2023 Report of the Ratsadonprasong Fund, Part 6: Bailors in the Maze
Closing out the annual report with a maze for bailors, the category we put in the last place, though this Fund began (befell!) in the first place because of bailing duties which were first taken up by an auntie who later brought on another auntie, followed by the christening of “the Ratsadonprasong Fund” to honor the will of the people, and eventually the government registration as “the Siddhi-Issara Foundation” to safeguard the fund until its mission’s expiration date.
2023 Report of the Ratsadonprasong Fund, Part 5: Drives in the Maze
A debriefing on our donation drives, with the hope that there will be no more drive in circles in the maze of the law and its practitioners.
Taking “context” out of context: an analysis of six lèse-majesté trials (not) about King Bhumibol
Exploring the language used by the prosecution, the defense, and the judges in cases involving Article 112.
2023 Report of the Ratsadonprasong Fund, Part 4: Detainees in the Maze
Detention timelines of the 48 detainees we supported, and flowcharts on how to send money to a detainee: expectation vs reality
2023 Report of the Ratsadonprasong Fund, Part 3: Defendants in the Maze
When defendants find themselves in the recesses of the judicial maze, the shapes and forms of our support become complicated in turn.
2023 Report of the Ratsadonprasong Fund, Part 2: Where Donations Are Going
Where does bail money go after leaving the judicial maze? This chapter has answers: to defendants, to detainees, and to being forfeited.
A ‘Peasant Comrade’ Who Became a Medical Student Under the Communist Party of Thailand
Rather than cookie-cutter, stifling, or useless, her communist education was a crucible of character that allowed her to be of use.
2023 Report of the Ratsadonprasong Fund, Part 1: Fund’s Health
We’re back with another Annual Report! Under the theme “In the Maze of Rules,” we compile not only movements but also hiccups and halts in the movement of money and people through the judicial process.
Proquestional Bailors
Kicking off a series of volunteer bailor stories with questions about the bailor “profession”
#ConForAll: A Mission to Collect 50,000 Signatures in Three Days
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. A chronicle of collective action to signal that politicians’ promises of constitutional overhaul are not to be broken nor cheapened.
John Sanam Luang: Rock to the Wind of Change
A singer and busker tells the story of his political awakening and how he uses his vocal talent to liven up political rallies (with video evidence)
Late Absolute Monarchy Redux, Part 3: To Be Fair, Woman
Three newspaper articles that reflect the circumstances of women in Thai society in the early 1920s in the home, on public transport, in Bangkok, in the provinces, and in the code of laws.
Late Absolute Monarchy Redux, Part 2: Desperate Before the Law
To what do the people turn when they can’t rely on the system? In this part 2 of selections from century-old newspapers, we offer three answers: to sacred beings, to the press, and to crime.
Late Absolute Monarchy Redux, Part 1: My Tax Money!
Three articles from century-old Thai newspapers on the aristocracy’s corruption and the double standards in taxation enforcement, both between Bangkok and outlying regions and between ordinary people and the high-born.
Late Absolute Monarchy Redux: Introducing a Collection of Century-Old Newspapers
Siamese people’s voices, 10 years before the end of absolute monarchy. Collected by Nopporn Suwanpanich. Passed down to and introduced by Chertalay Suwanpanich.
2022 Report of the Ratsadonprasong Fund, Part 8: Case Hotspots
We close out the report with maps showing the geographical distribution of the Fund’s assistance to defendants and accuseds
The Movement: Tam Tang, Forging a Path for Safe Abortion and a Better Life
Since 2010, the Tam Tang group has been advocating for safe abortion access in Thailand. Tam Tang translates to ‘forging a path’; the name plays on its near homophone tham thaeng ‘to have an abortion.’
2022 Report of the Ratsadonprasong Fund, Part 7: Top Expenses
We continue our annual report with highlights from our bail-related expenses
The Bastille: A Molam’s Retelling
World premiere of a song written in Bangkok Remand Prison in July 2015. Eight years later, we present an eight-minute track that fuses commemoration with imagination, foreignness with familiarity.
2022 Report of the Ratsadonprasong Fund, Part 6: Expense Summary
At the end of 2022, bail money from the Ratsadonprasong Fund remaining in Thai courts countrywide amounted to 56,428,500 baht (over 1.6 million US dollars). This amount is the combined bail of 947 cases.
2022 Report of the Ratsadonprasong Fund, Part 5: Donation Drives
Four fundraising phenomenons, where the people carried the fund through danger.
2022 Report of the Ratsadonprasong Fund, Part 4: Donation Breakdown by Category
Small donations do become big donations by the power of multiplication.
2022 Report of the Ratsadonprasong Fund Part 3: Top Numbers
The convenience in keying in specific numbers to make money transfers nowadays, without the need to fumble with coins or write out the amount in words, has become an affordance for the expression of political will through symbolically charged numbers.
2022 Report of the Ratsadonprasong Fund Part 2: Top Donors
We highlight our top donors—without names. What makes them stand out is not their identities, but the way their donations speak. Find infographics about our biggest donors, our few donors from abroad, our most frequent donors, and our most consistent donors.
2022 Report of the Ratsadonprasong Fund, Part 1: Donation Summary
Down from the sky, rain falls to earth,
amassing into a great wide current;
it rocks the land with clamorous roars,
unstoppable its torrential force.
Take Care, Sib: Letters from Prison to Ekkachai Hongkangwan
An expression of political will and moral support, both between Ekkachai and each prisoner, and from the letter writer to us, their fictive kin from all walks of life who may now be reading.
Worachet’s Hate Mail: Selections
Ajaan Worachet entrusted to us the letters and postcards he had received in the period of going public with the Article 112 amendment proposal ten years ago.
“112 and the Monarchy : A Decade in Retrospect” by Worachet Pakeerat
A public lecture about the lese majeste law by a scholar who spearheaded the movement to amend the law ten years ago.
SIS and the Museum of Popular History Begin Partnership with Panel Discussion “Commoner Archives”
Objects do the double work of personally aiding the memory as well as politically aiding the memorialization of important historical figures.