Rajabhat University students in Isaan who want to get involved in the ongoing rallies have often faced resistance. Many of these students have asserted their right to protest and are also questioning the kind of education they are receiving. In joining the region’s student movement, they are calling for education reform and the dismantling of the obsolete social system underpinning these institutions.
“I’d never thought in my lifetime that there’d be a student protest in Sisaket. I see this as a hope for Thailand’s democracy,” says Pornchai Maneenil, a Sisaket human right lawyer and activist.
“So, if you want to point fingers at who’s behind this movement, I can say I know who’s behind these rallies. It’s Gen. Prayut. You’re the one who built this movement that’s set on bringing you down.”
From the classroom to a prison cell, Isaan students recount the aftermath of the Oct 13 arrests.
The Isaan Record, working with the Gender Diversity Network of Isaan, launches our series, “LGBTIQ+ in Isaan: On the road to justice and equality.”
A new trend of not standing in theaters during the royal anthem is going viral. People who do not stand declare it as an individual right and the act of not standing is not illegal. It’s happening in Isaan, too.
A victim of the pandemic, CIEE Khon Kaen, a unique exchange program for American students in Northeast Thailand, had to close its doors after 28 years. Guest contributor Weerawat Somnuek talked to the people involved with the program who hope their “people to people” education model can one day make a comeback.
“I want the monarchy to adapt itself because society won’t return to how it once was,” says activist and lawyer Anon Nampa as he calls for monarchial reform and amendments to the constitution.
The conventional view of Thai-Western relationships is older Western men meeting their future partner, often a single mother, at a tourist venue, getting married, and then moving to the man’s home country or settling down in Thailand. But online dating apps also see a new phenomenon emerging: younger Thai women connecting up with younger Westerners. Guest contributor Kate Santaliz takes a look.
