• OPINION

  The power of boycotts

  Thana Boonlert, Published on 24/07/2023

  » Soon after Move Forward Party (MFP) leader Pita Limjaroenrat failed to gather enough support for the premiership, some voters launched retaliatory campaigns with the hashtag #senatorbusiness to boycott business networks of handpicked junta senators who rejected him or abstained. Senators then took legal action against those who they believe harass them and their families. Voters are not only cutting off social relations but also punishing senators for committing crimes against democracy.

• OPINION

  The right to clean air

  Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 05/06/2023

  » In 2009, Smog In The City envisioned a not-too-distant future for Chiang Mai. Set in 2019, Fah returns home to find her family and villagers suffering from air pollution. Following a critical level of toxic haze, the government orders a state of emergency and immediate evacuation. After her mother dies of smog-induced acute coronary syndrome, she rushes to take her family to an airport like other evacuees. While her father and brother deteriorate, a couple approaches her car for drinking water.

• OPINION

  Songs for life as it's no longer lived

  Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 17/04/2023

  » Ad Carabao's new song Prachathipatung revives the myth of vote-buying and ignorance in rural society. The title is a coinage blending prachathipatai (democracy) and tung (money). On the track, parents ask children to return to their home village to vote for local politicians who give them money. It puts into song from the political discourse of an urban middle class that expresses disdain for villagers along with antipathy for one type of money politics as well as full-fledged democracy.

• OPINION

  Letting go is key to moving forward

  Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 27/02/2023

  » Some humans desire to transcend their biological limits. Such pursuit of immortality is expressed through art or architecture, or living through their descendants. I have been in touch with a number of artists who struggle to preserve their craft amid changing times. A succession crisis occurs when one cannot find anyone to continue his or her artistic legacy and only some can let go, though not easily.

• OPINION

  Equality still a dream

  Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 09/01/2023

  » In the lead-up to its second reading, the civil partnership draft bill marks a decade since its inception, dating back to a gay couple who were denied legal recognition in 2012 because the law limits marriage to a man and a woman. Given the conservatism of earlier decades, civil partnership was "the first brick" at a time when marriage equality was almost inconceivable. However, history is often ignored. Despite its long journey in conjunction with the new bill, the uphill push for marriage rights will remain an unfinished business under the current government.

• OPINION

  When art gets stifled

  Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 21/11/2022

  » 'Art is short, a case is long," read a banner. Students apparently hijacked the well-known motto "art is long, life is short" by Prof Silpa Bhirasri, the father of Thai modern art, in protest of Chiang Mai University's legal action against its own lecturers and a student who "trespassed" on the art centre to exhibit works, some of which might challenge those in power, last year. It is a case in point for stifling democracy in Thai art.

• OPINION

  Nationalism is not the answer to land woes

  Oped, Thana Boonlert, Published on 04/11/2022

  » Resistance to the controversial foreign land ownership bill is giving rise to the term khai chat -- used to denounce traitors who sell the motherland -- being used in political discourse. Whether a person is a government critic or supporter, he or she believes their ancestors fought very hard to protect our land and it should not be given away to foreigners.

• OPINION

  Rethinking citizenship

  Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 03/10/2022

  » What do you think when someone says those who are not loyal to the monarchy hate the nation?

• OPINION

  The rebranding of 'big brother' Gen Prawit

  Oped, Thana Boonlert, Published on 02/09/2022

  » A day after Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha was suspended from his prime ministerial duties, Paiboon Nititawan, deputy leader of the ruling Palang Pracharath Party, was handing out a biography on Gen Prawit Wongsuwon, now acting PM, to reporters.

• OPINION

  Time is on our side

  Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 15/08/2022

  » Win or lose, a protest is a process of trial and error. To put it simply, it is disruption, innovation, or something in between, just the way the now-defunct but shape-shifting Future Forward Party was in 2019 because it is born out of a spirit, not a person or a party. If the student-led demonstration goes down in history for demanding the boldest political reform, including the role of the monarchy, its resurrection last week proves that the pro-democracy movement is coming of age.

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