bm264 Prachatai – Alternative Media in Thailand

Alternative media is alive and well in Thailand, especially at the offices of Prachatai.com.  I spent the morning with the staff of this Thai alternative news source discussing what the big issues are for Thailand and their experience running such a media organization.

We discuss:

  • The overall media landscape in Thailand
  • Government control, economic influence
  • MY experience with the Royal Anthem
  • Censorship
  • The constitution
  • Labor and Unions
  • Environmentalism in Thailand
  • Funding

Music:

  • Eddie Vedder – Rise
  • Herbie Hancock – Tea Leaf Prophecy

Portuguese in Bangkok, 500 years later

When I started living in Amsterdam, I always felt an affinity for the Portuguese-Jewish synagogue. Reading those Portuguese names on the walls and reading the story of the Portuguese-JEws who settled and prospered in the city, I wondered if many many generations ago, perhaps my family was of this group, only they converted to Catholicism.  Regardless if it happened or not, my sense of history gives me the romantic feeling that I am, at least now, connected to those Portuguese, doing similar to what they did, (for different reasons of course) hundreds of years later. Here in Bangkok, as the boat cruised down the Chao Praya river, a river that snakes in so many directions with its creamy green water, a friend points out a church on the horizon. Lit up by bright lights against the night sky, a Thai friend rushes towards me “Mark, my father says that is a Portuguese church… Santa Cruz.. from a long time ago when Bangkok has Portuguese community and Portuguese are given titles by King.” I look accross the water and I see the wooden church and the tall steeple.  A little piece of Portugal way out here. It was back in  1511,  when the Portuguese became the first Europeans to land in this region.  They were met with mixed reactions throughout southeast Asia, and somehow were able to get on the king’s good side.  It may have been their usefulness as trade partners, eventually becoming an important source for weapons and ammunition. I like to think it was good manners and mutual respect that made the relationship possible. (wishful thinking) From there, some missionaries were given permission by the Royal court to build their convent and live in this little corner of Bangkok.  This would eventually become the only structure that survived over time, a souvenir from the days when Portugal was an important partner of Thailand. Amazing? No… not amazing. A reminder in fact, that everything is connected, and while the reasons may be difference, 500 years later, Portuguese still come to Bangkok and they’re still given a very kind welcome by the Thai people.

bmtv85 From Chatachuk Park, Bangkok

It is never easy to pull out a camera and record a message while sitting alone in public.  It is even harder when you’re alone, wastern, and tall, sitting in a park talking into a camera in your left hand.  The following vlog entry is about my initial impressions after wandering slightly lost near the victory monument and chatachuk market areas of Bangkok.

Weekend Market

Besides working, I’m more of a tourist than a journalist these days, and I’ll try to do something about that immediately.  There is a vlog entry coming up when I wake. For now I pass you this flickr video clip of how I spent much of my day today, walking the norrow aisles of the Chatuchak Weekend Market, a very large and impressive maze of merchants and people alike.

PS – To anyone who sent the link, emailed, or worried about my presence at the demonstrations today in Bangkok, you might be relieved to know that I got lost and never arrived where I had hoped to arrive to observe the demonstrations.  If I get another chance I will try again, and I will approach with caution so worry not!

Said Utah, I did not die

Bangkok posting will be postponed today as the world lost a very special person just days ago.  My idol, inspiration, and historical guide in this life, Utah Phillips, has died.  Words cannot describe how this man and his music shaped and shape my thinking and my understanding of who I am and where I’m going.

Utah did so much that meant such a great deal to me. His recordings are things I go back to almost once a month, stories, songs, history lessons.  So the news may say that my friend Utah Phillips has died, but I know better… and to illustrate and pay the highest respect to him, Ill quote my most favorite labor poem and song, which Utah so often sang:

Joe Hill

words by Alfred Hayes
music by Earl Robinson

I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
Alive as you and me.
Says I “But Joe, you’re ten years dead”
“I never died” said he,
“I never died” said he.

“In Salt Lake, Joe,” says I to him,
him standing by my bed,
“They framed you on a murder charge,”
Says Joe, “But I ain’t dead,”
Says Joe, “But I ain’t dead.”

“The Copper Bosses killed you Joe,
they shot you Joe” says I.
“Takes more than guns to kill a man”
Says Joe “I didn’t die”
Says Joe “I didn’t die”

And standing there as big as life
and smiling with his eyes.
Says Joe “What they can never kill
went on to organize,
went on to organize”

From San Diego up to Maine,
in every mine and mill,
where working-men defend their rights,
it’s there you find Joe Hill,
it’s there you find Joe Hill!

I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
alive as you and me.
Says I “But Joe, you’re ten years dead”
“I never died” said he,
“I never died” said he.

Citizenreporter in Bangkok, Day 1

There is no shortage of posts on the internets about some westerner’s first day in Bangkok.  No shortage of someone writing an opening line like, dam Bangkok is crazy. Or dam Bangkok is a mess. Or, dam, Bangkok is fun! And i find each of these to be valid if you are indeed here as a tourist or on business and you end up in one of the many zones where it seems we outsiders are corralled together in order to be subjected to all manner of proposition. Why on my touristy street, there is even a sock dealer in a shadowing section that you can barely make out in the night, and he’s there all night; dealing socks for all the sock junkies.

You want to hear what I think of Bangkok- but what I must tell you is that anyone that stays in the area I’m in can’t possibly tell you, with any merit, what Bangkok is like.  For the most part, what such a person can tell you is what the touristy areas of Bangkok are like.  So if you want to know about that, I’ll just say – Ugly yet friendly, desperate yet relaxed. A playground for the outsiders, who include the hotel next door that is populated only by Indian middle class tourists, the hotel down the block that is popular with Sheiks and other middle eastern families of means, and my hotel, the eclectic mix of Europeans, many of which seem to enjoy paying for a young Thai girl or/and boy to accompany them back to the hotel late at night.  Just my luck, I’m often on the elevator when they are, uncomfortably wishing them a goodnight as they exit on the 14th floor.

But wait but wait, remember that this is the bullshit area.  This is the artificial playpen, where they’ve somehow parked a neverending list of luxurious megamalls that would make any New Jersey based mall look like a quickiemart in comparison.

The highlight of my day one, after wandering the streets all day and doing a bit of educational tourism, was when my great friend who lives in town, who I was introduced to over 4 years ago back in BENELUX, she came to my rescue in the pouring rain.. and delivered us both to a lovely area outside the Royal Palace, on the water, watching the big boats cruise by on the murky water.  With a beautiful view of that very famous Thai monument that the whole world would recognize, the wooden establishment was a mini maze of kitchens, dinner tables, Thai young people having a laugh, and stray cats who occasionally jump into your lap during dinner. With a storm coming and going, I was treated to huge bolts of lightening over the river, throughout the meal.  It was exactly what I had originally imagined and hoped Thailand would be like, which includes the excellent and super affordable spicy sea food. We sat there eating and discussing all our favorite issues, human trafficing, Thai and Portuguese immigration, language learning, Christiania (yes!), and of course gossip that has been gathering for the last 4 years.  She says that on Sunday there’s a big demonstration which I shall (hopefully) attend. And to further illustrate what a great evening it was, I didn’t even bring my camera, because beyond writing about it here, such excellent moments stay burned in my memory, no photo evidence would suffice.