EPISODE 7: THAILAND PROTESTS
DENIZ AKKAYA
The Thai protests, which started in the first months of 2020, first started against the prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s government but evolved into a demand for reform of the Thai monarchy. For the first time in decades, people are openly defying the monarchy!
Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Bangkok to demand the resignation of the Prayut government, a new constitution, and legal, political, and economic reform of the Thai monarchy. The protests first started with government criticism by students on social media. Growing up under the roof of a military government, the anger of this young generation was initially only against the Prayut government. The Prayut government came to power with a coup in 2014, won the 2019 election suspiciously, and couldn’t respond to the economic crisis that came with the COVID-19 epidemic.
Protests ignored by the authorities grew and the protests began to change from August as 21-year-old student Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul challenged the movement’s demands in a crowded square. Panusaya read a series of demands that never seen before:
i. end the monarch’s legal immunity away
ii. withdraw the Lèse majesté law that punishes any criticism of the monarchy with imprisonment
iii. cut the monarchy’s funds, make its investments transparent and taxable
iv. prohibit members of the royal family from expressing their political opinions and stop all monarchical propaganda
v. investigate the disappearance of various monarchical critics in recent years
vi. make it illegal for the monarch to support the coup.
This list of demands, which questions the monarchy in Thailand, was unprecedented since the 1930s. In 1932, a group of bureaucrats, idolized by today’s Thai youth, ended the absolute monarchy with the support of military forces. Today, the military forces have become a unit that is integrated with the monarchy and sees the preservation of its power as indispensable for its survival. The bold demands of the protesters mobilized supporters rather than push them away from the movement, and the student-based movement grew to include blue and white-collar people of various generations and some civil servants.
Thai protesters began using the three-toed salute from the Hunger Games franchise in protests, and the sign became the main symbol of resistance. A protest in which Gen Z was a part could not be expected otherwise. The sign represents support for democracy and anger towards the country’s royal military establishment.
Today, protests continue both in and around Bangkok, despite urgent decrees, arrests, and intimidation techniques by the authorities. Protesters are getting more and more radical against the ruler who has become the main target of the protests with Prayuth. Although the number of protesters reaches 200,000, this movement is a sudden and profound transformation that many people in Thailand have difficulty grasping. After weeks of protests in Bangkok and the rest of the country, it is unclear what will happen next. Whatever the short-term consequences of these mobilizations, anti-monarchy protests that became a norm with the advent of the Aquarius age represent a groundbreaking change for the country.
The advent of the Aquarius age is a reminder that even a seemingly stable political structure can collapse at any moment. Protesters in Bangkok raised their umbrellas in response to the tear gas of the police and greeted friends fighting another democracy in Hong Kong. Thailand learned a lot from the Hong Kong protests during protests. Following the arrest of most protest leaders in Thailand in recent weeks, activists have changed tactics. The lack of a central leadership was the defining feature of the protests that shook Hong Kong, and for many, this was the secret that protests took so long. Thai protesters also adopted the same tactic, producing the hashtag #Everybodyisaleader, and it made a big hit on social media.
The similarities in the way the protests were carried out and the purpose may seem like a coincidence to some, but these are just the footsteps of the coming Aquarius age! Stay tuned for Episode 8.
