Showing 1 - 6 of 6
Getting soft power right
Life, Published on 08/01/2024
» After three months in office, the Srettha Thavisin government has raved on about populist policies in the guise of digital wallets and soft power projects that will create income to boost our declining economy. With optimism, we learned that Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Pheu Thai party leader and head of the National Soft Power Strategy Committee (NSPSC), has drafted a budget of 5.1 billion baht to boost festivals and creative industries. It is welcoming news to hear this government is priortising art, music, literature, design, fashion, film, food, games, sports and festivals as essential sources for the creative economy. Where this enormous chunk of budget will come from, like digital wallets, remains to be seen.
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.
Exploring our own past
Life, Suwitcha Chaiyong, Published on 17/03/2021
» A boy walks towards the trees and asks them a history question. The trees do not answer him. Then, the boy sees two trees running back to their game world and he follows them, and so his journey begins.
Let's get political (art)
Guru, Pasavat Tanskul, Published on 08/03/2019
» With the upcoming general election finally happening on Mar 24, the fate of the city hangs in the balance of voters hoping for some actual policy changes that leans toward democracy. However, some may express scepticism and while expressing one's doubts and criticism could be met with scorn and censorship, there are a few people who have expressed their opinions in other forms -- namely street art. Enter Headache Stencil, an anonymous masked political painter whose art usually deals with Thailand's recent social and political happenings.
From clam to crab governments
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 14/12/2015
» From the Tanin Kraivixien government following the massacre of Oct 6, 1976, the premiership of Gen Prem Tinsulanonda in the 80s, the post-economic crisis time of Chuan Leekpai up to the politically turbulent times of Thaksin Shinawatra, Abhisit Vejjajiva and Yingluck Shinawatra -- few have witnessed the history of Thai contemporary politics as closely as Somlak Songsamphant.
An amazing guidebook
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 30/03/2015
» Go to any bookshop here and you will find a shelf full of guides to Thailand, many penned by farangs, several with lovely scenic photos. They cover much the same ground. The Thai people are nice in every respect, yet they have quaint practices you are expected to heed. But what can you expect? It's a foreign land, a third-world country, that needs catching up. Give it another century or so.