A room in Bangkok no bigger than 15m2 with three giant tables, 4 bookshelves, and some stacks of paper and paperwork is the one and solely workplace house of Sam Yan Press. On the entrance, guests to the press are greeted by a plain paper-printed nameplate and a big portrait of a legendary civil rights activist Martin Luther King. Like no different press within the nation, Sam Yan Press is an impartial publishing home, absolutely operated by college college students and dedicated to “writing and translating as methods to guard and promote democracy in Thailand”.
Sam Yan Press was established in 2017 by Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, a youth activist and political science scholar at Chulalongkorn College, one in every of Thailand’s most prestigious greater schooling establishments. Netiwit has taken half in social and political activism not less than since 2012 when he and his pals fashioned the Thailand Instructional Revolution Alliance, a Fb-based marketing campaign calling for an finish to the “mechanistic” schooling system in Thailand. On the college, he served because the President of the Chulalongkorn College Scholar Council within the educational 12 months 2020–2021.
Having had a ardour for studying and writing since he was younger, the concept of creating a publishing home was nearly pure to Netiwit. To this point, the press has printed 48 titles, 38 of that are translated books and 10 are authentic monographs. Most books are solely in Thai, besides the “Letter to Dr Husak”, which was additionally printed in Lao. The staff concludes each e book with an epilogue of acknowledgement and background, detailing the explanations behind title choice, some journeys of the publication course of, and the way it introduced them to new alternatives and friendships inside and throughout Thailand’s borders.
Sam Yan Press is managed by a staff of two to five core committee members, with over 30 scholar contributors lending their fingers for editorial, translating, and different administrative work. As college college students, the founding staff had the intention to maintain the platform operated completely by college students and recent graduates as a solution to in flip empower younger activists. By means of this impartial press, they see themselves as democracy activists “writing and translating as methods to guard and promote democracy in Thailand” by spreading progressive concepts associated to politics, democracy, and activism in Thai society.
Books as activism
Sam Yan Press works with an in depth listing of subjects. Some examples from its webpage embody animal rights, the Milk Tea Alliance and Chinese language dissidents, engaged Buddhism, schooling, and feminism. Because the press committee embraces the range of thought, the titles of the books chosen for translation are primarily based on the contributors’ pursuits. Whereas Sam Yan Press has primarily printed translated books, college students’ authentic items are additionally inspired. Netiwit talked about that he supposed for these monographs to ignite a democratic spirit in society.
In different phrases, the titles of books translated by Sam Yan Press replicate what the committee members deemed vital for the cultivation of democracy and progressive concepts in Thailand. These embody a number of key texts from numerous fields of philosophy and political principle, reminiscent of Isaiah Berlin’s Two Ideas of Liberty, Hannah Arendt’s Private Accountability Below Dictatorship, and Judith Butler’s The Power of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind. Netiwit additionally shared that the staff is at the moment engaged on the interpretation of James C. Scott’s Two Cheers for Anarchism.
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Other than theoretical items, the press has additionally printed a substantial variety of books capturing tales of the struggles for freedom, human rights, and democracy from world wide, together with the interpretation of speeches and written items of Liu Xiaobo and Martin Luther King. These books assist remind the scholars behind Sam Yan Press, most of whom have been engaged in activism in Thailand, notably the 2020–2021 pro-democracy actions, that they weren’t alone of their struggles.
Contemplating Thailand’s extremely contentious political environment, significantly because the 2014 coup, Sam Yan Press’s strategy will be seen as a extra strategically delicate solution to promote democracy. Below army rule from 2014 to 2019, a number of restrictions on avenue gatherings have been imposed, coupled with intimidation of activists by the weaponisation of legal guidelines. The waves of the youth-led pro-democracy protests within the aftermath of the 2019 normal elections have been additionally contained by the military-backed authorities by numerous means, together with the COVID-19 emergency decree proscribing freedom of meeting, the enforcement of the lèse majesté regulation, and the authorities’ violent crackdown.
It was this political environment that partially impressed the concept of Sam Yan Press—to keep away from bodily, direct, and violent confrontations with the authoritarians. As a substitute, by books, they work on the ideological and mental realm to strengthen concepts, restore hope, and achieve extra supporters in society.
Moreover, the writer may also assist empower those that are enthusiastic about politics and societal modifications. Some contributors to the press got here from a circle of scholar activists in Thailand, because the recruitment to the press is primarily by phrase of mouth. Thus, after having been suppressed and dealing with hurdles in rallies for years, Sam Yan Press presents them one other suave, different means of elevating consciousness and expressing their ideas.
The Sam Yan neighborhood
It was no coincidence that the writer was named Sam Yan, as past educational literature and books associated to democracy, folks behind the publishing home have additionally engaged with and advocated for points inside the Sam Yan and Chulalongkorn neighborhood. The connection runs deeper than simply the shared title.
Sam Yan, a district in Bangkok, is dwelling to a number of historic and cultural landmarks, reminiscent of Wat Hua Lamphong (The Hua Lamphong Temple), believed to be constructed within the early Rama reign, a snake farm on the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, and lots of of outdated native eating places. It’s also the place Thailand’s first college, Chulalongkorn College—the house establishment of most Sam Yan Press staff members—is situated. For generations, this house has been shared between college students, colleges, and different staff of the college and the locals, whose histories, reminiscences, and livelihoods have turn out to be interconnected and interdependent.
The Sam Yan Press staff expressed their fond connection to the locality by books, reminiscent of Expensive You… at Political Science: The Lifetime of a Commoner Behind the Curtain. The e book options tales of Aunty Tew, a janitor who has labored on the Chulalongkorn College of Political Science for practically 70 years. She is a well-recognized face to everybody within the college, and her life is nearly inextricable to the historical past of the college. The e book, in a means, presents another narrative of the institutional and neighborhood historical past by a recollection of a janitor’s reminiscences, one that’s “no much less memorable than another dominant narratives”. The staff has additionally given eighty per cent of the income generated from promoting this e book again to Aunty Tew to assist her residing prices.
One other matter that the folks behind the press have been closely concerned in, though but to publish any e book about, is the gentrification of Chulalongkorn College. For years, the Property Administration of Chulalongkorn College (PMCU) has pressured many constructing renters and distributors to cede their house by hire will increase and contract terminations for newer, costlier, and extra glamourous premises reminiscent of buying malls—a behaviour that Netiwit and Sitthikarn Theerawatanachai deemed “grasping” and “capitalistic”.
When getting into the Sam Yan Press workplace house, one’s consideration would rapidly be caught by an enormous bookshelf overloaded with lots of of books in Thai and English, which members of the press used as references or a supply of inspiration. On the shelf, there was additionally a photograph of a crimson shrine and a statue inside it. It’s a picture of the unique Chao Mae Tubtim Shrine, a Chinese language shrine within the Sam Yan space that was additionally affected by PMCU’s growth initiatives. With a historical past that may be traced to the reign of King Rama V, the shrine is a big piece of proof within the legacy of Sino-Thai relations and Chinese language diasporas in Thailand. It’s also the centre of religion for a lot of Sam Yan residents.
In 2020, the college’s gentrification, significantly of the shrine, sparked a sequence of protests led by the folks of Sam Yan, together with Chulalongkorn College college students, a few of whom are key members of the publishing home. Ultimately the shrine was, based on PMCU, “relocated”, which referred to the destruction of the unique web site, together with vintage sculptural patterns and authentic sensation of the structure, and the development of a brand new shrine on the CU (Chulalongkorn College) Centenary Park. For the reason that caretaker of the unique shrine insisted that she wouldn’t switch any artefacts into the newly constructed premise, the novel modern-looking shrine with stickers pasted on the door and typographical errors of some Chinese language characters thus replicated nothing from the unique shrine however the title.
Sam Yan Press staff’s try to inform tales of the locality by their work and battle towards the PMCU illuminate that their curiosity is just not confined to theoretical work or points that caught mass media consideration. As a substitute, they make clear the lives and struggles of unusual individuals who face injustice in society, significantly these across the college space—a house of their mental cultivation. This concentrate on a smaller scale has additionally allowed them to make seen modifications and contribute to the standard of life of individuals inside their neighborhood.
A PHOTOGRAPH OF HONG KONG DEMOCRACY ACTIVIST JOSEPH WONG IN SAM YAN PRESS’ OFFICE IN BANGKOK (PHOTO: AUTHOR)
Past Thailand
Past home issues, Sam Yan Press has additionally printed a number of books associated to China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Examples embody a translated model of Anna Marie Brady’s Magic Weapons: China’s Political Affect Actions Below Xi Jinping, Jeffrey Wasserstrom’s Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink”, and Hsueh Hua-yuan et al.’s Taiwan is Not Chinese language!: A Historical past of Taiwan Nationality. With the staff members’ robust ardour for democracy, justice, and human rights, it’s not stunning that a number of chosen books are crucial of the Chinese language Communist Social gathering (CCP) and its home and overseas insurance policies. Moreover, some leaders of the press, notably Netiwit, are comrades and admirers of key activists in Hong Kong who led a sequence of pro-democracy protests in 2014 and 2019.
In October 2016, following his go to to Hong Kong in the summertime of that 12 months, Netiwit, then serving because the President of the Scholar Council at Chulalongkorn College, invited Joshua Wong, one of many protest leaders in Hong Kong’s 2014 actions, to Bangkok. Wong was to ship a chat titled “The New Generations’ Politics” as a part of an occasion memorialising of the 1976 Thammasat Bloodbath. Nonetheless, as quickly as he landed in Thailand, Wong was detained for 12 hours and subsequently deported and not using a probability to depart the airport.
In 2017, when Wong was imprisoned, Netiwit and his colleagues printed a e book titled Time Is On Our Facet: A Guide for Joshua Wong’s twenty first Birthday. The e book gathers a set of speeches and essays on human rights and justice, together with Liu Xiaobo’s famend June second starvation strike declaration and Joshua Wong’s interview statements performed by Netiwit. When requested in regards to the inspiration behind the e book, Netiwit defined that “I’ve had a number of arrest warrants earlier than, and I used to be simply pondering that if I needed to be in jail on my birthday, I’d be very unhappy”. This token of assist to Wong meaningfully turned Sam Yan Press’ first e book.
Their work relating to China and its insurance policies has caught some consideration in Beijing. In Might 2022, Sam Yan Press disclosed that it was approached by a Chinese language businessman who was “eager to make good relations with the Chinese language authorities”. The businessman—“prone to be related to the CCP”, supplied 2 million baht in money (roughly US$600,000) in trade for the staff to close down the press and supply him with an official certificates of dissolution.
In an announcement expressing their willpower to proceed “defending and selling freedom of expression”, Sam Yan Press committee members say they rejected the supply. This message was warmly obtained by the Hong Kong Democracy Council, who would “stand in solidary” with the writer.
Mental activism and paths ahead
Netiwit, describing himself as an introvert and bookworm, mentioned he prefers activism by writing and translating. Along with a number of others who share these preferences, they use the publishing home as their platform to guard and promote democracy. Their actions may be quiet in follow, however they’re loud in readers’ minds. In a means, it’s activism on the mental degree.
Preventing for democracy on the mental degree is by no means a novel repertoire of scholar activism world wide, together with in Thailand. Nonetheless, because the sequence of colour-coded protests within the 2000s and early 2010s, avenue politics characterised by mass actions, charismatic leaders, and performative acts, reminiscent of highly effective speeches on the stage, have dominated the scene of contentious politics in Thailand.
Though political rallies may be essential to catch mass consideration at instances, the battle of ideology between conservatives and those that search change can be important for the success of actions. This strategy was additionally advocated by Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, a former Secretary-Normal of the dissolved Future Ahead Social gathering, citing Antonio Gramsci’s view that the “conflict of motion” doesn’t suffice in making modifications. As a substitute, we now have to purpose for altering folks’s minds by “the conflict of place”, defined Piyabutr.
Subsequently, what Sam Yan Press reveals us is just not solely the need of college college students to battle for democracy but in addition a revival of activism by mental battles in Thailand. As a substitute of placing a complete absolutely grown plant into the soil and threat being destroyed instantly, college students behind the press are planting and watering the seeds of democratic and progressive ideologies within the hope that in the future they are going to thrive independently and strongly. Moreover, by publishing books associated to the battle for democracy from overseas, the press can be sharing with its readers all classes that may be discovered. Amongst others, it’s a heartening reminder that they aren’t alone.
The writer has grown quickly since its institution, particularly through the 2020–2021 pro-democracy demonstrations. As Sam Yan Press’ aims soundly resonated with numerous motion’s agendas, its democracy-related books attracted a bigger pool of readers throughout that point. The staff additionally handed out free copies of their books a couple of instances on the protests. Netiwit shared that the staff will proceed strengthening their basis within the subsequent few years to make sure that Sam Yan Press can develop sustainably by generations of scholars. He additionally hopes that the press would be the supply of inspiration and empowerment for college kids from different Thai universities who’re combating for his or her beliefs, freedom, and justice.
