SOCIALISM RE-EMERGES

General News - Sunday December 16, 2007

RACE TO PARLIAMENT

SOCIALISM RE-EMERGES

'These young students realise they cannot trust the media. For them, the media is spineless, biased, and self-centred'

Story by ANCHALEE KONGRUT, Photos by SURAPOL PROMSAKA NA SAKOLNAKORN

The discussion room was almost empty. A visitor who dropped by for a political discussion thought she was at the wrong place or the event had been cancelled.

But a welcoming look from a group of students in the room confirmed that the place was the right one.

"Don't leave...you are at the right place. We are about to begin now. All the people are here," said Ubonphan Krachangpho, 25, a graduate programme student at Chulalongkorn University's Political Science Faculty.

The participants included seven activist students and one enthusiastic visitor who learned about the discussion on the programme from the university's bulletin board.

The discussion was organised by the Liew Sai group, which means "turn left" in Thai.

Founded in 2003, the group was inspired by the political crisis and blatant human rights violations committed under the former government. The group is made up of over 20 activist students from various institutions, including Chulalongkorn, Ramkhamhaeng and Thammasat universities.

Initially, the group aims to promote the learning of socialism among university students. It also publishes a monthly university newspaper, which is sold at 15 baht each. There are about 200 subscribers. Content is mainly about social injustices, effects of the unchecked free market forces and such controversial issues as land and inheritance taxes.

The group regularly holds political discussions to herald and share their ideas.

Despite only eight people in attendance, the discussion kicked off without a fuss. The debate soon turned critical when it touched on the use of populist policies by political parties to lure voters ahead of the Dec 23 elections.

"Look, every political party has thrown its dependence on the populist principle. They have cloaked it under social welfare in order to draw voter support. I bet these politicians think we are too stupid to distinguish the difference between the words populist and welfare," said Ratchapong Ochaphong, a 25-year-old Ramkhamhaeng University student and a group founder.

Questions were raised as to why politicians rarely touched the issue of land and the inheritance taxes - a crucial mechanism for any government wishing to establish an effective social welfare system to tap money from the rich to offer subsidies to the poor.

"All the politicians have promised to dole out welfare, but none, not even the People Power party or Abhisit Vejjajiva, has said a word about these taxes. They are probably afraid that the taxes will hurt the elite, who are their backers," said another member of the group.

The lively discussion lasted for two hours.

Such discussions are also regularly held by activist groups in other state universities like Thammasat and Ramkhamhaeng. The event is open to the public.

The forming of the Liew Sai group is part of the students' political activity, Pitch Pongsawat, a lecturer at the faculty of political science, Chulalongkorn University, said.

Many such groups have emerged over the past few years to fight against political injustice. For instance, political science students at Chulalongkorn University have now set up the "Sangkom Vijarn" or Social Critic group.

Early this year, students at Chulalongkorn University's faculty of arts created the so-called "Prachatipatai Mai Chai Kae Gig" (democracy is not just an affair) group to campaign against the coup and pressure for the restoration of democracy.

"My interpretation is that these young students realise they cannot trust the media. For them, the media is spineless, biased, and self-centred. They cannot trust on-line communications either because it is faceless dialogue. So these kids usually engage in political discussions," said Mr Pitch.

Unlike the hot-headed and left-leaning students of the 70s, who preferred confrontation, today's student activists prefer dialogue, he said.

The lecturer said these student activists believe that only true socialism can bridge the social gap.

Their ideology might have sprung from the fact that they were born when the country was enjoying economic prosperity amid a widening social gap.

"These kids' classic question is whether capitalism and a free market are fair and work at all. These students look at today's political problems as the outcome of economic disparity and unequal distribution of wealth. Socialism seems to answer all their questions," said Mr Pitch.

Although the students represent only a small group of educated people, their thinking may dominate the way the next generation may respond to social and political problems.

"Personally, I found these students understood social welfare better than politicians and bureaucrats. As a political scientist, this is good news because the whole country is now mixing populist policies with social welfare," said Mr Pitch.

Sastarum Thamaaboosadee, 22, a senior at Chulalongkorn University's political science faculty, said political discussions can help create political space.

"I believe such discussions are needed because they make us well-informed citizens," said Mr Sastarum, also founder of the Sangkom Vijarn Group.

"Our duty is to help inform society in what we believe and if the public is well educated political changes will follow," he said.

Bangkok Post