Sonntag, 12. Oktober 2014

3 Bücher über Thailand: Kurzgeschichten und Gedichte über Thailands Gesellschaft

For the English Version CLICK HERE!


In den letzten Jahren mussten wir uns während der "Anti-Thaksin-Proteste" und "Anti-Yingluck-Demonstrationen" eine Menge respektloser und geradezu menschenverachtender Kommentare auf Facebook, in den Zeitungen und in den Protestcamps in Bezug auf die sogenannten "Red Shirts" anhören und lesen.
Für viele der konservativen Regierungsgegner und Royalisten gibt es keinen Unterschied zwischen den Armen im Allgemeinen und der Rothemdenbewegung (deren Mitglieder sich weigern, weiter wie Leibeigene zu leben, es wagen sich eine eigene Meinung zu bilden und zu großen Teilen Ex-Premier Thaksin unterstützen).
Daher sollten, nach der Meinung vieler Konservativer und Royalisten (auch als Gelbhemden bezeichnet), alle armen Menschen in Thailand bestraft und ihnen grundlegende Menschenrechte wie Meinungsfreiheit, Versammlungsfreiheit und das Wahlrecht entzogen werden.
In der Tat sind viele (aber nicht alle) dieser sogenannten "Red Shirts/Rothemden" treue und überzeugte Anhänger von Ex-Ministerpräsident Thaksin Shinawatra, der durch einen Militärputsch im September 2006 gestürzt wurde. Viele von ihnen stammen aus den verarmten, ländlichen Gebieten im Norden und (Nord)Osten Thailands und den Slums der Städte.
Thaksins Erzfeinde, die sogenannten "Yellow Shirts/Gelbhemden", die sich überwiegend (aber nicht alle!) aus Ultra-Konservativen und Ultra-Royalisten zusammensetzen (interessanterweise auch vielen Expats), diffamieren Thaksins Anhänger als dumm (sogar als zu dumm um zu wählen) und ungebildet. Sie beschuldigten sie, faul, korrupt und ständig betrunken zu sein. Angeblich hängen sie nur faul herum und denken von morgens bis abends nur an Sex ("wie die Tiere", wie uns eine "dunkelgelbe" Royalistin in einem Gespräch erzählte). Sie (die Armen) hätten nicht die geringste Ahnung davon, wie man gut und hart arbeitet.
 Die "Gelbhemden" bezeichnen die Bauern und Slumbewohner als Büffel. Tiere, die zwar sehr stark sind, aber nicht denken können. Deshalb müssten sie von der "anständigen" und "gebildeten" alteingesessenen Elite geführt und geleitet werden.
(http://yanawa.blogspot.com/2014/07/thailand-ihr-seid-zu-dumm-um-zu-wahlen.html)

Offensichtlich haben viele Menschen der sogenannten "gebildeten" konservativen Elite und auch viele Expats nicht die geringste Ahnung, wie die unteren Bevölkerungsschichten täglich um ihren Lebensunterhalt kämpfen müssen und unter welchen Bedingungen sie leben bzw. überleben.

Pira Sudhams Bücher (welche allesamt bereits veröffentlicht worden waren, bevor Thaksin zum Premierminister gewählt oder die Red Shirt Bewegung gegründet wurde) bieten einen tiefen Einblick in das tägliche Leben dieser oft vernachlässigten oder vergessenen Menschen.
Pira wuchs in Napo, einem abgelegenen Dorf in der Provinz Buriram im Isan auf. Als Kind arbeitete er mit seinen Eltern in den Reisfeldern und hütete die Büffel. Später diente er als Tempeldiener in einem Kloster in Bangkok, wo er die Schule besuchen durfte. Während seiner Zeit auf der Highschool und im ersten Jahr an der Fakultät für Kunst der Chulalongkorn Universität verdiente er sich seinen Lebensunterhalt durch den Verkauf von Souvenirs an Touristen in den Strassen Bangkoks, bis er ein Stipendium der neuseeländischen Regierung gewann.

Piras Karriere ist ein leuchtendes Beispiel für das Potenzial, das in diesen angeblich "dummen" Menschen steckt ist. Er ist der lebende Beweis, dass die Landbevölkerung und die Slumbewohner nicht etwa dümmer, sondern genauso intelligent wie alle anderen Menschen in Thailand sind. Was ihnen fehlt, ist lediglich eine vernünftige Schulbildung und eine Chance, sich zu beweisen.

Seine Bücher können unter anderem hier bestellt werden:
DCO -Made In Thailand
AbeBooks.com und vielen anderen Online-Bücherläden und Antiquariaten in Thailand und im Rest der Welt. Zum Beispiel im DASA Bookstore in der Sukhumvit Road, wo ich meine Ausgabe gefunden habe.






Da die Bücher zur Zeit nur in englischer Sprache erhältlich sind, habe ich die Auszüge nicht ins Deutsche übersetzt.

Auszüge aus Monsoon Country (siebte Auflage 1993 erschienen bei Rother):


..."If I had not left my village then, I would have been another peasant. I would have been subject, like most villagers, to the mercy of nature: floods, drought, ignorance and scarcity. With endurance, I would have accepted them as my own fate, as something I could not go against in this life," says Pira.
Of his humble background, he says, " I owe a great deal to my early village life, spending years in the rice fields of Esarn, so remote and neglected. I grew up with the good-heartedness, the hospitality and the illiteracy of our people, as well as the selfishness, cruelty, poverty and corruption. I know the arrogance of shopkeepers, the unscrupulousness of the merchants who deal with the villagers, and the helplessness of the farmers. What I saw and learnt in childhood touched me deeply. I would not cut of my roots, for without them I would not be able to grow...
(Monsoon Country, Seite 15)

...The author admits:" When I was a child in Napo village, what I saw and experienced moved me greatly. The poverty, corruption, lack of basic medical facilities, the purchase and sale of children and also many buffaloes combined to sadden me; I was angered by the injustice and the helplessness of the peasants. I remember how I wished to tell my parents and the other villagers what I saw and felt, and what I wanted them to see and feel. I wanted to take them by their shoulders and shake them and wake them up. But I came to realize they would not see things as I saw them. All the while I was taught not to see, not to hear and not to speak out...
(Monsoon Country, Seite 16 und 17)






Auszüge aus Tales Of Thailand (1983 unter dem Namen Siamese Drama erschienen):


...It is clear that there are inextricable links between literacy, education democracy and human rights (see also quote from page 6 below). This could not be clearer than the case of the Esarn people. It is in this context that the author would like to take the readers on a journey to the hinterland of Thailand:
"I (Pira Sudham) look at my life in this way: If I had not left my village at all, I would have become just another peasant with a horde of children, going through the vicious circle of rural life  in a poor village in Esarn. If ignorance is blissful, I could have been a happier person. Like most villagers, I would believe that going through years of drought, scarcity and disease without medical treatment, without any relief, in a forlorn Esarn village is my destiny, my fate or Karma for what I committed in my previous life. So in this life, I am to suffer for the deeds done. The acceptance of one's fate would make suffering in this life tolerable...
(Tales of Thailand, Seite 4 und 5)

...I heed the voice not only because I believe in my protector but I also want to be alive, at least to finish writing The Force Of Karma. I keep in mind that more than 30 lives of teachers ( who intended to give the village children a real education and who also tried to equip them with knowledge about democracy, justice and human rights, as Pira later explains in the book - comment by the blogger), the champions of the poor, labourers and environmentalists have been brutally 'liquidated'....
(Tales of Thailand, Seite 6)

..."Taking it upon myself to speak out on the behalf of the battered silent and meek ones, choices of tone and styles of speech are opened for me. In my books, particularly Monsoon Country, and its sequel, The Force Of Karma, the current social conditions, the norms, the attitudes and the base on which the hierarchy rests are described along with the social ills, the corruption and injustice. By describing them in vivid detail, I hope to bring to mind what should be corrected or changed for the better. When I wrote:" There are too many thieves in high places, cunningly and shamelessly making use of their positions and power, without conscience but with great capacity for avarice. These corrupt men aim at accumulating wealth as quickly as possible for themselves and their families, without caring for the good of the nation" I hoped  that at least one or two of these broad home-truths would make some Thai readers think...
(Tales of Thailand, Seite 7)




_____________________________________________________________________________________


Die S.E.A. Write Anthology of THAI SHORT STORIES AND POEMS




ISBN: 9789747100686
http://silkwormbooks.com/products/sea-write-anthology



Dieses lesenswerte Buch ist eine Sammlung von Kurzgeschichten und Gedichten bekannter thailändischer Schriftsteller und Dichter (Anchan, Angkarn Kalyanapong, Chiranan Pitpreecha, Khomthuan Kanthanu, Naowarat Pongpaiboon, Phaitun Thanya, Phaiwarin Kho-ngam, Saksiri Meesomsueb, Sila Khomchai, Ussiri Thammachot und Vanich Charungkij-Anant).

Einige Geschichten/Gedichte befassen sich mit sozialer Ungerechtigkeit und dem Leid der Armen. Andere behandeln das Thema ethischer Probleme im Alltag, z.B. wenn die Protagonisten mit außergewöhnlichen Situationen konfrontiert werden (z.B. in Ussiri Thammachots Kurzgeschichte "Nightfall On The Waterway"). Andere Kurzgeschichten beschreiben in einer allegorischen Weise, wie Menschen die Kontrolle über ihr Leben und ihre Menschlichkeit verlieren, wie zum Beispiel in der Kurzgeschichte "On The Route Of A Rabid Dog" von Ussiri Thammachot. Diese kleine Geschichte spielt in einem öden und einsamen Landstrich nahe eines kleinen Dorfes. Ein sterbender, tollwütiger Hund läuft stoisch immer geradeaus eine einsame Straße entlang in Richtung eines entlegenen Dorfes. Als er endlich abends den Dorfplatz erreicht, bricht er mit Blick auf die untergehnde Sonne tot zusammen. Aber nicht der sterbende Hund verhält sich wie ein tollwütiges Tier, sondern die Menschen, denen er auf seinem Weg begegnet. Ein "Weg", der den Leser auf die dunkle, die tierische Seite der menschlichen Natur führt.
Das Buch enthält auch Geschichten und Gedichte mit politischen Texten wie "The Way Of The Snail" von Naowarat PongPaiboon, das während der Studentenunruhen im Jahr 1973 geschrieben wurde.

Auszug aus "On The Route Of A Rabid Dog" von Ussiri Thammachot

(beise Auszüge mit Erlaubnis des Silkworm Verlages)

...
There it goes (the rabid dog), breathing noisily, emitting low cries. Sticky saliva dribbles of its stiff jaws...
Waves of nausea are rising again, one after another. it comes on suddenly. The longing for the clear, white liquid drives all the thoughts out of his (the fathers) head. The boy is already far down the paddy fields. He races after him, cursing with anger.
Running over rough, parched ground, together with his chronic alcoholism and a craving for the clear white liquor, causes him to stiffen his jaws.
As he chases his son for the money, saliva begins to dribble from his mouth, his swollen tongue appearing between his teeth. His breathing grows louder and he begins emitting low, animal-like cries-like the beast that just has passed out of sight...

The sun moves lower and is partially hidden by the mountain range. Its bright, copper rays suffuse the western sky. The laterite road that runs across the village looks dark against the glow of the sunset.
...




Auszug aus "The Way Of The Snail" (1973 von Naowarat Pong Paiboon)

Das Gedicht entstand während der Studentenunruhen 1973.
"Weeds" steht für die illegale, despotische Herrschaft/Regierung (in diesem Fall die Thanom-Prapat Regierung), während die "little snail' die Menschen repräsentiert, die während dieser Unruhen in den Straßen ihr Leben geopfert haben.


...

    And the little snail will offer up its flesh
    To become a creator
    From its own dissolution
    As it has always been.

So there lies the way
Leading to the ideal.
As long as weeds rule
There will be hearts to struggle.

...

    Come then, come bear it,
    This suffering with friends
    Don't hope that without it
    Your life will shine.

The first steps that we take
Will paint the path
And there's much land untrod
Where we may go.




Besonders interessant ist die intellektuelle und politische Entwicklung des Dichters Naowarat Pongpaiboom. Im Jahr 1973 kämpfte er für die Demokratie und war ein starker Befürworter des Studentenaufstandes gegen die Diktatur der Thanom-Prapat Regierung. 
In 2013/2014 war Naowarat einer von neun  Anführern bei den Protesten gegen die demokratisch gewählte Yingluck-Regierung, er unterstützte den Boykott der freien Wahlen im Februar 2014 und befürwortete den Putsch im Mai 2014. 
Nun wurde er in das NRC (Nationales Reformkomitee) berufen, das erst vor kurzem von der Militärjunta eingesetzt worden war.


..."Among them were nine leaders from the anti-government protests that preceded the coup, including Naowarat Pongpaiboon, Sombat Thamrongthanyawong and Charas Suwanmala."...
(... "Unter ihnen waren neun Anführer der Proteste gegen die (Yingluck-) Regierung, die dem Staatsstreich vorausgingen einschließlich Naowarat Pongpaiboon, Sombat Thamrongthanyawong und Charas Suwanmala." ...)
http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1412681511&typecate=06&section=

Mehr über die Studentenunruhen 1973 (nur in Englisch):
http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/thai-students-overthrow-military-thanom-regime-1973




The book is available at:

Silkworm Books (http://silkwormbooks.com)
6 Sukkasem Road
Tambon Suthep, Amphoe Mueang
Chiang Mai, Thailand 50200
Tel: +66 5322 6161, Fax: +66 5322 6643
e-mail: info@silkwormbooks.com


สำนักพิมพ์ซิลค์เวอร์ม
เลขที่ 6 ถนนสุขเกษม
ต. สุเทพ อ. เมืองจ.เชียงใหม่ 50200
โทร. 0 5322 6161, โทรสาร 0 5322 6643
e-mail: info@silkwormbooks.com

3 Books about Thailand: Short stories and poems about Thailand's society

Zur deutschen Version!


During the street demonstrations against the elected governments of former Prime Ministers Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra in recent years I heard and read a lot of disrespectful and inhuman comments on Facebook, in newspapers and at the protest sites regarding the "Red Shirts" and the poor in general.
Many anti-government protesters and royalists made no distinction between impoverished people and the Red Shirt supporters (who dared to think for themselves, refused to continue to live on like Phrai (serfs) and to vote for the political party of their choice).
Therefor, in the opinion of the ultraconservatives, all poor people in Thailand should be punished and be stripped of basic human rights like freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and their right to vote for the near future.
Indeed many (but not all) of the "Red Shirts" are loyal and strong supporters of  former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a coup in September 2006. Many of them come from impoverished rural areas in the North and Northeast and the city slums.
Thaksin´s arch-enemies, the "Yellow Shirts", mostly (but not all!) ultra-conservatives and ultra-royalists, and interestingly also many expats, defamed Thaksin´s supporters as stupid (even too stupid to vote) and uneducated. They accused the poor of being lazy, corrupt and drunkards. Allegedly they are only interested in hanging around and making love ("like animals" as we were told by a "deep yellow" royalist woman). They (the poor) don't know how to work steadily and properly.
The "Yellow Shirts" call the farmers and slum dwellers "buffaloes", animals, which are regarded as strong but too stupid to think for themselves. Therefor they have to be "guided" by the "decent" and "educated" elites.
(http://yanawa.blogspot.com/2014/07/thailand-you-are-too-stupid-to-vote.html)

It is obvious, that many members of the so-called "educated elite" and certain expats have absolutely no idea how these impoverished people struggle to make a living, and under which conditions they try to survive.

Pira Sudhams books (which were written long before Thaksin became Prime Ministers or the Red Shirt movement was founded) offer a deep insight into the daily life of these often neglected or forgotten people. Pira was born and grew up in Napo, a remote Esarn village in Buriram province. As a child he helped his parents in the paddy fields and tended the buffaloes. Later he became a servant to Buddhist monks in Bangkok where he was admitted to a school. When he went to highschool and during his first year at the Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, he supported himself by selling souvenirs to tourists until he won a scholarship from the New Zealand Government.
Pira's career is a shining example for the potential that is hidden in these allegedly "stupid" people. He also proves that the rural and low-class people are not stupid, on the contrary, they are as smart as everyone else in Thailand. All they lack is a decent education and the chance to prove themselves.

His books are available at:
DCO -Made In Thailand
AbeBooks.com and many other online-bookstores
Also available in many second hand bookstores all over Thailand like DASA bookshop near Sukhumvit Soi (where I bought my copy).





Excerpts of Monsoon Country (1988):

..."If I had not left my village then, I would have been another peasant. I would have been subject, like most villagers, to the mercy of nature: floods, drought, ignorance and scarcity. With endurance, I would have accepted them as my own fate, as something I could not go against in this life," says Pira.
Of his humble background, he says, " I owe a great deal to my early village life, spending years in the rice fields of Esarn, so remote and neglected. I grew up with the good-heartedness, the hospitality and the illiteracy of our people, as well as the selfishness, cruelty, poverty and corruption. I know the arrogance of shopkeepers, the unscrupulousness of the merchants who deal with the villagers, and the helplessness of the farmers. What I saw and learnt in childhood touched me deeply. I would not cut of my roots, for without them I would not be able to grow...
(Monsoon Country, page 15)

...The author admits:" When I was a child in Napo village, what I saw and experienced moved me greatly. The poverty, corruption, lack of basic medical facilities, the purchase and sale of children and also many buffaloes combined to sadden me; I was angered by the injustice and the helplessness of the peasants. I remember how I wished to tell my parents and the other villagers what I saw and felt, and what I wanted them to see and feel. I wanted to take them by their shoulders and shake them and wake them up. But I came to realize they would not see things as I saw them. All the while I was taught not to see, not to hear and not to speak out...
(Monsoon Country, page 16 and 17)







Excerpts of Tales Of Thailand (first published as Siamese Drama in 1983):

...It is clear that there are inextricable links between literacy, education democracy and human rights (see also quote from page 6 below). This could not be clearer than the case of the Esarn people. It is in this context that the author would like to take the readers on a journey to the hinterland of Thailand:
"I (Pira Sudham) look at my life in this way: If I had not left my village at all, I would have become just another peasant with a horde of children, going through the vicious circle of rural life  in a poor village in Esarn. If ignorance is blissful, I could have been a happier person. Like most villagers, I would believe that going through years of drought, scarcity and disease without medical treatment, without any relief, in a forlorn Esarn village is my destiny, my fate or Karma for what I committed in my previous life. So in this life, I am to suffer for the deeds done. The acceptance of one's fate would make suffering in this life tolerable...
(from Tales of Thailand, page 4 and 5)

...I heed the voice not only because I believe in my protector but I also want to be alive, at least to finish writing The Force Of Karma. I keep in mind that more than 30 lives of teachers ( who intended to give the village children a real education and who also tried to equip them with knowledge about democracy, justice and human rights, as Pira later explains in the book - comment by the blogger), the champions of the poor, labourers and environmentalists have been brutally 'liquidated'....
(from Tales of Thailand, page 6)

..."Taking it upon myself to speak out on the behalf of the battered silent and meek ones, choices of tone and styles of speech are opened for me. In my books, particularly Monsoon Country, and its sequel, The Force Of Karma, the current social conditions, the norms, the attitudes and the base on which the hierarchy rests are described along with the social ills, the corruption and injustice. By describing them in vivid detail, I hope to bring to mind what should be corrected or changed for the better. When I wrote:" There are too many thieves in high places, cunningly and shamelessly making use of their positions and power, without conscience but with great capacity for avarice. These corrupt men aim at accumulating wealth as quickly as possible for themselves and their families, without caring for the good of the nation" I hoped  that at least one or two of these broad home-truths would make some Thai readers think...
(from Tales of Thailand, page 7)


_____________________________________________________________________________________




The S.E.A. Write Anthology of THAI SHORT STORIES AND POEMS




ISBN: 9789747100686
http://silkwormbooks.com/products/sea-write-anthology



This readable book is a fine collection of short stories and poems by well known Thai writers and poets (Anchan, Angkarn Kalyanapong, Chiranan Pitpreecha, Khomthuan Kanthanu, Naowarat Pongpaiboon, Phaitun Thanya, Phaiwarin Kho-ngam, Saksiri Meesomsueb, Sila Khomchai, Ussiri Thammachot and Vanich Charungkij-anant).
Some stories/poems deal with social injustice and the suffering of the poor. Other stories cover the topic of ethical problems when the protagonists are confronted with extraordinary situations (e.g. in Ussiri Thammachots short story "Nightfall On The Waterway"). Other short stories are describing how people are losing control of their lives and their humanity, for example in the short story "On The Route Of A Rabid Dog" by Ussiri Thammachot. This short story takes place in a remote countryside near a small village. But not the dying dog that stoically runs along a desolated road behaves like a rabid beast but the humans it is passing along its way to the village. A "Route" that leads us to the dark, the animal-like side of human nature.
The book also includes stories and poems with political backgrounds like "The Way Of The Snail" by Naowarat PongPaiboon which was written during the student uprising in 1973.


(both excerpts with permission of Silkworm books)

Excerpt of "On The Route Of A Rabid Dog" by Ussiri Thammachot


...
There it goes (the rabid dog), breathing noisily, emitting low cries. Sticky saliva dribbles of its stiff jaws...
Waves of nausea are rising again, one after another. it comes on suddenly. The longing for the clear, white liquid drives all the thoughts out of his (the fathers) head. The boy is already far down the paddy fields. He races after him, cursing with anger.
Running over rough, parched ground, together with his chronic alcoholism and a craving for the clear white liquor, causes him to stiffen his jaws.
As he chases his son for the money, saliva begins to dribble from his mouth, his swollen tongue appearing between his teeth. His breathing grows louder and he begins emitting low, animal-like cries-like the beast that just has passed out of sight...

The sun moves lower and is partially hidden by the mountain range. Its bright, copper rays suffuse the western sky. The laterite road that runs across the village looks dark against the glow of the sunset.
...




Excerpt of The Way Of The Snail (1973 by Naowarat Pong Paiboon)

This piece was written during the 1973 uprising.
"Weeds" stands for the illegal, despotic rule (in this case the Thanom-Prapat government) and the "little snail' represents the people who sacrificed their lives in the streets in those days.


...

    And the little snail will offer up its flesh
    To become a creator
    From its own dissolution
    As it has always been.

So there lies the way
Leading to the ideal.
As long as weeds rule
There will be hearts to struggle.

...

    Come then, come bear it,
    This suffering with friends
    Don't hope that without it
    Your life will shine.

The first steps that we take
Will paint the path
And there's much land untrod
Where we may go.


Especially interesting is the intellectual and political development of the author Naowarat Pongpaiboom. In 1973 he fought for democracy and was a strong supporter of the student uprising against the military dictatorship of the Thanom-Prapat government.
In 2013/2014 he was one of nine leaders in the protest against the elected Yingluck government, supported the boycott of free elections in February 2014 and supported the coup in May 2014. Now he joined the NRC (National Reform Committee) which was just recently installed by the military dominated government.

..."Among them were nine leaders from the anti-government protests that preceded the coup, including Naowarat Pongpaiboon, Sombat Thamrongthanyawong and Charas Suwanmala."...
http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1412681511&typecate=06&section=

More about the student uprising in 1973:
http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/thai-students-overthrow-military-thanom-regime-1973


The book is available at:

Silkworm Books (http://silkwormbooks.com)
6 Sukkasem Road
Tambon Suthep, Amphoe Mueang
Chiang Mai, Thailand 50200
Tel: +66 5322 6161, Fax: +66 5322 6643
e-mail: info@silkwormbooks.com


สำนักพิมพ์ซิลค์เวอร์ม
เลขที่ 6 ถนนสุขเกษม
ต. สุเทพ อ. เมืองจ.เชียงใหม่ 50200
โทร. 0 5322 6161, โทรสาร 0 5322 6643

e-mail: info@silkwormbooks.com