By Eli Elinoff Guest Contributor
Historically, Thai protests have followed Thai geographies of power: They tend to be understood as center-focused, located in Bangkok, emphasizing geographies that are near to the country’s focal points of political, economic, and cosmological power. In the past, this has meant that spaces like Thammasat University, Lumpini Park, Sanam Luang, Rattanakosin island, Government House, and, in 2010, the Ratchaprasong area, became the central stage for moments of rupture and transformation.
By taking over these central spaces, protests—both democratic and otherwise—generated material and symbolic force for their political claims by disrupting key government functions or urban life more generally. They also made themselves visible to the public and those who hold power within the country.
