Struggling for Better Societies: Critical Intellectuals and Their Pursuits of Liberty and Equality for Thai Society

Abstract

The political crisis of the 2000s in Thailand was rooted in the inability of the traditional culture to restrain its own members. During this period, critical intellectuals challenged the mainstream notion of ‘Thainess’ and envisioned more equitable forms of society. This paper examines their conceptions of liberty and equality amid the growing critique of ‘Thainess’ between the early 1980s (the late 2520 B.E.) and the early 2010s (the first half of 2550s B.E.). The findings reveal that critical knowledge emerged during the crises of unified identity in Thailand. The conceptions of liberty and equality served both as tools for such criticisms and as foundations for envisioning prospective Thai societies. These ideas were articulated through two main approaches. The first one was the tradition of totalizing critique, which gave precedence to individual freedom from state interference and to equality before the just laws, emphasizing civil and political rights as essential to shaping free and equal relationships among individuals under the rule of law. The second approach involved the tradition of internal critique that promoted diverse identities, a free and inclusive society with equal opportunities and fair access to resources, and regarded social rights as an essential element enabling Thai citizens to freely pursue their own lives so that they could become the driving force of society. Although critical intellectuals had offered alternative visions for Thai society, the 2014 military coup temporarily halted their activities, leaving behind a legacy of both their ideas and their limitations for emerging intellectuals.