Showing 1 - 7 of 7
Activist: 'Prayut as democracy hero' book a lie
News, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 19/04/2018
» Firebrand activist Srisuwan Janya has vowed to sue the Fine Arts Department if it fails to recalls a book called the History of Thailand, which depicts coup maker and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha as a patron of democracy.
The light dims in Hong Kong
Asia focus, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 16/10/2017
» Like many Thais, I have always considered Hong Kong my favourite destination. Perhaps it's because I've long been a big fan of the soap operas and martial arts films from Shaw Brothers Film Studio that dominated our television sets and cinemas during the 1970s and '80s. Hong Kong in those days was the epitome of glitz, a unique, vibrant and advanced Asian city where Eastern and Western cultures melted together into an exciting blend.
Now we can see the forests and the trees
News, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 25/04/2016
» The mercury is rising and there is nothing we can do about it. So we hide in our rooms keeping cool to the sound of electricity-guzzling air conditioners and try to ponder the reasons for the heat exceeding 44C.
Unconventional conservationist
Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 02/03/2016
» By look and temperament, Sasiprapa Raisanguan, a 22-year-old staff member at the Centre for Protection & Revival of Local Community Rights (CPCR), doesn't fit the stereotype of a Thai conservationist. She is no starry-eyed tree-hugger clad in natural-dye cotton, nor does she have a hemp rucksack or ride a bicycle to reduce her carbon footprint. At our interview in Chiang Mai, Sasiprapa arrives on her motorcycle, which she calls "a practical choice" to getting around the northern city where her office is.
Drought, fishing scandals and winding roads
Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 23/12/2015
» In the past year, environmental disasters once again proved how much of an impact they have on everyone's lives: the air we breathe (the haze in the South, blown over from Indonesia); the water we use (the contentious Chao Phraya roads); the lights we see (the coal-fired power plants); the ground beneath our feet (the gold mining scandals); the food we eat (the fishery disputes). In all of this, local communities and the rural poor feel the heat and the fire more than Bangkok's urbanites and they're the people who keep showing public resistance against environmental problems and the depletion of natural resources, despite the grip of military rule.
Heating up the rhetoric
Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 27/08/2014
» Last week, not long before he was taken into custody by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), consumer activist Ittiboon Onwongsa looked totally free from worries as he sealed parcels of pamphlets with duct tape. The 20 boxes were to be transported to Songkhla province in time for the Aug 19 start of a 950km protest walk from Hat Yai all the way to Bangkok.
A golden opportunity for change
Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 04/06/2014
» Everything that glitters is gold, but not for villagers at Ban Na Nong Bong, who live at the edge of a gold mine in Loei province. Since Thung Kham arrived to extract gold in 2003, villagers have complained that the company is poisoning its water source and farmland and harming their health.