Showing 1 - 10 of 35
When students rise
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 28/10/2025
» Back in the mid-19th century, female education increased literacy and access to jobs and they began to fight for participation in public life. The public sphere promised them a new horizon. From the 1890s onwards, print media began to allow women to express their voice and authors vaunted personal talent and equality, including gender relations. Following the Siamese Revolution in 1932, women were enfranchised for the first time.
Written in blood
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 21/07/2025
» In 2015, Joe Freeman and Aung Naing Soe noticed the prominent status of poetry in Myanmar politics. At the time, both journalists heard that Maung Saungkha, a 23-year-old poet, posted a poem about having a tattoo of an unnamed president on his penis on Facebook. Saungkha, however, was charged for defaming former president Thein Sein under telecommunication law, serving a six-month jail term.
The next chapter?
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 30/06/2025
» How has sexual and gender diversity in Thailand evolved? Following the enactment of the Marriage Equality Bill, Life spoke to new-gen LGBTI on what hurdles still remain to be overcome?
Give mental health a chance
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 18/10/2022
» A string of mass shootings by officers in recent years may involve many factors, but they highlight the need for an improvement in mental health services, experts say, following the nursery massacre in Nong Bua Lam Phu's Na Klang district that left 36 people dead, mostly young children, and others injured.
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?
The tough road to democratisation
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 03/10/2022
» Taiwan has been hailed as a textbook example of a successful transition to democracy. At the end of the civil war in 1949, Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Kuomintang (KMT), lost to Mao Zedong's communist forces and fled to the island. After almost four decades of martial law until 1987, Taiwan eventually held its first presidential election in 1996.
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.
Thailand's Big Brother is upping the ante
Oped, Thana Boonlert, Published on 06/08/2022
» In the late 18th century, British philosopher Jeremy Bentham visited his younger brother, Samuel, in Russia, who arranged unskilled factory workers in a circle so that he could supervise them. Inspired by this principle, Bentham developed "the panopticon", an inspection tower surrounded by cells. Its uniqueness was that it enabled a watchman to monitor prisoners without them knowing they were being watched.
Food as rebellion
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 05/07/2022
» 'Eating food is our right. If our tongues aren't made of free will, it will be difficult to establish democracy. If we aren't allowed to eat our favourite food, how can we have desired politics?" said Asst Prof Chatichai Muksong, lecturer in history at Srinakharinwirot University, who has studied the topic of food for over two decades.
Dr Dolittle Prayut does little but talk
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 27/12/2021
» Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha made ludicrous headlines again when he broached the subject of animals during his official visit to southern border provinces. It is not surprising that the macho general again doted on creatures. A few years ago, he shared a photo of him in casual clothes and a cuddly dog on his lap. However, his interaction with animals in provincial trips often lands him in hot water.