Showing 1-10 of 12 results
-
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.
-
A month of history
Life, Kanokporn Chanasongkram, Published on 21/09/2020
» Planned at Thammasat University's Tha Prachan campus, the anti-government rally under the title, "Sept 19: Return Power To Civilians" was set on the same date as the 2006 coup d'état.
-
Eyes wide open
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 08/05/2020
» The literature about modern Thai politics is not abundant, and by this I mean a narrative that grounds its characters in the double-whammy of coup d'etat and street protest that characterised the mid-2000s to mid-2010s. The period, plus a few years earlier when Thaksin Shinawatra rose to power, contains some of the most convulsive and era-defining moments that continue to shape the visible and invisible dimensions of Thai society in the present time, and it's astonishing that not more writers find it a rich wellspring of artistic expression (on the contrary, visual artists and theatre artists seem more responsive to the political currents of the same period).
-
Patriotism remixed
Life, Published on 08/08/2017
» The song we hear most often in our life is about get to a makeover. Not in content or melody, but the national anthem will become more modern and powerful.
-
Pages of GLT history
Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 21/03/2016
» One by one, vintage magazines that were kept inside ziplock bags were slowly pulled out from within a steel cupboard. The yellowed pages of the publication and the outdated fashion apparel of the half-naked cover boy spoke for the period it was published.
-
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.
-
Documenting the eye of the storm
Life, Achara Ashayagachat, Published on 21/01/2015
» When 46-year-old Nikolaus Freiherr von Nostitz, better known as Nick, sent emails to his contacts on Dec 20 seeking financial help, some thought it was a scam. Soliciting donations is uncharacteristic of the outspoken but humble Nostitz. For years, people could see that the German was a modest guy who roamed around Bangkok on his decade-old Kawasaki GTO motorcycle to cover the turbulent transformation of Thai politics, from both sides (or more) of the conflict.
Your recent history
-
Recently searched
-
Recently viewed links
Did you find what you were looking for? Have you got some comments for us?
