Turning the pages of Democracy

Since the advent of bookstore chains, followed by the domination of Amazon, the act of dreaming up, opening and maintaining an independent bookstore has always been considered a statement against the invasion of giant corporations.

Although the idea has romance and idealism written all over it, it remains a symbol of intellectual and anti-corporate activism. In April, Time magazine honoured a small upholder of this grand ideal, American author Ann Patchett, as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World". Just last year, the writer co-founded a bookshop, Parnassus Books, in her hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, which according to Patchett, had become a biblio-wasteland.

The political upheaval and the growing strength of the people's movements over the past seven years in Thailand have changed the way the country's independent bookshop owners view the function, potential and purpose of their enterprises.

It's no longer just about book-lovers or the people in the alternative publishing business fulfilling their dreams, swimming against the tide or denouncing the ennui of the nine-to-five job.

The independent bookshops that have sprung up in the past year alone are making statements that go beyond anti-corporation or establishing an intellectual literary presence.

A solid case study takes place in Chiang Mai. The city's citizens and university students as well as the country's leading intellectuals are finding a new gathering spot in Book Re:public, the northern province's latest independent bookshop that aims to be more than just a place that sells books.

In fact, one of the joint's many unique characteristics is the fact that its co-owners didn't originally intend for their socially and politically engaged project to even be a bookshop.

"We wanted our project to be a real public space for people to come and talk and exchange ideas about politics, arts and culture," said co-owner Rodjaraeg Wattanapanit.

"We [the co-owners] _ academics and activists _ have one common ideal. And that is to see democracy in Thailand, but democracy in the internationally accepted sense of the word."Rodjaraeg and the other co-founders of Book Re:public, comprising Chulalongkorn University's political science lecturer Wiangrat Netipho, Pinkaew Luangarangsri of Chiang Mai University's Faculty of Social Sciences and Sukhum Chivakiatyingyong, formerly of Chumchon Khon Rakpa, a northern development organisation, are among many who refuse to be content with the rationalisation of the term prachatippatai bab Thaithai (Thai-style democracy).

Rodjaraeg once worked for Chumchon Khon Rakpa, like Sukhum, but quit her job after the crackdown on the red-shirt protestors in 2010 to "search for an answer". Wiangrat is highly active in the Campaign Committee for the Amendment of Article 112 and People's Information Centre (The April-May 2010 Crackdown), a centre dedicated to investigating the bloodbath and providing legal help to the victims and their families.

"Since the coup, people keep saying that this is Thai-style democracy. We feel that democracy needs to be talked about on a deeper level and wider scope. This Thai-style democracy, is it really a good fit for Thailand? We're also searching for answers. We're not saying we have the answer," said Rodjaraeg.

On the ''About'' page on Book Re:public's website, the founders underline Thailand's need for more public space as it has been systematically invaded by the state through various forms of censorship.

They also express their ''discomfort with the movements of the right-leaning groups, such as the witchhunt on the internet or even the members of the media who supported the state authorities' crackdown on the people during the April-May 2010 events''.

''The basis of the problem with democracy in Thailand is the lack of space for debate. The culture of debate and critique is not encouraged in Thailand,'' said Pinkaew.

The project was originally going to be called Cafe Democracy, with the word ''cafe'' doubling as an acronym: Creating Awareness For Enhancing Democracy. The four founding partners believe that factual information and books on the country's history and political history, which are abundant, need to be brought up and discussed more in the public sphere.

''We think that Thai society is not one driven by knowledge. At the very least, we need to use books as a tool to move our project forward. So our project, in addition to being a library and a space where people can meet and talk, has to be a place where people can come and take the books they want to read home. How would that be possible? We have to sell books,'' Rodjaraeg explained.

LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY

The USAID Sapan Programme-funded bookshop carries mainly Thai-language and translated books on history, politics, economics, and the arts, titles by well-known Thai columnists and academics, current and back issues of hard-to-find progressive journals and magazines, such as Aan and Fah Diew Kan. The library section of Book Re:public is stacked with rare and out-of-print volumes on Thai politics and history, and student-made university journals from the four partners' private collections.

The bookshop also regularly invites the country's top academics, activists and writers to hold talks on current controversial topics. These talks, most of which can be seen on the bookstore's YouTube channel, wrestle with a diverse range of issues _ from art, religion, and spiritual matters to Article 112 (the lese majeste law), the reconciliation debate, and southern unrest _ presenting them from angles difficult to find in the mainstream media. We have yet to see real debates between opposing groups, however. The guest speakers generally share similar ideas and ideals.

Book Re:public is the latest newcomer to Chiang Mai's small bookshop scene, opening its doors late last year. The famed and adorable Raan Lao, with its youthful Thai ''indie'' aesthetic, has been one of the main features on the increasingly hip Nimmanhemin Road for 12 years.

The shop carries books in the same vein as Book Re:public, but has a wider focus. Samanchon Bookshop, founded by the respected editor and owner of Samanchon Books, Vieng-Vachira Buason, came into being merely a few years ago. Standing right outside Carrefour Hang Dong shopping centre, it sells quality, and therefore hard-to-find, books from various publishing houses and has a not-for-sale corner, featuring books from the owner's private collection, in which customers are welcome to bury their noses.

Positioning a bookshop as a space for debate and exchange of ideas is nothing new.

However, some of the recently opened bookstores in Thailand are bringing the usual socially engaged stances of small bookshops to another level by putting emphasis on tolerance and equality.

The name Book Re:public contains a word that may be too sensitive for certain groups of Thais. Historian Charnvit Kasetsiri, during his talk at the bookstore on the history of Thailand's constitution, teased: ''Are they looking for trouble by naming it like this?'' The comment was met with laughter from the audience.

In Lampang, Egalite bookshop, which opened its door in January last year, comes with the tagline, ''Readers. Writers. We're equal''. The name of the bookshop drew inspiration from the motto of the French Republic. A line from the store's ''About'' page reads: ''The world of this bookstore contains not only books, but also the aspiration for equality among humans.''

Down in the restive South, Buku Books and Movie House in Pattani states clearly in writing that it welcomes ''people of all races, genders and religions''.

SCHOOLING IN DEMOCRACY

Book Re:public pushes its democratic ideals one step further with the Democracy School, which recently concluded its first course. Attended by university students in Chiang Mai, the course featured lectures, conducted by leading Thai academics, on the history of Siam, the evolution of Thai democracy and the monarchy in a democratic society, among others.

Prior to designing the course, the four founders surveyed 100 students from three universities in Chiang Mai on their perception of democracy. Pinkaew said they found the results to be ''strange''.

''They think democracy in Thailand doesn't need to be like anywhere else in the world. They find coup d'etat to be acceptable. They agree with the senate-appointment system,'' she said.

After weeks of an academic atmosphere and abstract concepts, the attendees travelled to Bangkok. They met with political student groups from Chulalongkorn and Thammasat universities.

They visited key protest sites of the red and yellow shirts and listened to first-hand accounts of the 2010 crackdown from one of the protestors.

They talked to Puangthong Pawakapan of the People's Information Centre (The April-May 2010 Crackdown).

A tour of landmarks, prominent and forgotten, which paved and obstructed the road to democracy, was given by a fellow university student.

The Democracy School's field trips also took the students to Lamphun to meet the villagers and hear about their land-rights struggles. Back in their hometown of Chiang Mai, they met with some red shirts who run the 107.25 Radio Station for Democracy.

The students who attended the course are majoring in a broad range of subjects, from visual art, journalism and language, to law, political science and education. Some of them were quiet, some chatty and irreverent, sporting T-shirts by Facebook groups that make acerbic artworks satirising Thai middle-class hypocrisy.

After a two-hour guided visit to the Rattanakosin Exhibition Hall on Ratchadamnoen Road, some of the students passionately dissected, critiqued and made fun of how the museum distorted history and how its narrative reduced the role of the people in the development of the nation.

It may seem like this is a like-minded group of young people, but visual art student Suttipong Kumhom said that his classmates hold different political views.

''But it's good that we can talk to each other,'' he said. ''In fact, it's a good thing when a lot of people disagree with you.''

Suttipong described himself as someone who didn't know anything about politics and didn't think it was part of his life. The escalating violence in the political arena in the past few years had heightened his interest in politics. When he saw the poster advertising the course, he leapt at the opportunity.

''My first goal is to use the new knowledge to develop my art,'' he said.

''It was really interesting to get to see the bullet marks at Ratchaprasong intersection,'' said Yuphawadee Theekha, a Thai major at Chiang Mai University. ''Politics is so cruel, and the perpetrators aren't being held responsible.''

The soft-spoken young woman found some of the content of the academic lectures in the first part of the course to be too difficult. She has always enjoyed politics, she said, and readily links it to her area of studies. ''Today, language is being used to rhapsodise about beauty and joy. People don't read books that reflect the inhumanity of the society.''

After having listened to a number of adults and her peers speak throughout the course, some of whom she disagreed with, the opinionated and straight-talking journalism student, Kanokwan Chantorn, said: ''It's unimportant how old you are; it's about the way you look at things. I've taught art to children, and some of them are smarter than I am. Sometimes we just need to listen to everyone more.''

Book Re:public plans to begin a new Democracy School this year.

Rodjaraeg thinks the course needs some adjustment, especially the overload of the academic content. She found the field trips to be more effective as the students got the opportunity to talk and ask questions themselves.

''Next time, we need to make the content more relevant to their lifestyles. We need to talk about gender, religion, food. In a democratic society, how do people approach these issues?'' said Rodjaraeg.