Feudalism, and American Imperialism. Nonthaburi: Fah Diew Kan, 2020; Thomas Paine. Common Sense trans. Pakavadi Weerapaspong. Bangkok: Bookscape, 2020; Piyabutr Saengkanokkul. The Politics of Hope. Bangkok: Matichon, 2019; Wachiranon Thongthep. "Free People: What is the relationship between political history books trending among the new generation and the pro-democracy protest?" Accessed: 4 September 2021. https://www.bbc.com/thai/thailand-53970497; Nattapol Jaijing. To Dream An Impossible Dream. Nonthaburi: Fah Diew Kan, 2013; Kullada Kesboonchoo Mead. The Rise and Decline of Thai Absolutism trans. Arhit Jiamrattanyoo. Nonthaburi: Fah Diew Kan, 2019.
It is undeniable that online media has become essential in mobilising the recent political movement led by the new generation in Thailand. However, this is not due to the network effect of new technology. Rather, new print media and print-news-social media hybrid are the primary factors in mainstreaming democratic politics, the resistance against dictatorship and the conservative ruling class, liberal and socialist democratic ideologies, and thus expanding the movement led by the new generation since 2020.
Translated from Thai by Palin Ansusinha
Kanokrat Lertchoosakul
Kanokrat works as an assistant professor in social sciences at the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University. Her academic interests include comparative politics as well as the civil society movement. She is the one who closely monitors to explore the phenomenon of the youth political movement in Thailand.
[Bibliography]
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- Jiradet Ophatphanwong. "Tong Piyawit: The Man Who Kept A Publisher Of Difficult Books Alive For A Decade." Accessed: 4 August 2021. https://readthecloud.co/author/jiradet-ophatphanwong/.
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- Dok Fon. "From Rig to Printing Press: A Conversation with "Pipat Pasuthantat" On The Growth of "Illuminations Editions." Accessed: 4 September 2021. https://www.matichon.co.th/entertainment/news_1070994.
- Thomas Paine. Common Sense trans. Pakavadi Weerapaspong. Bangkok: Bookscape, 2020.
- Noppasorn Sriwalas. "13 Titles That Best Represent Salmon." Accessed: 4 September 2021. https://readthecloud.co/salmon-books/.
- Narisa Simamanon. "Salmon Publishing House: The Fish That Swam Against The Changing Currents Of the Puliblishing Industry." Accessed: 4 September 2021. https://urbancreature.co/salmon-publishing/.
- Panachai Arepermporn. "Openworlds Announces Business Is Closed. Partners To Open New Publishing Houses." Accessed: 4 September 2564. https://thestandard.co/openworlds-business-closed/.
- Prapas Yooyen. "From a day to The Standard: The Secret To Building the Beloved Brand of "Nong Wongtanong."" Accessed: 4 September 2564. https://www.beartai.com/article/tech-article/470108.
- Piyabutr Saengkanokkul. The Politics of Hope. Bangkok: Matichon, 2019.
- Pimpaka Ngamsom. "What Happened to A day weekly." Accessed: 4 September 2021. https://prachatai.com/journal/2005/06/4334.
- Wachirawich Kitichatpornpat. ""Small Media Has Bigger Chances To Survive," says Teepagorn Wuttipitayamongkol, founder of The MATTER." Accessed: 4 September 2021. https://thestandard.co/news-business-thematter-champ-teepagorn/.
- Wachiranon Thongthep. "Free People: What is the relationship between political history books trending among the new generation and the pro-democracy protest?" Accessed: 4 September 2021. https://www.bbc.com/thai/thailand-53970497.
- Siwapark Jianwanalee. "bookscape, a publisher with a belief in knowledge and faith in books." Accessed: 4 September 2021. https://adaymagazine.com/bookscape.
- Sommadhi. "The Student Movement: 10 essays for free download." Accessed: 4 September 2021. https://www.sm-thaipublishing.com/content/8386/student-movements-contents.
- Saranrat Waikiat. "Salt Publishing: New Publishing House That Paved Its Way With Philosophy and Science." Accessed: 4 September 2021. https://thestandard.co/salt-publishing/.
- Kwanchai Dumrongkwan. "Knowing SALT: A Publisher Full Of Salty Goodness." Accessed: 4 September 2021. https://thematter.co/social/salt/48102.
