The Democracy Monument in Bangkok is one of Thailand’s most significant monuments and has long been embedded in continuing political conflict between Royalist and pro-democracy factions. It commemorates the 1932 People’s Party revolution when Thailand shifted from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional one and became a symbol of the Thai people’s democratic ideals. It became a key location for pro-democracy demonstrations in the 1970s and remains so until this day, as shown by the 2020 pro-democracy demonstrations led by student movements against the government calling for democracy and political reform.
This paper first charts the evolution of the Democracy Monument as a contested arena of political discourse by looking at both its continued use by pro-democracy movements and consequent attempts by military-led governments to prevent public gatherings around it. Second, it focuses on the 2020 protests to demonstrate how the monument began to operate as a symbol in both online and public spaces where the government could exert much less control.
Through quantitative and visual analysis, this paper will examine how the 2020 student movements used Social media to both organise protests and distribute images after the event. The 2020 protesters were able to communicate the original People’s Party’s ideals and amplify their political message beyond the physical space of central Bangkok to a digital space accessible to Thailand and its diaspora.
It is a prime example of how contemporary modes of mass communication can promote democratic agendas in countries controlled by strict laws, such as Thailand’s lese-majeste.

Authors:
Chaipat Ngambutsabongsophin, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
Flavia Marcello, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia

About the Presenter(s)
Chaipat Ngambutsabongsophin is a PhD Candidate at the Centre for Transformative Media Technologies, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia

See this presentation on the full schedule – Saturday Schedule

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