Thaksin Shinawatra:“The case was dismissed...”

Charges of lèse-majesté and violation of the Computer Crime Act against former PM Thaksin Shinawatra were dismissed by the Criminal Court in Bangkok this morning. The charges related to an interview that Thaksin gave in South Korea ten years ago. As he left the court, Thaksin said: “The case was dismissed”. The verdict had already been leaked to the media by Thaksin’s legal team, before it was officially announced.

In a video interview with The Chosun Daily (조선일보), recorded on 21st May 2015, Thaksin implied that a “palace circle” was behind the 2014 coup. He has made similar claims in previous interviews, without being indicted for lèse-majesté: in 2009, he told the Financial Times that the Privy Council plotted the 2006 coup, and he made the same allegation to Tom Plate in Conversations with Thaksin. Likewise, in 2008, he publicly accused Prem Tinsulanonda, Privy Council leader at the time, of masterminding the 2006 coup.

Today, the court ruled that Thaksin’s interview did not constitute lèse-majesté, as he had not singled out any specific individual for criticism. The verdict followed the letter of the lèse-majesté law, seemingly dismissing any possible innuendo in Thaksin’s vague references to palace insiders. This is in contrast to lèse-majesté cases involving less high-profile defendants, when the law has been interpreted more broadly.

Thaksin’s passports were revoked by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2015, in a preemptive decision pending a police investigation into the Chosun Daily video. Two days later, lèse-majesté charges were filed against him on behalf of Udomdej Sitabutr, army chief at the time (raising questions about the politicisation of the military). The case lay dormant for almost a decade, though it was reopened last year, following Thaksin’s return from self-imposed exile. He appeared at the Office of the Attorney General to answer the charges, and was then formally indicted. The long-running case has now been dropped.

Thaksin has been the single most influential figure in Thai politics over the past two decades. In 2001, he won the country’s first landslide election victory, and he became the first elected PM to serve a full term in office. The protest movements that have polarised contemporary Thai politics are defined by their stances on Thaksin and his regime: the People’s Alliance for Democracy started its campaign after he sold his stake in Shin Corp., the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship protests escalated when his assets were frozen, and the People’s Democratic Reform Committee opposed a plan to grant him amnesty.

Thailand’s military and royalist establishment has pulled out all the stops to eradicate Thaksin’s legacy, to no avail. The PAD and PDRC protests paved the way for coups in 2006 and 2014, respectively. The Constitutional Court dissolved three of his proxy parties: Thai Rak Thai, the People Power Party, and Thai Raksa Chart. Despite all this, parties funded by Thaksin won every election from 2001 to 2019, and he has hand-picked five prime ministers: Samak Sundaravej, Somchai Wongsawat, Yingluck Shinawatra, Srettha Thavisin, and Paetongtarn Shinawatra. After trying and failing to remove Thaksin, the military seemingly struck a deal with him instead, to prevent the 2023 election winners, Move Forward, from assuming office.

But the military giveth and taketh away: Thaksin has been wrong-footed several times, and every act of leniency granted to him has come with strings attached. He was released on parole, yet the very next day his lèse-majesté charge was revived. He was granted a royal pardon, though it only partially commuted his prison sentence. Junta-appointed senators voted for Srettha as PM, though he was removed from office after less than a year. Paetongtarn’s premiership was also endorsed by the Senate, though she is now also facing potential disqualification. Although one case against Thaksin was dismissed today, another is still pending: the Supreme Court is investigating the legality of his suspicious stay in hospital, when he avoided a jail sentence.

5 ปี #ธรรมศาสตร์จะไม่ทน: ย้อนรอยข้อเรียกร้องจาก ปฏิรูปสถาบันฯสู่ยกเลิก112(‘5 years of #ThammasatWillNotTolerate’)

The exhibition 5 ปี #ธรรมศาสตร์จะไม่ทน: ย้อนรอยข้อเรียกร้องจาก ปฏิรูปสถาบันฯสู่ยกเลิก 112 (‘5 years of #ThammasatWillNotTolerate: tracing the demands for institutional reform and the abolition of section 112’) opened yesterday at the Social Complex Building on Thammasat University’s Rangsit campus. Organised by the Museum of Popular History, it features photographs, newspaper front pages, and other materials covering the recent student protest movement.

The exhibition features a copy of a speech read by Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul at a 12th December 2021 protest calling for the abolition of article 112 of the criminal code (the lèse-majesté law). The paper is stained with Panusaya’s blood, as she carved “112” into her arm at the demonstration. It has previously been on display at the Bangkok Art Book Fair in 2021, and at Thammasat in 2023.

Keir Starmer: The Biography

Tom Baldwin’s biography of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, first published before last year’s election, was based on many hours spent with Starmer, his family, and senior Labour Party colleagues. This remarkable level of access led to a surprisingly intimate portrait of an intensely private politician, and the book has now been updated to include coverage of Starmer’s first year in office. Baldwin profiled Starmer for The Observer in June, and that interview is expanded in the revised paperback of Keir Starmer: The Biography.

Baldwin is a former Times and Telegraph journalist, though he was also head of communications for Labour throughout the coalition government, so his biography is broadly sympathetic to its subject. He acknowledges that he isn’t an impartial observer, and describes Starmer as “a man whom I both like and trust but sometimes find hard to fathom.” And the PM’s colleagues seemingly feel the same way about him: “Those who have worked closely with Starmer mix deep affection with tearing-their-hair-out frustration because they... yearn for a clearly defined project that identifies their purpose. They want a ‘Starmerism’. And he just won’t give them one.”

In his introduction, Baldwin makes clear that “it’s only fair to warn those hoping to find these pages apattered with blood that they will be disappointed.” The other key Starmer book published this year, Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund’s Get In: The Inside Story of Labour Under Starmer, seems brutally direct in comparison, and Baldwin accurately describes it as “a blood-stained account of Labour’s transformation over the past five years, in which Starmer himself was largely absent.”

Maguire and Pogrund quote a Starmer advisor saying: “He thinks he’s driving the train, but we’ve sat him at the front of the DLR.” (The Docklands Light Railway uses driverless trains.) Get In leaves the reader in no doubt that Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney is in the driving seat — and that its authors have the same access to high-level Labour sources as Andrew Rawnsley had in the New Labour era.

Phimailongweek 2Midnight Monsoon

The second annual Phimailongweek (พิมายฬองวีค) experimental arts festival will take place at Phimai, in Korat province, from 1st to 15th August. The theme of this year’s event is Midnight Monsoon (ภาคมรสุมฝัน), and it includes a programme of overnight film screenings at various locations around the ancient town, titled Phimailongdoo: Midnight Screening (พิมายฬองดูววว: ภาพยนตร์เที่ยงคืน).

Undoubtedly the highlight of the festival will be on 2nd August at Victory Gate: screenings of previously censored films, a provocative recent documentary, and a discussion about film censorship. This session will begin with three short films by Tanwarin Sukkhapisit, including I’m Fine (สบายดีค่ะ), for which she sat in a cage next to Democracy Monument in a commentary on political freedom.

Midnight Talk

Tanwarin will then take part in มรดกของการเซนเซอร์ ผลกระทบ จากความขัดแย้ง และเสรีภาพในการสร้างภาพยนตร์ (‘the legacy of censorship and the impact of conflict on freedom for filmmaking’), a Midnight Talk discussion with fellow director Ing K. Nontawat Numbenchapol was originally scheduled to appear, though he is unable to attend; Tanwarin, Ing, and Nontawat have all made films that were previously banned in Thailand, and I interviewed all three directors for Thai Cinema Uncensored.

Ing’s Shakespeare Must Die (เชคสเปียร์ต้องตาย) will be shown after the discussion. After midnight, in the early hours of 3rd August, it will be followed by two political documentaries: Nontawat’s Boundary (ฟ้าต่ำแผ่นดินสูง) and Uruphong Raksasad’s Paradox Democracy.

Shakespeare Must Die

Shakespeare Must Die was banned by the Ministry of Culture in 2012, and the ban was upheld by the Administrative Court in 2017. Ing’s battle with the censors, documented in her film Censor Must Die (เซ็นเซอร์ต้องตาย), went all the way to the Supreme Court, which finally lifted the ban last year. After its belated theatrical release, it has since been screened at Burapha University and Chiang Mai University.

Shakespeare Must Die is a Thai adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, with Pisarn Pattanapeeradej in the lead role. The play is presented in two parallel versions: a production in period costume, and a contemporary political interpretation. The period version is faithful to Shakespeare’s original, though it also breaks the fourth wall, with cutaways to the audience and an interval outside the theatre (featuring a cameo by the director).

In the contemporary sequences, Macbeth is reimagined as Mekhdeth, a prime minister facing a crisis. Street protesters shout “ok pbai!” (‘get out!’), and the protests are infiltrated by assassins listed in the credits as ‘men in black’. Ing has downplayed any direct link to Thai politics, though “Thaksin ok pbai!” was the People’s Alliance for Democracy’s rallying cry against Thaksin Shinawatra, and ‘men in black’ were blamed for instigating violence in 2010. Another satirical line in the script — “Dear Leader brings happy-ocracy!” — predicts Prayut Chan-o-cha’s propaganda song Returning Happiness to the Thai Kingdom (คืนความสุขให้ประเทศไทย).

The parallels between Mekhdeth and Thaksin highlight the politically-motivated nature of the ban imposed on the film. Ironically, the project was initially funded by the Ministry of Culture, during Abhisit Vejjajiva’s premiership: it received a grant from the ไทยเข้มแข็ง (‘strong Thailand’) stimulus package. The Abhisit government was only too happy to greenlight a script criticising Thaksin, though by the time the film was finished, Thaksin’s sister Yingluck was in power, and her administration was somewhat less disposed to this anti-Thaksin satire, hence the ban.

Although the film was made more than a decade ago, its message is arguably more timely than ever, as Thaksin’s influence over Thai politics continues. He returned to Thailand in 2023, and his Pheu Thai Party is now leading a coalition with the political wing of the military junta.

The film’s climax, a recreation of the 6th October 1976 massacre, is its most controversial sequence. A photograph by Neal Ulevich, taken during the massacre, shows a vigilante preparing to hit a corpse with a chair, and Shakespeare Must Die restages the incident. A hanging body (symbolising Shakespeare himself) is repeatedly hit with a chair, though rather than dwelling on the violence, Ing cuts to reaction shots of the crowd, which (as in 1976) resembles a baying mob.

Ing didn’t mince her words in her Thai Cinema Uncensored interview, describing the censors as “a bunch of trembling morons with the power of life and death over our films.” Thai Cinema Uncensored also includes an insider’s account from a member of the appeals committee, who said he was obliged by his department head to vote against releasing the film: “I had to vote no, because it was an instruction from my director. But if I could have voted freely, I would have voted yes.”

Boundary

Boundary documents the 2008 conflict between Thailand and Cambodia when the disputed Preah Vihear Temple was exploited for nationalist political gain. The issue was so sensitive that the director couldn’t even reveal his identity while filming at the temple. As he told me in his Thai Cinema Uncensored interview: “I could not tell anyone in Cambodia that I’m Thai, because it would be hard to shoot. I had to tell everybody I’m Chinese-American... My name was Thomas in Cambodia.”

The festival screening is especially timely, as another border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia is currently taking place. At a time when the Cambodian government is inflaming tensions, and nationalist groups in Thailand are exploiting the political crisis, Boundary represents a plea for de-escalation on both sides, and a reminder of the dangers of history repeating itself.

Boundary is composed largely of silent, still sequences depicting the serenity of rural life, as a counterpoint to the fierce border dispute surrounding the temple. Nontawat begins by interviewing Aod, a young soldier, in his home village. Idyllic sequences of novice monks bathing and Aod’s father fishing are contrasted with Aod describing his military conscription and the army’s crackdown against red-shirt protesters in 2010.

After footage of the Thai military firing at their Cambodian counterparts near Preah Vihear, we see damage to houses and a school close to the temple, caused by bombs and gunfire from Cambodian troops. Finally, at the end of the film, Nontawat’s camera explores the temple itself, the ruined Khmer compound that has been the subject of such bloodshed and ultra-nationalism.

Boundary was previously shown at Lido Connect and Warehouse 30 in Bangkok in 2019. Its most recent screenings were at Chiang Mai University, the Thai Film Archive in Salaya, and Thammasat University in Bangkok. It has been subject to censorship twice: it was cut before its theatrical release in 2013, and a screening in Chonburi was prohibited by the military in 2015.

Paradox Democracy

Paradox Democracy documents the recent student protest movement, and features clips from rally speeches by Arnon Nampa and other protest leaders, intercut with extracts from The Revolutionist (คือผู้อภิวัฒน์), a play about Pridi Banomyong staged by the Crescent Moon theatre group in 2020. The film’s working title was Paradox October, and it includes footage shot at the 6th October 1976 commemorative exhibition at Thammasat University in 2020. It was previously shown at The 28th Thai Short Film and Video Festival (เทศกาลภาพยนตร์สั้น ครั้งที่ 28), and at Chiang Mai University.

When My Father Was a Communist

Vichart Somkaew’s new documentary When My Father Was a Communist is another highlight of the festival, screening on 8th August at Phimai Wittaya School. Vichart interviewed his father, Sawang, and other former members of the Communist Party of Thailand, and the film is a valuable social history. The veterans explain their decisions to join the CPT, and describe their experiences in the forests of Phatthalung.

When My Father Was a Communist is also a record of the state’s violent suppression of Communist insurgents, hundreds (potentially thousands) of whom were burned in oil drums in 1972. These so-called ‘red barrel’ deaths were most prevalent in Phatthalung, and have never been officially investigated. (The names of the victims are listed before the film’s end credits.)

There have been other documentaries about the red barrels, but When My Father Was a Communist stands out for Vichart’s close connections to the subject. This is a deeply personal project, as he was born in Phatthalung, and he is documenting the memories of his elderly father.

The film notes that the repressive atmosphere of the 1970s has not disappeared. One speaker says that the political system has barely changed since the military dictatorship after the 1976 coup. Another makes a direct comparison between the suppression of political opponents then and now: “dissolving political parties, slapping people with Article 112 charges... It’s like arresting them and throwing them in red barrels, but they do it in a different way now.”

When My Father Was a Communist was first shown at the Us coffee shop in Phatthalung on 10th July. It was also screened at Vongchavalitkul University in Korat on 23rd July, A.E.Y. Space in Songkla on 26th July, and Lorem Ipsum in Hat Yai on 27th July.

Coup d’état

On 1st August, a selection of short films by local filmmakers will be shown at Victory Gate. These will include Natthapol Kitwarasai’s Coup d’état, a dialogue-free, black-and-white film in which a soldier rummages through an old man’s meagre possessions. The man watches impassively, apparently oblivious to the trespassing soldier, and spends his time sleeping and swimming, which symbolise freedom for the director. Although the drama is allegorical, the film opens with photographs of the military leaders who instigated Thailand’s many coups. Coup d’état was previously shown in the online Short Film Marathon 26 (หนังสั้นมาราธอน 26).

The Body Craves Impact as Love Bursts

Wattanapume Laisuwanchai’s The Body Craves Impact as Love Bursts (ร่างกายอยากปะทะ เพราะรักมันปะทุ) will also be screened at Victory Gate, on 14th August. The video features images of a man and woman tantalisingly close and facing each other, yet separated. As the director explained in his artist’s statement, the installation was made in solidarity with the rapper Elevenfinger, who is serving a prison sentence for possession of ping-pong bombs used in anti-government protests: “I have visited him and witnessed the despair not only affecting him and his partner but also their families and relatives. This situation mirrors the plight of other political prisoners”.

The video ends dramatically with flashing images and footage of fireworks, filmed at Thalugaz protests in 2021. It was first shown as an installation at the Procession of Dystopia exhibition last year. It has also been screened at The 7th Bangkok Experimental Film Festival (เทศกาลหนังทดลองกรุงเทพฯ ครั้งที่ 7), Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, and Cinemine/d.

No Exorcism Film

Another recent short film, Komtouch Napattaloong’s No Exorcism Film, will be shown on 8th August at the Local.Gen cafe. In this experimenal film, a robotic voiceover narrates a dream that includes a short silent video clip of Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul in 2020 reading a manifesto calling for reform of the monarchy. No Exorcism Film was previously shown at BEFF7, The 28th Thai Short Film and Video Festival (เทศกาลภาพยนตร์สั้น ครั้งที่ 28), Wildtype 2024, and in the online Short Film Marathon 28 (หนังสั้นมาราธอน 28). It will also be screened next month in Udon Thani.

Bangkok Joyride 5: Dancing with Death

The fifth episode of Ing K.’s epic documentary Bangkok Joyride (บางกอกจอยไรด์), subtitled Dancing with Death (รำวงพญายม), had its premiere at Cinema Oasis in Bangkok yesterday. The series, shot on Ing’s iPhone, is an exhaustive record of the street protests organised by the People’s Democratic Reform Committee against Yingluck Shinawatra’s government, and part five documents the period from 9th to 26th February 2014.

Dancing with Death begins in the same festive spirit as the earlier episodes, as Ing films a 9th February 2014 protest march in real time and picks out colourful characters among the demonstrators. The rally was a fundraiser for farmers affected by Yingluck’s disastrous rice subsidy scheme, which resulted in vast stockpiles of unsold rice and delays in compensating the farmers who supplied it.

The atmosphere of the protests became much darker on 18th February 2014, when riot police armed with tear gas and rubber bullets attempted to reclaim land occupied by the PDRC. At Phan Fah near Democracy Monument, protesters attacked the police with grenades and gunfire, and the police responded with live ammunition. Four protesters and a police officer were killed, and Ing covers the aftermath of this political violence, filming the funeral of a victim. The film also includes a horrific Facebook video clip showing a protester being fatally shot.

Parts one and two of the documentary, How We Became Superheroes (เมื่อเราเป็นยอดมนุษย์) and Shutdown Bangkok (ชัตดาวน์ประเทศไทย), covered the buildup to the PDRC’s campaign in 2013 and the initial demonstrations in Bangkok. Part three, Singing at Funerals (เพลงแห่ศพ), covered the intensification of the protests in January 2014, when the PDRC caused gridlock in downtown Bangkok. Part four, Becoming One (เป็นหนึ่งเดียว), covered the 2nd February 2014 election, which the PDRC sabotaged.

The PDRC campaign took place more than a decade ago, but — given the cyclical nature of Thai politics — there are parallels with current events. Another Shinawatra family member, Yingluck’s niece Paetongtarn, is now in office, and there was a demonstration against her at Victory Monument in Bangkok on 28th June. The PDRC’s protests paved the way for a coup in 2014, and a headline in a recent issue of The Economist magazine (12th July) asked: “Is Thailand heading for another coup?”

Thai Cinema Uncensored discusses other Thai films that comment on the PDRC (all of which, unlike Bangkok Joyride, are critical of the protesters). These include Neti Wichiansaen’s Democracy after Death (ประชาธิปไตยหลังความตาย), Sorayos Prapapan’s Auntie Maam Has Never Had a Passport (ดาวอินดี้), Watcharapol Saisongkroh’s This Film Has Been Invalid [sic], Joaquim Niamtubtim’s Shut Sound: Lao Duang Duen, and three films by Chulayarnnon Siriphol: 100 Times Reproduction of Democracy (การผลิตซ้ำประชาธิปไตยให้กลายเป็นของแท้), Myth of Modernity, and Here Comes the Democrat Party (ประชาธิปัตย์มาแล้ว).

Toxic Remains: Parasites of a Betrayed Dream

Thasnai Sethaseree’s new exhibition Toxic Remains: Parasites of a Betrayed Dream (เศษพิษ: ปรสิตแห่งฝันทรยศ) opened at Gallery VER in Bangkok on 20th July and runs until 20th September. (His previous exhibitions include Cold War, in 2022.)

The centrepiece of Toxic Remains is Parasites, a vast collage depicting the pixelated faces of fourteen former prime ministers — many of whom have military backgrounds — surrounded by parasitic worms. According to an introductory text on the gallery wall, these creatures symbolise “the enduring toxicity of militarism embedded in the national body.”

Donald Trump:“I’m gonna sue The Wall Street Journal just like I sued everyone else…”

Donald Trump has filed a defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal, after the newspaper reported that he had sent child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein a salacious letter on Epstein’s fiftieth birthday. Trump denies writing the letter, and is seeking an extraordinary $20 billion in damages. In a front-page story published (in late editions) on 18th July, The Wall Street Journal revealed the existence of an album compiled in 2003 by Epstein’s girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell — who is also a child sex offender — containing letters and cards from Epstein’s friends, including Trump.

In his letter to Epstein, Trump wrote: “A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.” The text is enclosed within a drawing of the outline of a nude woman, and Trump signed the letter in the position where the woman’s pubic hair would be. A thick marker pen, Trump’s preferred type, was used for the drawing and signature.

Trump, like Prince Andrew, was a close associate of Epstein’s who attempted to distance himself once Epstein’s crimes were revealed. He is currently trying to deflect attention away from Epstein, though this lawsuit will have the opposite effect. The WSJ article — written by Khadeeja Safdar and Joe Palazzolo, and headlined “Trump’s Bawdy Letter to Epstein Was in 50th Birthday Album” — includes denials by Trump, and quotes him as saying: “I’m gonna sue The Wall Street Journal just like I sued everyone else”.

Safdar and Palazzolo are named in Trump’s lawsuit, as is media mogul Rupert Murdoch, the proprietor of the WSJ. Trump posted on Truth Social on 18th July: “I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story. But now he has, and I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper.” Trump is seeking $10 billion in damages for defamation per se, and a further $10 billion for defamation per quod (that is, implicit defamation).

Murdoch has a chequered history with Trump, as does the Journal. In an editorial at the beginning of the year, the newspaper called Trump’s proposed 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada “The Dumbest Trade War in History”. Rather than backing down since the lawsuit was issued, the Journal today printed a potentially even more damaging revelation: that Trump was told by his Attorney General, Pam Bondi, in May “that his name was in the Epstein files”.

ABC News also agreed to a settlement, after Trump sued them for libel last year. In US defamation cases involving public figures, proof of ‘actual malice’ (deliberate dishonesty) is required. By quoting Trump’s denial, and by describing the letter as “bearing Trump’s name” rather than directly stating that Trump wrote it, the Journal’s report demonstrates due diligence rather than malice. The obvious authenticity of the album containing the letter is also a strong indication that the Journal was not guilty of deception.

But there is also another potentially fatal flaw in Trump’s case: the lawsuit was filed at the United States District Court in the Southern District of Florida, and Florida law states that a defamation suit can only be filed five or more days after giving notice to the defendant (i.e., the Journal). Trump claims that he spoke to the newspaper on 15th July, which was only three days before he filed his lawsuit. This alone would be sufficient grounds for a judge to dismiss the case.

Trump’s lawyers are presumably aware of this five-day requirement, and of the fact that a defamation trial would expose embarrassing details of Trump’s past friendship with Epstein. Therefore, it’s entirely possible that this is merely a performative or vexatious lawsuit, and that Trump has no intention of proceeding to trial.

Trump has sued numerous other media figures and news organisations, including Bill Maher, Timothy L. O’Brien, Bob Woodward, and CNN. But these lawsuits were all filed either while Trump was out of office, or before he entered politics. Therefore, his lawsuit against the WSJ is the first time that a sitting American president has ever sued a media organisation.

Gavin Newsom: “See you in court, buddy...”

Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, is suing Fox News host Jesse Watters for defamation, after Watters accused him of lying about a phone call with President Donald Trump. Newsom is seeking $787 million in damages, the same amount that Fox paid to settle the Dominion Voting System defamation case in 2023.

Newsom’s lawsuit, filed on 27th June, accuses Fox News of “disregarding basic journalistic ethics in favor of malicious propaganda”. In a statement, Fox rejected what it described as Newsom’s “transparent publicity stunt”.

On 10th June, Trump claimed to have spoken to Newsom by phone “a day ago”, though Newsom denied this. On his Primetime show that evening, Watters said: “Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him?” A chyron on screen read: “GAVIN LIED ABOUT TRUMP’S CALL”.

On 17th July, Watters made an on-air apology to Newsom: “He didn’t deceive anybody on purpose, so I’m sorry. He wasn’t lying.” In reply, Newsom issued a statement saying simply: “See you in court, buddy.”

Kneecap

A criminal investigation into Kneecap’s performance at this year’s Glastonbury Festival has been dropped. Avon and Somerset Police announced yesterday that there was “insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction for any offence”.

During their Glastonbury set, Móglaí Bap called for fans to “start a riot” outside court when his fellow band member Mo Chara’s trial on terrorism charges begins. But a few minutes later, after realising that his comments could be construed as an incitement to violence, he explained that he wasn’t literally asking people to riot.

The investigation into another Glastonbury performance, by Bob Vylan, is continuing. Bobby Vylan, the group’s front man, led the crowd in a chant of “death, death to the IDF”, a reference to the Israel Defense Forces.

Donald Trump v. Bob Woodward

Donald Trump’s lawsuit against Bob Woodward and the publisher Simon and Schuster was dismissed today. Trump had claimed that Woodward’s audiobook The Trump Tapes — featuring Woodward’s recordings of his interviews with Trump — was released without prior authorisation.

Trump’s lawsuit, seeking $50 million in damages, argued that the publication of the tapes violated his copyright. Judge Paul Gardephe of the Southern District of New York ruled that Trump could not be considered a co-author of the audiobook, and that the publication of the interviews constituted fair use under copyright law.

Happy New Year, Stranger

Chatchawan Thongchan directed one of the best Thai short films of the past few years, From Forest to City (อรัญนคร). His latest film is Happy New Year, Stranger (สวัสดีปีใหม่ คนไม่รู้จัก), a timely and powerful documentary about the plight of lèse-majesté prisoners and the campaign to quash their convictions.

The film opens with footage from 8th November 2020, when riot police fired tear gas to prevent demonstrators entering the Grand Palace to deliver an open letter addressed to the King. In a voiceover, Chatchawan explains that it was this protest movement that led to his political awakening: “This is where my political journey began... there were protests happening in 2020. That’s when I started to pay attention”.

This realisation of political consciousness is known in Thai as ta sawang, and several directors — Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Yuthlert Sippapak, Chulayarnnon Siriphol, Thunska Pansittivorakul, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and Nontawat Numbenchapol — discussed their ta sawang moments in interviews for Thai Cinema Uncensored. But in the self-reflexive Happy New Year, Stranger Chatchawan does something unique: he uses the film to articulate his own personal questions about politics and the monarchy.

Most of the material in Happy New Year, Stranger was shot last year, at a vigil outside parliament calling for an amnesty for lèse-majesté charges, and at a New Year’s Eve street party outside Bangkok Remand Prison held in solidarity with lèse-majesté convicts detained there. At both events, live music was played, and in his director’s statement, Chatchawan describes these scenes as “a gift for political prisoners behind bars, allowing them to feel a sense of freedom.”

This coming together of activists and artists to support prisoners charged with lèse-majesté was also a key feature of Chatchawan’s similar short film To a Friend I Have Never Met (แด่เพื่อนที่ไม่รู้จัก), which was released on New Year’s Eve and was dedicated to political prisoners. There are also parallels with Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s short film Ashes, which — like Happy New Year, Stranger — ends with a firework display.

Finally, Happy New Year, Stranger is an especially topical film, though for an unfortunate reason: a bill proposing amnesty for lèse-majesté cases was rejected by parliament yesterday, as expected. A People’s Party bill calling for a case-by-case amnesty review was also rejected. Three amnesty bills were passed, though each of them explicitly states that those charged with lèse-majesté are not eligible for consideration.

Previous documentaries dealing directly with lèse-majesté cases include 112 News from Heaven, The Letter from Silence (จดหมายจากความเงียบ), Hungry for Freedom, We Need to Talk About อานนท์ (‘we need to talk about Arnon’), and The Cost of Freedom. (Thai Cinema Uncensored discusses the impact of the lèse-majesté law on Thai filmmakers, and their responses to it.)

Remnants of Fading Shadows

Remnants of Fading Shadows, a retrospective exhibition of installations and video works by Wantanee Siripattananuntakul, opened at Silpakorn University Art Centre in Bangkok on 19th June, and runs until 31st August. It includes The Web of Time, which was previously shown at the Bangkok Art Biennale (บางกอก อาร์ต เบียนนาเล่) in 2022.

The exhibition also includes Freeze-TV, a 2015 video in which a speech by Prayut Chan-o-cha is played on a television placed next to the artist’s parrot, Beuys. The TV screen is covered with felt, though the sound of Prayut’s voice can be heard, and the piece was inspired by Felt TV (Felz-TV), a Fluxus performance by Joseph Beuys. (The parrot is named after the Fluxus artist.)

As the video progresses, the felt begins to peel away from the screen, partially revealing the news footage, and the parrot eventually breaks out of its cage and flies away, seemingly unable to bear the TV broadcast. Of course, the caged bird is a metaphor for the restrictions imposed by martial law. Tanwarin Sukkhapisit made the same point in her short film I’m Fine (สบายดีค่ะ), as she sat in a cage next to Democracy Monument.

Wantanee discussed the concept behind Freeze-TV in a 2023 interview with the Ground Control website. She explained that the video’s title came from the fact that TV was effectively frozen by the coup-makers: regular programming was suspended when the coup took place, and coup leaders always seize control of the airwaves, just as they take over the government. Although the video features Prayut’s voice, she noted that his name is not mentioned, so it represents the idea of a coup itself, rather than specifically referring to 2014, and therefore it could also represent a future Thai coup.

ดูหนังกับสังวิทBoundary

Chiang Mai University’s Faculty of Social Sciences will show Nontawat Numbenchapol’s controversial documentary Boundary (ฟ้าต่ำแผ่นดินสูง) as part of their ดูหนังกับสังวิท (‘watch movies with Social Sciences’) season, organised by the SOP ANP Movie Club. The screening will take place on 25th July, and will include a Q&A with the director.

Boundary documents the 2008 conflict between Thailand and Cambodia when the disputed Preah Vihear Temple was exploited for nationalist political gain. The issue was so sensitive that the director couldn’t even reveal his identity while filming at the temple. As he told me in an interview for Thai Cinema Uncensored: “I could not tell anyone in Cambodia that I’m Thai, because it would be hard to shoot. I had to tell everybody I’m Chinese-American... My name was Thomas in Cambodia.”

The screening at Chiang Mai is especially timely, as another border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia is currently taking place. At a time when the Cambodian government is inflaming tensions, and nationalist groups in Thailand are exploiting the political crisis, Boundary represents a plea for de-escalation on both sides, and a reminder of the dangers of history repeating itself.

Boundary is composed largely of silent, still sequences depicting the serenity of rural life, as a counterpoint to the fierce border dispute surrounding the temple. Nontawat begins by interviewing Aod, a young soldier, in his home village. Idyllic sequences of novice monks bathing and Aod’s father fishing are contrasted with Aod describing his military conscription and the army’s crackdown against red-shirt protesters in 2010.

After footage of the Thai military firing at their Cambodian counterparts near Preah Vihear, we see damage to houses and a school close to the temple, caused by bombs and gunfire from Cambodian troops. Finally, at the end of the film, Nontawat’s camera explores the temple itself, the ruined Khmer compound that has been the subject of such bloodshed and ultra-nationalism.

The film was previously shown at Lido Connect and Warehouse 30 in Bangkok in 2019. Its most recent screening was at the Thai Film Archive in Salaya earlier this year, and it will be shown at Thammasat University later this week. It has been subject to censorship twice: it was cut before its theatrical release in 2013, and a screening in Chonburi was prohibited by the military in 2015. (Thai Cinema Uncensored discusses the censorship history of Boundary in much more detail.)

When My Father Was a Communist

For his new documentary When My Father Was a Communist (เมื่อพ่อผมเป็นคอมมิวนิสต์), Vichart Somkaew interviewed his father, Sawang, and other former members of the Communist Party of Thailand. The film is a valuable social history, as the veterans explain their decisions to join the CPT, and describe their experiences in the forests of Phatthalung.

When My Father Was a Communist is also a record of the state’s violent suppression of Communist insurgents, hundreds (potentially thousands) of whom were burned in oil drums in 1972. These so-called ‘red barrel’ deaths were most prevalent in Phatthalung, and have never been officially investigated. (The names of the victims are listed before the film’s end credits.)

There have been other documentaries about the red barrels, including หยดน้ำตาแห่งลำสินธุ์ (‘tears of Lam Sin’) in 2014, หมู่บ้านถังแดง (‘red barrel village’) in 2019, and a 1997 episode of the iTV series ย้อนรอย (‘retracing steps’). But When My Father Was a Communist stands out for Vichart’s close connections to the subject: this is a deeply personal project, as he was born in Phatthalung, and he is documenting the memories of his elderly father.

The film notes that the repressive atmosphere of the 1970s has not disappeared. One speaker says that the political system has barely changed since the military dictatorship after the 1976 coup. Another makes a direct comparison between the suppression of political opponents then and now: “dissolving political parties, slapping people with Article 112 charges... It’s like arresting them and throwing them in red barrels, but they do it in a different way now.”

This link between past and present is also found in Chatchawan Thongchan’s short film From Forest to City (อรัญนคร) and Thanaphon Accawatanyu’s play Wilderness (รักดงดิบ), both of which compare the persecution of Communists after 1976 to the recent student protest movement. Like When My Father Was a Communist, Pasit Promnampol’s short film Pirab (พีเจ้น) and Sunisa Manning’s novel A Good True Thai also focus on the lives of Communist insurgents.

The protagonists of three films — Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (ลุงบุญมีระลึกชาติ), Taiki Sakpisit’s The Edge of Daybreak (พญาโศกพิโยคค่ำ), and Jakrawal Nilthamrong’s Anatomy of Time (เวลา) — are all former military officers who fought against the Communist insurgency. Taiki’s Seeing in the Dark, Thunska Pansittivorakul’s Santikhiri Sonata (สันติคีรี โซนาตา), and Apichatpong’s A Letter to Uncle Boonmee (จดหมายถงลงบญม) were filmed in Khao Kho, Santikhiri, and Nabua, respectively, all of which are associated with anti-Communist violence.

There have been references to the notorious red barrels in a variety of art forms. Teerawat Mulvilai interacted with red barrels in his solo dance performance Satapana. Anocha Suwichakornpong’s film By the Time It Gets Dark (ดาวคะนอง) explains that Communists were “set on fire in oil barrels.” Veerapong Soontornchattrawat’s novel อนุสรณ์สถาน (‘monument’) describes the need to memorialise the red barrel victims.

When My Father Was a Communist was first shown at the Us coffee shop in Phatthalung on 10th July. It will be screened at Vongchavalitkul University’s Faculty of Communication Arts in Korat on 23rd July, in a double bill with Cremation Ceremony (ประวัติย่อของบางสิ่งที่หายไป). It’s also being shown on 8th August at Phimai Wittaya School, as part of Phimailongweek (พิมายฬองวีค). It will be shown at four locations on 10th August — at the Chinese Martyrs Memorial Museum in Chiang Rai, Suan Anya in Chiang Mai, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Sakon Nakhon Rajabhat University, and Samakichumnum in Nakhon Phanom — as part of the nationwide ความฝันประชาชน (‘people’s dream’) arts event. Other screenings will take place at A.E.Y. Space in Songkla on 26th July, Lorem Ipsum in Hat Yai on 27th July, Phattalung’s red barrel memorial building on 7th August, Hope Space in Bangkok on 16th August (followed by a Q&A with the director), in Phatthalung again on 24th August — on the final day of the three-day Chard Festival (ฉาด เฟสติวัล) — at Walailak University in Nakhon Si Thammarat on 27th August, and at Bookhemian in Phuket on 19th September (followed by a Cinema Talk Q&A with the director).

Affinities

The group exhibition Affinities at Nova Contemporary in Bangkok closes today. The exhibition, which opened on 26th April, features twenty-eight artists, though the clear highlight is Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook’s video The Treachery of the Moon.

Araya filmed herself sitting on a bench with her pet dogs, watching a lakorn (soap opera) on TV. Just past the half-way point in the video, news footage of various episodes of Thai political violence — including the 2010 crackdown on the red-shirts, and the 2004 Tak Bai tragedy — are projected onto the artist and the TV screen behind her.

The cycle of political violence in Thailand is as long-running and as repetitive as a soap opera, a point also made in Sanchai Chotirosseranee’s short film The Love Culprit. Stills from The Treachery of the Moon were first published in the Storytellers of the Town exhibition catalogue.

Donald Trump v. CBS:“The settlement does not include a statement of apology...”

Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, has reached an out-of-court settlement with Donald Trump, and will pay $16 million to a charity of his choice. The settlement was agreed yesterday, and Paramount noted that it did not include an admission of liability: “The settlement does not include a statement of apology or regret.” Trump sued CBS in 2024 — shortly before he won that year’s US presidential election — following an interview with former vice president Kamala Harris on the flagship 60 Minutes programme.

Trump had been seeking $20 billion in damages. The amount was completely unrealistic, but the entire case was equally dubious: his complaint was simply that CBS showed different portions of one of Harris’s answers in two different broadcasts. It’s common practice for TV networks to edit extended interviews for reasons of timing, using different clips and soundbites for various platforms or shows, yet Paramount has decided not to fight the case in court. It’s likely that the company wanted to avoid any rancour while the Trump administration is assessing its proposed merger with Skydance.

Harris was interviewed by CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker, and clips from the interview were aired on Face the Nation on 5th October 2024. A longer version of the interview was broadcast on 60 Minutes on the following day. Harris was asked about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the lawsuit notes that “Kamala replies to Whitaker with her typical word salad” in the Face the Nation clip, while she “appears to reply to Whitaker with a completely different, more succinct answer” on 60 Minutes.

The Face the Nation clip shows Harris answering the question by saying: “Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region.” In the 60 Minutes segment, her answer is: “We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.”

The lawsuit argued that the 60 Minutes interview was edited to make Harris appear more coherent. With his characteristic hyperbole, at a rally on 23rd October 2024 Trump said: “I think it’s the biggest scandal in broadcasting history.” CBS released a full transcript of the interview — something that Trump’s lawsuit had called for — which revealed that the Face the Nation clip was the first half of her answer to the question, and the 60 Minutes version was the second half of her answer to the same question.

Paramount’s settlement is another example of an American media company avoiding antagonising Trump in his second term. Similarly, ABC News settled a Trump defamation lawsuit in December last year, despite having a strong legal case.

Paetongtarn Shinawatra: “If you ask me whether I’m worried, I am...”

Thailand’s Constitutional Court has voted unanimously to accept a petition by thirty-six senators that accuses Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra of breaching ethical standards. The court also voted, by a 7–2 majority, to suspend Paetongtarn from office during its investigation. The petition was provoked by a leaked recording of Paetongtarn’s phone call to former Cambodian PM Hun Sen, in which the Thai leader seemed to side with Cambodia against her own military.

At a press conference yesterday, before the court voted to accept the petition against her, Paetongtarn said: “If you ask me whether I’m worried, I am.” She has good reason to be, as less than a year ago another group of senators successfully petitioned the Constitutional Court to dismiss her predecessor, Srettha Thavisin. Paetongtarn’s aunt Yingluck was also dismissed by the Constitutional Court, as were Samak Sundaravej and Somchai Wongsawat.

Apart from their run-ins with the court, there’s another connection between Paetongtarn, Srettha, Yingluck, Samak, and Somchai: they were all chosen as PM by Thaksin Shinawatra, who was barred from politics by the Constitutional Court in 2007. In fact, today’s announcement came the day after Thaksin attended the Criminal Court for a pre-trial hearing related to his lèse-majesté prosecution, so Thaksin and his daughter Paetongtarn now both have active legal cases against them. (Also, the Supreme Court is holding witness hearings while it considers the legality of Thaksin’s extended stay in hospital in 2023, when he avoided serving a jail sentence.)

In Thai politics over the last two decades, the same cycle has played out several times:

1. A prime minister makes an error of judgement.
2. This triggers street protests in Bangkok.
3. The protests escalate, disrupting an election.
4. This leads to political stalemate.
5. This establishes the conditions for a coup.
6. The military overthrows the government.

This process happened in 2006, when Thaksin sold his stake in Shin Corp., sparking the yellow-shirt protests that resulted in a coup. It was repeated in 2014, when protests against Yingluck’s political amnesty policy provoked another coup.

There are already signs that the cycle is beginning again, and anti-Shinawatra protest leaders are preparing to follow the same playbook. The Hun Sen phone call prompted a rally of more than 20,000 nationalist protesters at Victory Monument on 28th June, calling for Paetongtarn’s removal from office, and — if the past is any indicator — they’re likely to achieve their goal.

Glastonbury Festival 2025

In the UK, Avon and Somerset Police are investigating the punk duo Bob Vylan after their performance at the Glastonbury Festival yesterday. Bobby Vylan, the group’s front man, led the crowd in a chant of “death, death to the IDF”, a reference to the Israel Defense Forces. The police issued a statement on social media: “Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation.”

Police are also examining video of the Irish rap group Kneecap’s performance at Glastonbury on the same day. On stage, Móglaí Bap called for fans to “start a riot” outside court when his fellow band member Mo Chara’s trial on terrorism charges begins. (A few minutes later, after realising that his comments could be construed as an incitement to violence, he explained that he wasn’t literally asking people to riot.)

Taklee Genesis

“Make sure we’re not forgotten.”
— Taklee Genesis

Chookiat Sakveerakul’s Taklee Genesis (ตาคลี เจเนซิส) will be shown at the Thai Film Archive in Salaya on 14th and 23rd July, as part of the พระเจ้าช้างเผือกและหนังเพื่อสันติภาพอื่นๆ (‘The King of the White Elephant and other peace films’) season. Taklee Genesis features time travel, dinosaurs, kaiju monsters, zombies, cavemen, the Cold War, a dystopian future, and the 6th October 1976 massacre at Thammasat University, all woven together into an ambitious sci-fi epic.

In a prologue that takes place in May 1992 (an unspoken reference to ‘Black May’), a young girl witnesses “dead bodies falling from the sky.” These are students who died during the Thammasat tragedy, their bodies teleported by the Taklee Genesis device, a time machine that can create alternate realities. As one character says: “Taklee Genesis was used to cover up a massacre.”

When the girl, Stella, grows up, she learns that her father was a CIA agent involved in the development of the Taklee Genesis. One of the project’s test subjects, Lawan, was transformed into a forest-dwelling spirit, like the monkey ghost in Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (ลุงบุญมีระลึกชาติ), another supernatural personification of the legacy of the Cold War.

Stella and her friend Kong use the Taklee Genesis to travel back in time to Thammasat on 6th October 1976, after Kong discovers that he is one of the massacre victims who fell from the sky. Chookiat recreates the violence of that day, showing Red Gaur militiamen gunning down students. A young boy stands alone on a balcony laughing at the carnage, in a reference to a smiling onlooker in a photograph by Neal Ulevich. (The artist Khai Maew created a model of the child, which he called Happy Boy.)

Thanks to the Taklee Genesis, Kong has the chance to fight back against the vigilantes who have stormed the campus. This fantasy scenario, in which a Thammasat victim is given the agency to tackle his potential killers, is similar to the alternate history narrative in Preecha Raksorn’s comic strip Once Upon a Time at..., in which the victim in Ulevich’s photograph escapes from his assailant.

Discussion of the Thammasat massacre was suppressed for years, not by the fictional Taklee Genesis device, but instead by successive military governments. Today, it’s primarily through photographs of the event, particularly the famous image by Ulevich, that the incident is remembered. In one of the film’s most powerful moments, Kong takes a roll of film from the camera of his Thammasat classmate and gives it to Stella, telling her: “Make sure we’re not forgotten.”

The Thammasat massacre is a notorious incident in Thailand’s modern history, though it has rarely been represented on screen. The 6th October scenes in Taklee Genesis are almost unprecedented: the only previous attempt to dramatise the brutality of the event was in the horror film Haunted Universities (มหาลัยสยองขวัญ), which was cut by the Thai film censors.

Doc Talk 05 Boundary

Doc Club’s Doc Talk series of discussions with documentary filmmakers continues next month with its fifth installment: Nontawat Numbenchapol’s controversial documentary Boundary (ฟ้าต่ำแผ่นดินสูง). The film will be shown at Thammasat University’s College of Innovation on 18th July, and Nontawat will take part in a Q&A after the screening.

Boundary documents the 2008 conflict between Thailand and Cambodia when the disputed Preah Vihear Temple was exploited for nationalist political gain. The issue was so sensitive that the director couldn’t even reveal his identity while filming at the temple. As he told me in an interview for Thai Cinema Uncensored: “I could not tell anyone in Cambodia that I’m Thai, because it would be hard to shoot. I had to tell everybody I’m Chinese-American... My name was Thomas in Cambodia.”

Next month’s screening is especially timely, as another border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia is currently taking place. At a time when the Cambodian government is inflaming tensions, and nationalist groups in Thailand are exploiting the political crisis, Boundary represents a plea for de-escalation on both sides, and a reminder of the dangers of history repeating itself.

Boundary is composed largely of silent, still sequences depicting the serenity of rural life, as a counterpoint to the fierce border dispute surrounding the temple. Nontawat begins by interviewing Aod, a young soldier, in his home village. Idyllic sequences of novice monks bathing and Aod’s father fishing are contrasted with Aod describing his military conscription and the army’s crackdown against red-shirt protesters in 2010.

After footage of the Thai military firing at their Cambodian counterparts near Preah Vihear, we see damage to houses and a school close to the temple, caused by bombs and gunfire from Cambodian troops. Finally, at the end of the film, Nontawat’s camera explores the temple itself, the ruined Khmer compound that has been the subject of such bloodshed and ultra-nationalism.

The film was previously shown at Lido Connect and Warehouse 30 in Bangkok in 2019, and its most recent screening was at the Thai Film Archive in Salaya earlier this year. It has been subject to censorship twice: it was cut before its theatrical release in 2013, and a screening in Chonburi was prohibited by the military in 2015. (Thai Cinema Uncensored discusses the censorship history of Boundary in much more detail.)