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ON THAI TRANSNATIONAL misleadingly considered Thailand to be the
“next domino” to fall to communism. The
SUBJECTIVITY US was actively contributing to military
authoritarianism abroad to fight socialist
Sudarat Musikawong1 communism (Bradley 1978). The US
Congressional Hearings on Human Rights
in Thailand marked an end to US military
Abstract
aid sent to Thailand after the October 6,
1976 massacre. The testimonies by Thai
This paper examines the formation of
nationals examined in this paper were
transnational subjectivity through Thai
transnational political acts.
political engagements in the United States
(US). Thai people in the US participate in
The scope and scale of Thai political
Thai homeland politics, while negotiating
homeland transnationalisms in the United
for a Thai immigrant identity in the US.
States is a subject greatly understudied.
Thai diasporas exist through political and
Several contemporary events point to the
social experiences, in which Thai
formation of Thai political experiences
communities and persons engage in
that occur through travel between Thailand
homeland politics. Political acts and
and the United States, involving Thai
protests by Thais in the United States are
transnational political engagements in the
not new, but emerged in the aftermath of
United States. Such events include the
the Cold War. This paper asks how
public participation of political exiles from
political exiles, popular protests, film
the 1970s, the May 1992 demonstrations
festivals, and satellite television challenge
among Thai diasporas in Los Angeles
what Benedict Anderson has termed
against the Thai state’s crackdown on
“long-distance” nationalism and Arjun
democracy demonstrators in Bangkok, and
Appadurai’s mediascapes.
the 2004 film festivals in Los Angeles and
New York City. Much of the literature
about memories of 1970s Thai state
Introduction violence has remained primarily focused
on the contest over Thai historiography
Thais in the United States (US) have been contained within the borders of Thailand
integral participants in the issues of (Somkiat 1978, Nidhi 2002, Charnvit
democracy, human rights, migration and 2001). Yet, memories about 1970s state
immigration through their transnational violence have traveled between Bangkok
political ties between Thailand and the US. and US cities, through the 1977 travels of
The United States has long been a ‘home’ political exiles to testify at the US
away from home in which Thai politics are Congressional Hearings, and the 2000s
negotiated, especially in light of the resurgence of interest in the October 14,
history of US counterinsurgency in 1973 uprising against the military
Southeast Asia. In the aftermath of the dictatorship and the October 6, 1976
October 14, 1973 uprising that led to the massacre of the student movement among
demise of the Thanom Kittikajorn military diasporic Thai communities in the United
government, US political analysts States. Beside cultural activities involving
1
memories of both of these October events,
Assistant Professor, Department of political activities in New York City
Sociology, Siena College, New York.
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included demonstrations against former reunification under the United States 1965
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra during Immigration Act. By 1975, while over
the United Nations 2006 meeting. Activist 30,000 Thais resided in the United States,
organizing against the Thai government more accurate estimates were as high as
and 2006–2007 military junta in major US 200,000, with most being women and
cities was a key highlight of transnational children. In the mid 1970s, 42% of all
Thai homeland politics. These Thais admitted were wives of American
transnational activities form a range of citizens. While some university students
direct political/cultural engagements that returned to Thailand, some did stay, but
reveal the contextual and fragmented not in significant numbers to constitute a
nature of the “Thai transnational” subject. “brain drain” (Desbarats 1979: 304–306).
The formation of Thai transnationals in Family reunification immigration was at
places such as Washington DC, Los its height in the 1980s and constitutes the
Angeles, and New York reveals multiple second wave of Thai migration. Some
political subjectivities in conflict over thirty years later, in the wake of the 1997
what constitutes democracy and Asian economic crash, many working-
belonging, and that are ultimately poor Thais migrated to the United States,
dangerously bound to nationalism. overstayed their visas, and found work.
This is the third wave of migration. In
Making the Thai political subject 2000, demographically Thais increased in
transnational their relatively small numbers in official
numbers in the United States to over
The research on Thais in the United States 150,000 as documented by the U.S.
in general is limited. I suggest it can be Census. However with Desbarats’
rooted in two diverging premises. One is estimation of 200,000 Thais in 1975, it
based on the study of Thai economic would suggest that there are at least four
immigration to the United States. The times more Thais in the US.
other focuses on transnational Thai
homeland political engagement as a
vibrant from of social and cultural There are essentially, two Thai diasporic
practice. As part of the historical communities: 1) earlier immigrants with
migration of mainland Southeast Asians to Green Card/ US citizen status tied to Thai
the United States, most Thai immigrants middle class politics in Thailand since the
are distinct from their regional 1970s and 2) an emerging working class of
counterparts, who are mostly displaced poor economic migrants who have both
refugees from the US wars and their documented and undocumented status.2
aftermath in Vietnam, Laos, and
Cambodia. Initial Thai migration in the 2
Within the context of US debates on “illegal
1970s–1980s stemmed primarily from the immigration” there has been an effort by
middle and elite classes who attended hyper-nationalist nativists to name racially
university in the US and applied for non-white immigrant persons as “illegals.” In
residency, or who migrated via their a counter-discursive move, immigrant rights
professional status in fields such as advocates have sought to use the term
documented and undocumented immigrants to
medicine and engineering. Many of this
decriminalize immigrants who have not
first wave of Thai immigrants were able to received government documentation for their
sponsor immediate family members for presence in the US. The 2000 US Census does
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Within migration from Asia to the United category, which cannot be grounded in a
States, there is an observable pattern of set of fixed trans-cultural or transcendental
bifurcation or bipolarization between racial categories…” (Hall 1996: 443, 448).
affluent middle class Asians and more
recent economic migrants (Takaki 1998). Informed by Hall, James Clifford (1994)
This may be also true for Thais in the US. posits that diasporas cannot be contained
Evelyn Hu-DeHart (1999: 16–17) suggests by assimilationist formations of the
that this bifurcation is symptomatic of the immigrant. For both Hall and Clifford,
ways global capitalism has uneven effects diaspora is in tension with nativist identity
upon different economic class formations of national hegemonies,
communities within one ethnicity. In Los invoked increasingly by displaced peoples
Angeles, New York, and other urban ports with a connection to a prior sense of
of entry, Thai temples, consulates, small homeland. Displacement of these migrants
markets, and video stores emerged as occurs under the pressure of political
centers for Thai social life, but violence and transnational capitalism that
incorporating the working poor and middle simultaneously enables relative mobility
classes quite differently. In this article, between homelands and major international
however, I will focus primarily on Thais cities. In the case of Thai immigrants, in
who have engaged in homeland politics as urban centers like Los Angeles and New
part of an emerging Thai immigrant York, the production of October 1970s
middle class in the United States. memories suggests a transnational Thai
subject who travels both physically and
The work on transnational and diasporic ideologically between Thailand and the
communities varies across academic United States, participating in homeland
disciplines. In media studies, Stuart Hall politics.
(1990) argues that conditions of
decolonization created influxes of Black In conversation with notions of diaspora,
Diasporas in Britain. These postcolonial Aihwa Ong (1999, 2006), argues that
subjects produced cinema and other media capitalist neoliberal systems offer state
that connect displaced peoples with their regulated rights that privilege a “flexible
histories, in a process that served to citizen.” This flexible citizen labors as a
“enunciate” their identities. This is equally subject skilled and predisposed to care of
true of Thai diasporas when exhibitions of the self for the purpose of maximizing
Thai media and video take place in centers profit. For Arjun Appadurai (1996), the
for Thai immigrant social life. However, porous boundaries of the nation-state
“Ethnic” enunciation is far from stable or through the traffic of transnational media-
removed from the sometimes violent scapes creates imaged selves via satellite
politics of identity. For Hall, the project television, the global commerce of cinema,
of “de-coupling” ethnicity from video, restaurants, sports, and tourism.
nationalism reveals the fluid and While Ong maintains a tension with the
contextual nature of how ethnic-racial nation-state and Appadurai notes a need to
identity as “black” “is essentially a go “beyond” the nation-state, both
politically and culturally constructed problematically presume a political subject
premised on social experiences of the
cosmopolitan in which the state no longer
not accurately represent actual population, plays a significant role. These
especially for the undocumented.
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conceptualizations of the citizen-subject in alliance between royalists and some
studies of transnationalism came in the progressive activists. Furthermore, other
late 1990s at the height of economic neo- strategic alliances between Thaksin’s
liberalism. Conceptualizations of the strains of populist capitalism and
transnational subject depend on contexts competing groups of other progressives
of time and place. Yet, clearly the role of have also organized transnationally. While
the state in determining belonging to within Thai immigrant communities there
nation has far from vanished. The is some homeland political participation
formation of Thai transnational politics is among the newly arrived working poor, it
mediated by long distance nationalism. is predominantly the established Thai
According to Benedict Anderson, immigrants that participate in organizing
“electronic communications, combined political and cultural events related to
with the huge migrations created by the remembering the 1970s.
present world-economic system, are
creating a virulent new form of Many of the more established immigrants
nationalism, which I call long-distance constitute an emerging Thai middle class
nationalism: a nationalism that no longer in the US. Jiemen Bao (2005) focuses on
depends as it once did on territorial middle class’ transnational economic ties
location in a home country” (2001: 42). through the Thai temple as a space in
This paper points to the tensions over which cultural capital and social status is
defining “Thai-ness” as a viable ethnic, achieved within Thai diasporic
democratic, political, historical communities. Bao illustrates Ong’s idea
transnational subject, as social practices of flexible citizenship by demonstrating
that foreshadow the virulent nationalism of how Thai Buddhist merit making converts
the contemporary era. economic capital into cultural capital (Bao
2005). Given different notions of Thai
Before illustrating these tensions in identity forged out of displacement
transnational homeland politics, I want to (economic and political), I suggest that a
call attention to the fact that not all Thai focus on Thai transnational identity is
immigrants participate in homeland better understood not necessarily as Aihwa
politics in the same way. Saskia Sassen Ong’s privileged flexible citizen (1999),
(2003) argues that the less privileged but more broadly as a bifurcated Thai
denationalized citizen can demand political subject that intervenes in Thai
accountability from global economic and politics by crossing national borders
political entities through activist politics between Thailand and the US. One
located in the global city. Thai political subject emerges through the
communities in the US have struggled necessity of economic migration and the
with these very issues by engaging in Thai other seeks fulfillment as a political
politics at Thai embassies and consular subject through a tie to homeland histories
offices, most recently illustrated through and politics. I would like now to turn to
the demonstrations in Los Angeles, New this second Thai transnational political
York, and Dallas against ousted Prime subject by resituating the cultural
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra by the memories about the 1970s leftist social
transnationally organized People’s movements between Thailand and the US
Alliance for Democracy/ Phanthamit through leftists’ and intellectuals’
Phuea Prachathippatai [PAD], a strategic engagement with the US government in
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1977 and through their more recent 2003 Thanom inside the gates of Thammasat
engagement with Los Angeles-based Thai University in central Bangkok, the Thai
temples, and university alumni military, police and right-wing
organizations connected to homeland paramilitary groups attacked the
politics. demonstrations. The assault escalated into
a brutal massacre in which 48 people were
6 October Memories: brutally killed. The late 1970s marked a
mass exodus of students and leftist
“… it is because you do not have to live in organizers to join the Communist Party of
Thailand as a Thai citizen.” Thailand (CPT) in the provincial border
– Dr. Puey Ungpakorn, testimony to US regions, only to return to major cities in
Congressional Hearing the 1980s defeated and “pardoned” under
on Human Rights in Thailand. state amnesty. This amnesty and public
silence left both critical events unsettled,
October 14, 1973 (a civil uprising in and memories of the leftist movements
which 500,000 demonstrators in Bangkok marginalized as a lost cause of the Cold
helped to oust the military regime) and War.
October 6, 1976 (a massacre of student
demonstrators protesting the return of the In the 1970s, these traumatic memories
regime) mark the experiences of a were a fresh stain for those who personally
generation of Thais who participated in the experienced them. Many student activists
social movements of the 1970s. These went underground to join the Communist
two events are pivotal to the violence Party of Thailand (CPT) and were
committed by the state during the 1970s instrumental in developing an international
against the leftist and student movements. network organization against authoritarian
While the military and institutional powers rule in Thailand. Fresh memories about
forced order and obedience to the nation, Thai state violence traveled to the US,
Buddhism, and the King, leftist student Europe, and Australia with activists
movements were inspired by a organizing talks, publications
combination of reform, royalist (Bouehapakdee 1978), and the 1977 US
democracy, Marxist-Leninist, and Maoist Congressional Hearing testimonies on
ideals. Although the Bangkok popular human rights in Thailand.
uprisings of October 14, 1973 successfully
led to the ousting of the Thanom The Congressional Hearings were to hear
Kittikajorn military regime, the the testimonies on how US military aid to
demonstrators suffered great losses with Thailand contributed to the decline of
the police and military shooting into the human rights in the country. During this
crowds, killing 77 people. October 1973 special session of the US Congressional
ushered in the height of student Hearings, public figures like Sulak
involvement in labor disputes and land Sivaraksa and former Thammasat
reform as well as a counter-wave of right- University Rector Puey Ungpakorn as well
wing reactionary organizations through as an American political scientist W. Scott
vigilante and paramilitary groups. On Thompson were present to testify.3 I will
October 6, 1976, while five thousand
college students and supporters were 3
Puey Ungpakorn was red-baited and accused
protesting against the return of General of being a communist sympathizer, responsible
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focus on the exchanges between Puey and financially fueled the police-military
Thompson. Thompson saw insurgency and apparatus that ultimately used the October
civil rights as separate issues. He events to justify the need for
compared the Thai one percent loss of life counterinsurgency funding and a
due to Cold War conflict against continuation of armed assault against the
Cambodia’s extermination of one-quarter student movement and the CPT.4 When
of its population, and suggested that such Thompson began speaking in abstract
loss of life was worth the risk of terms, Puey Ungpakorn pointed out how
foreclosing the possibility of another easy it was for Thompson to talk about
Khmer Rouge problem. Furthermore, indifference curves and the ability for the
Thompson considered right-wing violence Thai government to withstand an exodus
against leftists under the Thanin of academics, students, and liberals
Kraivixien government (1976–1977) as a because Thompson did not have to live in
concern of domestic affairs, and not as a Thailand as a Thai citizen.5 For
violation of human rights. For him, the Thompson, even four years after the
US objective was clear: US interest in Congressional Hearings, Thailand and
regimes of other countries was to secure much of Southeast Asia was still in
US military strategic locations and constant threat of communism (Randolph
economic interests. According to 1981). Contrary to Thompson’s claim that
Thompson, “letting more countries go Thais publicly spoke of the desire for
communist” would weaken the western order, Puey Ungpakorn reminded the US
international system based on free
4
enterprise that had been in place to US In 1974, the US spent $29 million in military
advantage since the end of WW II (United and economic aid to Thailand. David Morell
States Congress 1977: 62–63), with the US and Susan Morell, "Thailand and the U.S.,"
setting the rules for the World Bank, New York Times, November 22 1976.
International Monetary Fund, and the According to Thomas Lobe (1977), the US
funded the Joint US Military Advisory Group
United Nations. While the US was not
(JUSMAG) through the CIA to assist
directly involved in rearticulating the Thailand’s counterinsurgency efforts. In
October events into Cold War discourse, addition, the US Agency for International
US economic and political interests Development (USAID), US Operation Mission
(USOM), Office of Public Safety, the World
for supporting the student demonstrations on Bank’s Development Committee (DEVCOM),
October 6, 1976. When Thammasat and US Information Service (USIS) funded the
University Rector Puey Ungpakorn was exiled very structures of Thailand’s police state.
in England after the October 6 massacre, he Specifically, US funding was used to fund the
traveled to the US to testify in 1977. W. Scott Border Patrol Police, Internal Security
Thompson is a political scientist. United Operations Command (ISOC), National
States. Congress House. Committee on Security Command, and the Police Aerial
International Relations. Subcommittee on reinforcement Unit. Thomas Lobe, United
International Organizations., Human Rights in States National Security Police and Aid to the
Thailand : Hearings before the Subcommittee Thailand Police (Colorado: University of
on International Organizations of the Denver Graduate School of International
Committee on International Relations, House Studies, 1977).
5
of Representatives, Ninety-Fifth Congress, United States. Congress. House. Committee
First Session, June 23 and 30, 1977, on International Relations. Subcommittee on
International Human Rights (Washington: International Organizations., Human Rights in
U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1977). Thailand, 63.
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congress audience that terror and fear of Public remembering, private
state violence forced Thais to say just that. memories
The contrast in how memories of the Representations of the traumatic episodes
October 6 massacre are differently from the 1970s Thai Cold War traveled to
articulated reveals that for Puey the US via community organizations and
Ungpakorn, the October 6 event was a film festivals. In 2001, while Bangkok
human rights violation, while for commemorations of the 25th anniversary of
Thompson, it fitted into the narrative of the October 6 massacre and the opening of
constant encroachment of communism the October 14 uprising Memorial site
into Southeast Asia. The hearings are not were underway, historian Charnvit
generally mentioned in Thai Studies Kasetsiri, based at Thammasat University,
approaches to understanding the October traveled to the Los Angeles Thai temple to
14 uprising and the October 6 massacre, screen and discuss his documentary, The
but acted as an event contributing to the October 14 Student Uprising (1998).6
close of the Cold War in Thailand through While I was attending the October
transnational political engagements of commemorations in Bangkok, my parents
notable Thai public intellectuals in exile. were attending the Los Angeles screening
Ungpakorn lived the rest of his life in of Charnvit’s film, along with other
Britain. members of the Thammasat University
Alumni Association (Musikawong 2010).
In contrast to the idea that the October 6, For many of this older generation of
1976 massacre represents a culmination of Thammasat University graduates who left
tragic massacre, or nostalgic leftist lament, Thailand before the social movements of
the 1977 US congressional testimonies (as the 1970s, watching the film and
memories produced one year after the participating in discussions of Thai politics
massacre) reveal a competing scenario of was a way to connect to their sense of
continuing human rights urgency on the homeland and the generation of student
part of victims of the Cold War. I cite this activist university alumni who had
case because it indicates that the notion of immigrated to the US in the 1980s. For
a Thai transnational political subject in the many, being an immigrant in the US
US is hardly new. Thai transnational meant a downward move in terms of social
political subjects emerge out of the
tensions of US intervention in Southeast
6
Asia. This Thai political subject can be As an established academic and public
traced to the Cold War period and intellectual, Charnvit Kasetsiri also relied on
preceding eras in places figuratively his connection to universities, arranging
screenings at the University of Hawaii and
spanned between the massacre site of
Cornell University. Benedict Anderson
Thammasat University and Washington worked with Charnvit to provide the subtitling
D.C.’s Congressional Hearings. and English text chronicling the events that
had led to the uprising in 1973 that
accompanied the booklet distributed with the
film. Thai communities in the US are
connected with Thai intellectuals as well as
scholars of Southeast Asian Studies through
spaces like the Thai temple, university, and
community centers.
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economic status, working in manual labor; pirated, others legitimately produced. In
but being connected to friends through the fact, the video store played a pivotal role
Alumni Association meant that one had a in providing access to the film for Thais
biography prior to the harder life in the living in Los Angeles.
US. For some of this older generation’s
children in their teens, it was simply about Four months after its Thai release,
connecting to Thai identity in terms of Moonhunter had a theatrical premier in the
culture. US at the Los Angeles Asian/ Asian
American film festival. Visual
That same year in October 2001, Five Star Communications, a community-based
released Moonhunter, directed by Bandit media arts organization that emerged out
Rittakol and co-written by Seksan of the 1970s Asian American movement,
Prasertkul. It is a biographical film about organizes this festival every year. One of
former student organizer Seksan the most difficult obstacles for festival
Prasertkul, who had become one of the organizers in reaching out to Thai
iconic figures of the 1970s student communities in Los Angeles as potential
movement. Many of this generation were audiences was the fact that many Thais
now academics and had attended graduate who might have been interested had
school in the US, Australia, and Europe already seen the film through video store
after leaving the Communist Party of outlets. Another disconnection between
Thailand. Moonhunter is titled after a this particular film festival and the Thai
scene in which Seksan shoots at the moon, communities of southern California was
mistaking it for a Thai military searchlight. that the organization itself did not involve
In the scene, his hill tribe guides laugh at any Thai organizations in the screening.
him because one cannot shoot at the moon, With a small staff, efforts to contact and
which Seksan believes to be symbolic of work with Thai community members was
his generation’s efforts to create a difficult task. With the exception of
revolutionary change. The film juxtaposes myself and two others, the audience for
scenes of the days during the October 14 the film festival premier was primarily
uprising, when Seksan and several other twenty or so non-Thais, some Los Angeles
student organizers led 500,000 progressives, and people who had lived in
demonstrators in Bangkok against the Thailand during the 1970s. Moonhunter’s
Thanom Kittikajorn military government, circuit of distribution for a Thai diaspora
with his days fighting alongside the was the video store and the circuit of
Communist Party of Thailand [CPT] in the exhibition was the individualized space of
late 1970s. In the final scenes, as Seksan the family living room. The consumption
and his wife, Jiranan Pitrpricha, leave the of leftist lament by Los Angeles based
CPT, a voice-over monologue closes with Thais was thus essentially a private affair.
“I am a historical wreck” (Bandit 2001).
Both juxtaposed experiences tell of leftist In contrast, The October 14 Student
lament, of failed revolution, and social Uprising’s circuit of exhibition was
change. While the film played in Charnvit’s connection to the Thammasat
Thailand’s commercial theatres, it soon University Alumni Association, which
traveled to the Thai grocery store and enabled a screening at the space of the
video outlets of major US cities in the Thai temple in Los Angeles. At the level
form of VCD/DVDs and VHS tapes, some of narrative, The October 14 Uprising is a
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documentary about the 1970s student products and an active participant in the
movement, with the implicit support of the Los Angeles Thai community, chaired the
King, earning a victory in ousting the organizing committee to commemorate
military regime. By contrast, Moonhunter October 14 as a “Day of Democracy” as
is a narrative feature about the internal instituted by Parliament that year.
conflicts within the student movement and Somchai had been a politically active
the Communist Party of Thailand from the Ramkamhaeng student in the 1970s, who
point of view of a defeated iconic former immigrated to Los Angeles in 1980 to join
student activist. The circuits of distribution his family in Southern California. When
and exhibition point to the formation of Somchai first arrived, he worked in a
Thai cultural practices that link the Thai plastics factory and then went back to
immigrant physically situated in Los school to study computer programming,
Angeles to Bangkok media and politics. finding employment in that field, and later
However, not all cinematic memories becoming a well established entrepreneur
about the 1970s student and radical leftist and Thai socialite (Panu 2003). Personal
movements circulate under the same friends with members of parliament like
terms. When Visual Communication’s the Chair of the October 14 Day of
festival curator, Abraham Ferrer was Democracy Committee, Somsak
considering a film from Thailand to Prisananthakul, Somchai and many other
represent the alleged emergence of a Thais in Los Angeles organized
“renaissance” in Thai cinema, he debated commemoration activities at Wat Thai in
between director Chatri Chalerm Yukol’s North Hollywood. While debates about
Suriyothai (2001) and Moonhunter (2001). immigrant assimilation/acculturation into
Suriyothai is a royal nationalist mega- host countries often argue that, in order to
feature about a 17th century queen who survive, immigrants sever their ties to their
sacrifices herself to save her King and homelands and assimilate, Thais like
Siam (pre-nation-state name for the Somchai are transnational subjects
territories) from the invading Burmese traveling physically and politically
forces. Eventually, Suriyothai was remade between a sense of “homeland” and their
for a “western” audience through Chatri place of residence in Los Angeles.
Chalerm Yukol’s transnational Recognizing transnational subjectivity
collaboration with his former University of demands attention to the complexity of
California Los Angeles film school negotiating being (economically and
classmate, Francis Ford Coppola. Given politically) in between “states” and the
Visual Communications’ sympathies for notion of “Thainess” that reveal how the
independent films and leftist politics, the latter’s sense of national histories are
curator ultimately selected Moonhunter for transportable.
the festival, knowing that there would only
be a small audience in attendance. While The events at Wat Thai in Los Angeles
Thai immigrants celebrated the victory of included merit making for those who had
the October 14 uprising at the temple, the died, a concert with Nga Caravan and
pain of leftist defeat found a Thai audience Ponsit Kampee, and a panel to discuss
only in the privacy of one’s home. democracy and history with academics
like Charnvit Kasetsiri and Members of
In 2003, Somchai Thaitan, a businessman Parliament (from Thai Rak Thai,
importing Thai home décor and media Democrat, and Chart Thai Parties) and
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representatives from the Ministry of Siam Chronicle USA Newspaper) alleged
Education (Kluykiengchon 2003). The that Somchai did not understand history
documentary by Charnvit was again and that the over-emphasis on the October
featured as a major part of the 14 uprising displaced the significance of
commemorations but as a mass give-away the end of absolute monarchical rule on
of 1,000 VCDs to the people who attended June 24, 1932, the role of the People’s
the activities. The documentary reveals not Party, and the October 6, 1976 massacre as
only the events leading up to the October part of the nation’s democratic history.
14, 1973 uprising, but also posits the story More interestingly, Jankrapau contended
of Bangkok as central to national that “Thais in the United States know how
democratic social movements. In addition, to use rights and freedom without relying
there was a photo exhibition at the Los on commemorating [October] because the
Angeles Wat Thai that focused on the way of life of Thais in America is already
events leading up to October 14, 1973 saturated with freedom in such a way that
with explanations in Thai and English, a it is in the blood and bone”
dimension that Somchai explained as (Kluykiengchon 2003). The desire for
designed to reach out to all Thais, some Thais in the US from the October
suggesting a way to connect younger generation to connect with homeland
generations of children who could not read politics is tempered by others who do not
Thai to this aspect of “Thai national identify with that group, but who
history.” The dynamism of the visual nevertheless lay claim to understanding a
medium, here both VCD media and more comprehensive notion of national
photography, is harnessed as a way to democratic history. There were similar
transport a sense of Thai national history, debates about the over-emphasis on
connecting Thai diasporas and second- October 14 as Day of Democracy in
generation Thai youth born in the US to Thailand; however, the major difference
Thai identity. Thai transnational history was an assumption that living in the US
and subjectivity are articulated the space meant that democracy was already fully
of Bangkok and in the monumental time of integrated into one’s “blood and bone.” A
the 1970s democratic movement. claim that is not necessarily true, but more
revealing about the political resentment
In 2003 to cover the expenses of and fragmentation among the Thai
organizing the commemoration, Thais in diaspora over what constitutes being
Los Angeles collected substantial connected to Thailand. The tensions and
donations, the Thai Parliament budgeted fragmentation intrinsic to these disputes
some travel assistance, and members of over claims to Thai nationalism solidify
Parliament’s October 14 Day of the coupling of “Thai ethnicity” with
Democracy organizing committee paid nationalism, in what Stuart Hall terms a
their own travel costs.7 It was perhaps the practice of epistemic violence from the
largest commemorative activity for policing of what is “Thai” from inside the
October 14 outside of Thailand, which ethnic group (Hall 1996, 445). The deep
brought vibrant debates in the newspapers desire for an identification with democracy
and on internet Blogs for Thais in the US. and claims to nation is a form of epistemic
Jankrapau (pseudonymous columnist for violence because of its denial of the full
range of democracy and belonging without
7
nationalism (in non-monarchical and non-
Panu Neutini, "Somchai Thaitan Interview."
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Thai ethnic terms). The assumption that that many forgot (Thongchai 2002). In
modern democracy exists in the blood and 2003 in Bangkok, the Thai Film
bones of those who reside in the United Foundation and the October 14 Memorial
States is a misrecognition that democracy were interested in exploring how to
resides in place rather than social practice, increase ways that both events were being
and it infantilizes Thai struggles as remembered in opposition to each another.
somehow less democratically mature, less I was fortunate to have collaborated with
modern. these two organizations in hosting a video
collective workshop for young people
When the story of the October uprising is under 25 years of age to create short
told as memories of leftist lament, they are videos about “October,” interpreting what
privatized in the space of the home. When the significance of the 1970s social
the story of the uprising is celebrated as a movements were for their generation. For
milestone of Thailand’s path to democracy seven weekends, twenty participants
supported by the King, it is publically watched old found footage of both events,
acknowledged in the communal space of read about and researched the events
the Thai temple. When the celebration together. They were visited by former
becomes self-congratulatory politicking by student organizers like Jiranan Pitrpricha
Thais in Los Angeles, that history is and Sinsawat Yaudbangtheuy, and went
greeted with resentment. Together these on a walking tour of both October events’
versions of October 14 and October 6 landmark sites in central Bangkok.
travel from Bangkok to Los Angeles in
contrasting senses of a transnational Thai The participating youth produced three
historical subject tied to the Thai nation’s different films distributed as the October
ideological conflicts during the Cold War. Youth Short Film Project. Full Moon tells
I want to suggest that when the 1970s the story of a disillusioned 'Art for Life'
student and revolutionary movements are fan out of touch with contemporary times.
remembered as regrettable, it cannot The Wall is an experimental documentary
become a moment in which to bring Thai with various Thais from all walks of life
communities in the US together. For the writing graffiti on a wall, with sound
transnational Thai political subject to lay overlaid from an interview with Wat
claim to homeland histories, it is easier Wunlayangkul, a well known leftist
when they are celebratory democratic activist from the 1970s. In Night for
histories. What is it about a transnational Freedom, a young man, whose parents
sense of public Thai self-imagining that died during the 1970s political turmoil,
requires seamless historical victories at the reckons with his gay libido. One
abandonment of complex conflicted workshop participant, Doungta
histories? Patummasoot said: "I learned something
about political trauma and about
Transgenerational forgetting: from forgetting. I don't think violence is the
Bangkok to New York answer to political problems.” She co-
produced The Wall with three other young
By the late 1990s, politicians incorporated people. She continued, "[n]ot only has
the October 14 uprising into a national each of us learned something about
discourse about democracy. Conversely, teamwork and the film-making process,
the October 6 massacre became a tragedy we each, in our own way, have acquired a
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memory of the October incidents” Some write “Without them [those involved
(Alongkorn 2004). Those memories in October], there would be no you today.”
acquired were in no doubt partial, Others write, “I don’t care, I have no food
discontinuous, pro-student movement. and I am hungry.” The last scene shows
While the curriculum of the workshop was the shop owner, to whom the wall belongs,
predominantly from the perspective of the coming out and painting over all the
student movement, we gave the graffiti. The camera zooms in on the
participants free license to interpret the painted wall with only “Love the Reader”
past in terms of any genre, documentary, left in small hand-writing, suggesting that
experimental, narrative, and even satire. October is left for the audience to read,
interpret, and find their own meaning. The
visuals are overlaid on the soundtrack with
Doungta’s interview with famous 1970s
activist Wat Wunlayangkul and the British
pop song “Sing” by Blur as well. The
visual and audio tracks are thus
completely disconnected. While the visual
is a reckoning with the fact that the 1970s
October 14 uprising is disconnected from
the experiences of everyday life in
present-day Thailand, the audio interview
The Wall (2004), translation by author: pays tribute to the student movement
“October 14 viciously devours” (top line); through a 1970s activist’s retelling of the
“really?” (middle); “there is no you today” political and economic contexts for the
(bottom line); Photograph Still Credit- uprising and how Thaksin’s politics in
Thai Film Foundation 2004 was a military dictatorship under
elected means.
While some who experienced the October The three short films, including The Wall,
6 massacre first-hand were traumatized, were screened at several film festivals in
having been silenced for so many years, a Singapore, Bangkok, Los Angeles, and
younger generation does not “acquire a New York. In May 2004, despite
memory of the October incidents,” as advertising in Thai Town, nobody from
Doungta asserts, but rather re-scripts those the Thai communities in Southern
memories in the practice of forgetting. California attended the Visual
The experimental film The Wall begins Communications screening in Los
with the rude graffiti by one young man, Angeles. The curator programmed the
“October 14 hustle/ ha kin;” another three shorts as part of a series on activism
young man subsequently crosses out eat/ and many in the audience were non-Asian
kin and replaces it with the even more city residents, film students, and Asian
vulgar rendition of kin, “viciously devour/ American students interested in the topic.
daek.” The people writing the graffiti Without a background in the political
include an ordained novice monk, a young events of the 1970s in Thailand, many in
man in torn up military fatigues, a young the audience remarked that they did not
woman with a school bag, two young understand the films’ historical references.
school girls, a homeless man, and others.
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In April of 2004 in New York City, Thai His distrust was not unwarranted, given
Links programmed the October Youth the degree to which those on the left were
Short Film Projects in their 2nd Thai Takes forced underground. With Thai Links’
Film Festival. Thai Links is a Thai- mission of creating what constitutes a sort
American organization dedicated to of reversal with linkages between Thailand
“increasing awareness on issues affecting “abroad” and New York “at home”
Thai communities at home and abroad through art and activism, the film festival
through art and activism” (Thai Links became a critical site for creating
2006). With a small voluntary staff of connections for US-born Thai Americans.
mostly US-born Thais, Thai Links (2002– For many Thai Americans, “abroad”
2009) was a creative collective that began meant outside of the US and “home” was
to address the need for critical dialogue the United States. But for others like the
among a growing population of Thai former student-artist activist, even as a US
Americans in the city and an emerging resident, his “abroad” was New York and
generation of artists and independent “home” was Thailand. When Thai Links
filmmakers in Bangkok. With the programmed the October Youth Short
emerging recognition of independent Thai Film Project, it also created temporal links
cinema at international film festivals, Thai between the 1970s and 2004, between an
Links has been providing a venue for Thai older generation of Thai immigrants who
independent films in New York City were activist-artists and those who are
through festival, panels and other Thai Americans.
activities.
While most of the organizers of Thai
At the screening, both myself and Thai Links are Thai Americans in their late 20s-
Film Foundation director Chalida 30s, when the People’s Alliance for
Uabumrungjit were invited as guest Democracy [PAD] was organizing
speakers for the film. In contrast to the transnationally against Prime Minister
Los Angeles screening of Moonhunter, the Thaksin, politically active older Thai
audience was a mix of Thai Americans immigrants worked for the first time with
affiliated with Thai Links, Thais who were Thai Links. While Thaksin’s war on drugs
former student activists and had in 2003 killed thousands and the 2004
immigrated to the US in the 1980s, and militarization in the South led to the
other New Yorkers. A former student Takbai massacre of 78 Muslim
activist who resided in New York where demonstrators, all of which caught the
he had been working and struggling as an attention of the United Nations Human
artist remarked that, for him, having left Rights Commission, it was in 2006 when
Thailand so long ago and not having gone Thaksin was accused of being anti-royalist
back, it was the first time he was able to and securing untaxed revenue when he
see and talk about the October 6 massacre. sold his Shin Corp––a Thai media and
He recounted his own memories about the telecommunications conglomerate––to a
brutal killings and was visibly shaken. Singaporean Company that many middle
When Chalida and I spoke to him class Thais became militantly opposed to
privately, he was glad to see that this him. Soon PAD, a coalition between Thai
moment in the past mattered to a progressive activists, economic political
generation of younger Thais but, when rivals like media mogul Sondhi
asked, he would not give his full name.
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Limthongkul,8 and royalists, was formed. Both progressives within PAD in
Thaksin was attending the United Nations Bangkok10 and Thai Links have been
meeting, hundreds of Thais in New York active in practices of keeping the October
and along the east coast rallied outside the memories in circulation, but coalitions
building demanding “Get out Thaksin.” formed in a turn of political interests
At some of the Thai restaurants in the city, against Thaksin. The PAD from those in
the owners put up posters against Thaksin. the leadership ranks to the everyday
Outside the UN building the police asked a restaurant worker in New York donned the
man and woman who joined the rally with yellow shirt, which has become a symbolic
their “We Love Thaksin” signs to leave social practice of expressing one’s
because they did not have permits to stage allegiance to the crown. The act of
a counter-demonstration (Thaksin Greeted wearing the yellow shirt enlisted the
2006). Outside the UN building, Thai monarchy, as an incredible political force
Links unwittingly showed solidarity with imbued with undeniable symbolic power,
PAD by wearing yellow shirts, symbolic to various political ends.
of their allegiance to the King.9 According
to David and Susan Morell: For each memory insisted upon, many
things are forgotten. The September 2006
A critical factor in the October 6 military coup against Thaksin was
(1976) coup was the role of King allegedly approved by His Majesty. The
Bhumiphol Adulyadej, Rama IX. high court of Thailand had ruled against
In lending his visible support to Thaksin and his political party Thai Rak
the forces of the right, he Thai from further participation in politics.
abandoned a tradition. Always, in After his exile to London, Prime Minister
the past, he remained officially Thaksin returned in 2008 with the full
detached from “politics,” thereby support of the government led by Samak
making it possible for all citizens Sundaravej, but returned to exile in 2010.
to identify with him and, more Practices of homeland politics abroad,
important, to continue believing concerning royalist protests against and
that deep in his heart the King was gatherings for Thaksin at Thai Consulate
on their side, whatever side that offices in cities like Los Angeles, Dallas,
might be. (Morell 1976) New York City and Chicago demonstrated
that long-distance nationalisms are
conflicted. However, these political
allegiances to a “virulent nationalism” do
not offer liberation, or any subversion
8 against the structure of the state’s
In late 2006, Sondhi toured Los Angeles,
regulatory power, nor the power of global
Seattle, Dallas, San Francisco, and New York
to rally support for PAD and for Thais in the
capitalism. It is in the spaces between
US to invest in his satellite television arm of
10
Manager Group, his media conglomerate Suriyasai Katasila, PAD coordinator in
(Tantipinichwong 2006). August 2006 had previously organized the
9
Yellow is the color of the King and in 2006- October commemorations in Bangkok in 2003
2007, royalists and political opportunists alike and 2004. In 2003, Suriyasai was a lecturer in
used the symbolic power of the yellow shirt to the Faculty of Political Science at Thammasat
express their opposition to Thaksin, who is University and an organizer for the Campaign
accused of being anti-monarchical. for Popular Media Reform.
99
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Thailand and Washington D.C., Los Bandit Rittakol. 2001. Moonhunter.
Angeles, and New York that Thai Bangkok: Five Star Productions.
economic and political transnational
subjectivities are forged under conditions Bao, Jiemen. 2008. From wndering to
of migration and forgetting the 1970s wat: Creating a Thai temple and
stories of US counterinsurgency in inventing new space in the United
Southeast Asia and its connections to Thai States. Amerasia Journal 34. 3: 1–18.
state violence. As such, we must
undoubtedly redefine what long-distance Charnvit Kasetsiri and Damrongsak
nationalist social practices are, not only as Petchlertanan (ed.). 2001. From 14 to 6
actions like voting, demonstrating/ October/ Chak 14 Thueng 6 Tula.
lobbying, sending remittances, creating Bangkok: Social Sciences and
film/video/art, fighting, killing, and dying Humanities Textbook Foundation/
for the homeland; but we must interrogate Munnithi Khlongkan Tamra
how these social practices remake Sangkhomsat Lae Manutsat.
democracy and belonging, chipping away
at the framework of nationalism’s Clifford, James. 1994. Diasporas.
exclusionary politics. This is one of the Cultural Anthropology 9. 3:
greatest challenges in studying the making 302–38.
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Desbarats, Jacqueline. 1979. Thai
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