Showing 1 - 3 of 3
Death by a thousand cuts
Life, Chris Baker, Published on 09/07/2021
» The film director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, is the most celebrated Thai creative artist in the world today, awarded the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2010 and a string of other international prizes. After wrestling with the Thai censors, he decided first to stop showing his films in Thailand, and then to stop making his films here. He has recently been making a film with an international star cast in Colombia, almost exactly the opposite point on the globe, the farthest possible distance from Thailand on the planet.
Do rights matter in Thailand?
Life, Chris Baker, Published on 30/09/2013
» Fifteen years ago, "M.56" was spray-painted all over sites of environmental protest like a spell to ward off evil. The clause in the 1997 Constitution that guaranteed the rights of local communities over natural resources bore the number 56. This clause and the formation of the National Human Rights Commission raised great expectations that the authorities would no longer be able to use "development" and "national security" as justification for riding roughshod over local communities. That hope turned out to be somewhat forlorn.
Ghosts, amulets, ringtones, and the rest of Thai Buddhism
Life, Chris Baker, Published on 09/01/2012
» Somdet To is, according to Justin McDaniel "arguably the most famous monk in Thai history." His image, picture, chants, biographies, amulets, and pamphlets are everywhere. Yet you could read everything written on Thai Buddhism in English for scholars or tourists without noticing his existence, let alone his importance. In this superb book, McDaniel not only does justice to Somdet To but suggests a new way of thinking about "Thai Buddhism" and how it is studied.