ABSTRACT

This article offers a preliminary analysis of the hundreds of youth-inspired mass protests staged in Thailand during 2020. It argues that while calling for reforms and flirting with revolutionary rhetoric, the protestors lacked a clear programmatic agenda and were primarily engaged in disrupting dominant narratives about the country’s politics, especially in relation to the previously taboo question of the political role of the monarchy. Despite the ad hoc and sometimes incoherent nature of the protests, the students mounted a dramatic challenge to Thailand’s ruling elite. Ultimately, the conflict exemplified a generational divide: people from Generation Z, aged under 25, have radically different understandings of power, deference and legitimacy from older population groups. Whatever happens to the protest movement in the short term, the demonstrators have made a decisive break with the old social consensus that existed during the long reign of the late King Bhumibol (1946–2016).

摘要

本文提供了对2020年在泰国举行的数百次青年风格的大规模抗议活动的初步分析。该论据认为，抗议者虽然呼吁进行改革，并与革命言论打交道，但他们缺乏明确的纲领性议程，主要从事扰乱主流叙事的报道。国家的政治，尤其是与先前对君主制的政治角色忌讳的问题有关的政治。尽管抗议活动是临时性的，有时甚至是不连贯的，但学生们对泰国的统治精英提出了严峻的挑战。最终，这场冲突体现了世代之间的鸿沟：年龄在25岁以下的Z代人对老年人的权力，尊严和合法性的理解截然不同。无论短期内抗议运动发生了什么，