Decades after, mass student activism is fast becoming a 'sweet memory'

Nowadays, a gathering would be considered a huge success if student activists manage to muster even 500 of their fellow students to seek redress for an issue, said Supat Arsasri, secretary of the Students Federation of Thailand (SFT).
SFT is the Kingdom’s most prominent activist body with 30 student organisations as members.
Supat, who is studying History at Ramkhamhaeng University, said there were several factors as to why student movements have declined so much in number and importance.
Students these days appear to be more preoccupied with their own lives, and social media have made it easy for one and all to air their thoughts. Also, he said, students now push for reform rather than being revolutionaries as in the 1970s, when socialist and communist ideologies were dominant. They tend to focus more on smaller issues that affect them directly instead of trying to change the entire society, he said.
Besides, even the SFT – which was formed in 1984 – finds itself straying sometimes, he said, citing the federation’s tacit support of the 2006 coup as one of its biggest blunders.
Yet this was not necessarily a bad thing, Supat said. Many students used the social-media network to learn about problems and even launch specific campaigns against issues that may have an impact on society.
“Social media is an easily accessible tool that can be used to wage battles,” he said, citing Aum Neko, a transgender sophomore student at Thammasat University, as an example. Aum Neko single-handedly launched a campaign – both on- and off-line – against the regulation of students having to wear uniforms.
Aum, who already has more than 12,000 followers, explained that the quality of activism had not changed, though the number of activists had dropped a lot compared to four decades ago. She puts this down to the fact that the struggle against dictatorship isn’t as clear as it was in the past, when Army generals ruled the Kingdom and it had no constitution.
However, people still do not enjoy full freedom, she said, citing the restrictions placed by the ICT Ministry, which continues blocking websites deemed critical or offensive to the monarchy. “The government has become cleverer at discouraging students from questioning history and the powers-that-be,” Aum said.
Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, 16, a young student activist, concurs. “The burning spirit for what is just and right is the same, the only difference is the method used. In that [1970s] era, there was print media, symposiums and newsletters, but today the communication technology is a lot wider with numerous outlets.”
However, he said, though the reach of Facebook is wider, it cannot replace face-to-face activism, adding that students needed to increase their knowledge and learn to launch debates on political history.
“Do not let the [unfulfilled] dreams of the previous generation make us believe that those ideologies are not realisable or nonsense. Socialism and justice are still possible,” he said.
Outside the world of activism, students like Jakkrit Witsuphalert – a sophomore at Thammasat University who is studying International Relations – concedes that students nowadays are more self-centred. “We study more for our grades, ourselves and our family,” he said.
The asphalt streets that student activists marched down have been replaced by a street in virtual reality, he said. He could not envision a massive turnout like the one that was seen on October 14, 1973 anytime soon.
Jeerawut Singharaj, a senior student from the Faculty of Liberal Arts at Maejo University, said student activists still played a leading role in society, even though it was not as strong as in previous decades. Last month, he observed students at Ramkhamhaeng University who were upset by the government's rubber policies try to invite fellow university students to join a rally. However, they were unsuccessful, only managing to find 25 people who would join them. “If it involves a political issue, students are especially concerned that protesting might affect their positions as students,” he said.
Many students want to share their opinions, but don’t want to be seen doing so publicly. This is one reason why Facebook has become a tool to set many political agendas, according to Jeerawut. “Student activists will take action if the issues affect them directly, such as educational problems, or if friends are also joining a rally, or they trust the rally’s leader. If these three conditions are not present, students will only join a political rally in order to get a photo of themselves to show on their Facebook page,” he said.

This the sixth in a series of articles commemorating the October Uprising. The series ends today – the 40th an-niversary of the day that students took a stand against dictatorship in 1973.