By Thaweeporn Kummetha |
<div><em>The Deep South peace process often focuses on the Muslim Malay, but there are several other minorities that do not have much of a voice in this process. Prachatai talks with a Buddhist Thai group, an LGBT group, and ethnic Chinese on their views on the regional unrest. </em></div>
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<div><em>“Faiyen” is a pop and luk thung band well-known to red-shirts. With their lyrics sharply criticizing the elite, the band seeks to politically “enlighten” listeners. Faiyen have been harassed by the military until they have had to flee to a neighbouring country. Although their lives in exile are quite difficult and fraught with limitations, Faiyen is still continuing to write and sing songs for a revolutionary change in Thai society. One of Faiyen’s new songs is a chilling cover of The Hunger Games’ “The Hanging Tree.” Although both Faiyen and Katniss may sing this song, the place Faiyen are exiled to is no District 13.</em></div>
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By Asaree Thaitrakulpanich |
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<div><span>27 years later, a renowned historian’s 1988 groundbreaking book on Thai royal nationalism and geography is still garnering new interpretations and discussion. </span></div>
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<div>Thongchai Winichakul, a professor of Southeast Asian History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison whose best-known work is <em>Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-Body of a Nation</em>, offered authorial insights at a public discussion held at Thammasat University on 3 October 2015.
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By Thaweeporn Kummetha |
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<div><em>“Patani” is now a very controversial term used to refer to the area encompassing the provinces of Pattani (with 2 t’s,), Yala, Narathiwat, and 4 provinces of Songkhla, mostly inhabited by Malay Muslims and infamous in the news for being a space of conflict. The term arguably carries a strong sense of separatism. The increasing use of the term by CSO, media and the separatists themselves raises concerns among the non-Malay Muslim whether they are included as Patani people and if they will have a say in the right to determine the future of the region.</em></div>
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<div>Veteran The Nation journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk known for his anti-junta stances was allegedly ill-treated at the hands of the military during his 3-day detention. </div>
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By Asaree Thaitrakulpanich |
<p><em>A cautionary tale of an informal worker's life</em><em> produced by an "indie" director and released by a commercial studio giant sheds light on freelance graphic designers' constant threat of joblessness and sickness due to their lack of a social security and health insurance.</em></p>
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By Thaweeporn Kummetha |
<div>MARA Patani, the umbrella organization for the insurgency movement in the restive three southernmost provinces of Thailand -- Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat, and four districts of Sonkhla -- has just had their first meeting with media.
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By Pimkamol Phijitsiri |
<div>At the mention of the Thai sex industry, sexpats may start spouting off about their expertise in establishments at Soi Cowboy, Nana, Patpong, and Pattaya. Much less-publicized, however, is the local sex industry catering to Thais. Services offered at the so-called bathing-sauna-massage parlours are different from those for foreign tourists.</div>
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By Asaree Thaitrakulpanich |
<div>Gen Prayuth Chan-o-cha on Tuesday afternoon expressed condolences for the losses from Tuesday’s evening bomb at a popular shrine in Bangkok’s shopping district, while stressing the junta’s control over the security situation in Bangkok. Meanwhile, another bomb went off at a busy pier in Bangkok with no casualties. </div>
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<div>“Whenever the people are hurt, I am hurt even more,” the prime minister and leader of National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) said on Tuesday 18 August 2015.
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By Asaree Thaitrakulpanich |
<div>A theatre piece by Thailand’s only dance movement psychotherapist is a soothing trust exercise for the audience.</div>
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By Thaweeporn Kummetha |
<div>Decades of insurgency in the Deep South have embroiled the region in violence. A large number of people, especially Chinese business owners, have moved out of the area. Nevertheless, in the past few years cultural events and halal restaurants have flourished in the three southernmost provinces.</div>
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By Asaree Thaitrakulpanich |
<p><em>This Kind of Love, </em>a documentary about the life of a human rights activist, Aung Myo Min, portrays the “struggle within a struggle” of a LGBT Burmese, who continues to fight not only for democracy, but for LGBT rights and all other marginalised people in Myanmar.</p>
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