BANGKOK — Warisara Sornpet, the Campaign Director of Change.org, said she was surprised when she found out that the online petition calling for the junta-appointed National Legislative Assembly to outlaw possession of child pornography was actually started by a member of the assembly. The petition succeeded in May.

“She was one of the decision makers but she still used our platform to campaign,” said Warisara. “She said she wanted the assembly to know they are being watched by many people.” 

Change.org first set up a branch in Thailand four years ago. Warisara said the number of petitions started, significantly dropped in 2014 when that military seized power, but surprisingly the number has  increased by 120 percent this year. Though there are a number of other factors behind the current growth trend, Wisara believes suppression by the junta is no doubt one of them. 

“Whenever society becomes less open, people will be eager to find a way to speak,” said Nattawat Suttiyotin, a communication arts professor from Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University. 

Despite the infinite power of the internet, online activism around the world currently faces criticism that it is actually just “slacktivism”. By signing, liking or changing profile pictures, people are not required to devote much time or thought to supporting issues. Yet, under the current political climate, with public discussion banned and official petitions unreliable, clicktivism seems to serve some semblance of basic rights ripped out under the junta rule. 

Seven months ago, Prachamati.org (‘referendum’ in Thai) was formed to voice both sides of public opinion about the drafting constitution. Even though internet in Thailand is not guaranteed 100 percent safe, website admin said it is still the safest place to talk at the moment. 

“There was an attempt from the group called Citizen Forum, to hold a public discussion about the constitution and they were finally requested to end it by the military,” said site staff member, Narongsak Niamsorn. “So it is clear that this conversation cannot happen offline.”

The era of social movements often led by NGOs, has been transformed by cheaper smartphones and lower-cost internet packages, transferring power to anyone who identifies themselves as an active citizen.

“This year our platform tends to be used more for campaigns about national discourse,” said Warisara. “Some said our open platform [on Change.org] is a game changer.”
 

Not all campaigns are equal

Compared to those who protest on the street, signing an online petition comes with minimal cost. But does the number of names signed by lazy slacktivists lead to nothing, media experts argue this is not always the case. 

“The number [of people who sign an online petition], can be used as measurable evidence which increases the power to negotiate,” said Nattawat. “Especially when it was endorsed by an online opinion leader.” 

While the petition against the government’s attempt to create the single internet gateway, attracted more than 150,000 signatures and had some sway, the campaign against the junta’s ambition to build a promenade along Chao Phraya river could also slow down the project with only 16,000 names supported. 

The campaign initiator, Yossapon Boonsom, believes that to achieve their aims, online petitions still need to be supported by offline action to engage with followers and ensure the issue reaches a wider audience.
 
“People online are usually middle class and students,” said the landscape architect. “Those who live in local communities, affected by the issues didn’t receive information from our Facebook page, but rather from the leaflets we gave to them directly.”

Change is irreversible

While  suppression by the junta was one of the obstacles to public discussion, according to the experts who have been monitoring the petitions for the past four years, it was apparently not the biggest.

“The biggest challenge to change  is not the coup, but actually our Mai Pen Rai culture,” Warisara said, referring to Thailand’s common trait.

With the idea that the little people cannot make a big change firmly entrenched in society and made worse by the threat from people in power, Warisara said, “For some petitions, we consider it an achievement already just when people dare enough to sign it.” 

In days when the government channel proves to be ineffective and mainstream news shows on TV rely on the kingdom’s biggest discussion webboard Pantip, for their agenda, both media experts and Change.org’s campaign director argue – why can’t the internet be the new standard platform?

“Looking back over the last five years, have you ever seen any petition call for removal of a politician, achieve success, even when they received more than the 50,000 required names for support?,” asked Nattawat.

“The world has already changed and it will not go backward,” said Warisara. “With the internet, the power is now in everyone’s hands and it has proved that it can work.” 

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By Pravit Rojanaphruk
Senior Staff Writer

BANGKOK — “We aim high, to rise up and fight politically,” said Khornchanok Saenprasert, the New Isaan Movement’s coordinator and a trained human rights lawyer from Khon Kaen province. “This is not something that has been cooked up by four or five people; this is the result of wide-ranging consultations.”

Kornchanok said around 500 people from seven provinces in the northeastern region, known in Thai as ‘Isaan’, are on board. Members of this new region-based umbrella movement include the Dao Din student group, NGO activists as well as rural villagers. Those involved are from different backgrounds, they’re all from the much-neglected northeastern region and share a common pain and vision.

Long regarded as inferior and poor, once again people in the Northeast are rising up to fight for equality. The latest attempt began on Dec. 10, in Khon Kaen province, when a declaration announcing the formation of the New Isaan Movement was publicly read out.

The announcement of the New Isaan Movement was meant to be a renewed attempt by people in the Northeast to fight for equal political and social rights said Khornchanok. 

 “Being Isaan people is to be condemned to being second-class citizens and having no meaningful participation in politics. It also means being at the receiving end of [the adverse effects of] development projects. We have no part in determining our own future,” Kornchanok said.

He added that the coup has made the situation more acute with those opposing development projects in the region unable to even properly exercise their basic rights to protest.

Their second foray will be on Feb. 16 next year when they will launch their own people’s draft constitution just ahead of the junta’s draft charter.

“We hope to make society realize that the current [junta-sponsored] charter drafting process was not done by the people. We want to show what local people really want in their constitution. We don’t expect the junta to listen though.”

He said the junta has since contacted the group and asked them to participate in the charter drafting process but the movement declined the junta’s invitation, saying they see the whole process as undemocratic.

Periodic Discontent

David Streckfuss, a longtime Khon Kaen- based independent academic, said he’s not surprised by the latest development, though he said it is too premature to say how big the movement will become.

“There’s an age-old grievance that many Isaan people have against what they see as the uncaring and distant capital, which allows resources to be taken away from the Northeast for the benefit of others.

“This was clear and so Isaan people have been more politically aware and cognizant that they do not share the same set of rights as those in Bangkok.”

Streckfuss, originally from the U.S., has lived in Khon Kaen for 25 years and is married to a Thai. He said back in the 1960s and 1970s, people in the region were involved in the communist insurgency and in the 1990s they worked with the Assembly of the Poor. Over the past decade there was the so-called Redshirt movement too, he added.

“There is also a recognition that the Northeast, with its huge electorate, is not going to be allowed to have an equal [political] voice on a national level. And so it’s not strange to see a periodical call from the Northeast – for more autonomy. Whether the new Isaan Movement can find traction in this politically dark time remains to be seen.

“There’s no doubt that the coup and subsequent events have alienated the majority of Isaan people who wanted and still want a democratic government. Whether this Northeastern group can turn their grievances into a movement seems uncertain at present,” Streckfuss concluded.

Isaan Identity

Not all see identity politics as the key point in the New Isaan Movement, however.

Titipol Phakdeewanich, a lecturer at Ubon Ratchatani University, in the major Isaan province of Ubon Ratchathani, doesn’t think the creation of a separate Isaan identity is at the heart of the movement.

“It doesn’t mean they want regional strength but they want greater equality – that’s why they’re out demanding. Everyone wants equality and they [people from Issan] feel they are Thai too, but they don’t have equal rights.”

Titipol said the fact that many Redshirts in the region have voted for the Pheu Thai Party reflects their political aspiration to see a more responsive government it terms of policies. “They understand democracy better than Bangkokians assumed,” he said, referring to the prevailing belief among many in Bangkok that Isaan people can be bought (politically) and that they are manipulated by politicians as they don’t understand democracy.

“Vote buying is no longer the sole factor behind electoral success,” Titipol, who hails from the south but has lived in Ubon Ratchathani for 10 years, said. He added that some politicians, who paid more money to attempt to buy votes, did not win elections in the region, proof that voters consider other factors as well.

Not a Normal Struggle

Khornchanok meanwhile said given the current political situation under the junta since the May 22, 2014 coup, many Isaan people who are Redshirt supporters have been suppressed.

“Having a dictatorial state means they can’t make a political move and they don’t much dare to challenge autocratic powers. For us, New Isaan Movement, we start with defending our communities [from the adverse impacts of development projects]. Our backs are against the wall and if we don’t fight we will end up dying anyhow,” he said.

“What we would like to say is that we’re for equality and are against dictatorship and we are friends and allies to all those who share our values.”