Anon Nampa: The Gwangju Prize for Human Rights 2021 Awardee
By Don Tajaroensuk.
The past year has become an unforgettable one for Thailand’s democratic movement, with Anon Nampa occupying the frontline of democratic protests, challenging the untouchable taboo in Thailand of calling for reformation of the monarchy. His powerful speech on August 3, 2020 broke the Thai taboo, which no one before dared to speak of in public. “Ceiling-breaking” is the term to describe the democratic phenomenon after Anon’s speech that turned Thai society into one more open to social debate regarding the monarchy. “Speaking freely to reform the monarchy system must be feasible in Thai society in order to reach a better society,” Anon said on August 3. In Thailand, everyone knows that criticizing the monarchy is prohibited. Anyone who frankly blames, defames, condemns, or even shows disrespect to the monarchy could be imprisoned under Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code (Lese-Majeste). Anon was the first person to bravely voice his truth in the public arena, an act for which he most surely must have known what the outcome would be.
Many Thai democratic activists responded that Anon deserved the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights as the representative of Thai activists. It is important to know who Anon Nampa is and what he did before becoming the laureate of the 2021 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights. Currently, Anon has been in pre-trial detention for over a month with bail denied by the court, the stated reason being that if released, he would continue to defame the king and lead society back to a state of unrest.
Who is Anon?
Anon grew up in a farming family in Roi Et. He started his career as a human right lawyer in 2006. After the coup of 2014, Anon became a well-known political activist. His activism was in the spotlight all through 2020 leading the unforgettable Thai political movement. Anon is one of the most significant leaders of the “Resistant Citizens” and the “Ratsadorn” group.
During his career as a lawyer, Anon mostly took cases defending the vulnerable. During the Red Shirt democratic protests of 2011, Anon was a volunteer lawyer to many Red Shirt political victims. He was a lawyer of the tragic Lese-Majeste 112 case of “Arrkong,” an older gentleman prosecuted under this Section 112 charge for sending an SMS message defaming the royal family. He was also the lawyer for Borkor-Laijot and Jatupat Boonpattaraksa, the latter being the 2017 Gwangju Prize laureate. Anon also politically criticized members of parliament for not seriously expressing that Section112 was problematic. For over ten years, he argued that it must be constructively discussed in the parliament to reform the criminal code. In November 2011, he called for dignity to be restored from the political stigma and injustice imposed upon political prisoners jailed under the unjust Thai legal system.1
Anon turned to political activism after the coup of 2014, and he has since been charged many times by the authorities. He was first arrested in July 2020 at the “Free Youth” rally at Democracy Monument in Bangkok. Later on, he was released temporarily, but was again arrested in August with Panupong Janok, the leader of Eastern Youth. Then he returned to the stage in September to give a speech in which he said he would not regret it if he were to die along the path to democratization. “Death is not wasteful; it will inspire the next generation, as mine was influenced by Jit Poommisak who passed away several years ago,” Anon said in an interview with BBC Thailand.2
Anon, the Lawyer
Anon grew up with country songs, poets, and literature based on leftist ideologies. He first challenged a high school teacher when he found the criticism of a poet’s writing to be unfair. He imaged himself as a character in a song and sometimes in traditional literature, which inspired him to go to law school to fight injustice in society. During his study at university, Anon spent more time being a volunteer teacher at the border schools with Malaysia, joining local development activities and protesting alongside local villagers against macro investment.
As Anon was working in the local communities, he saw many injustices and unfairness between the locals and the authorities, including in the business sector. He saw that those villagers did not have much of a voice before the courts. It was necessary to have a lawyer who could argue on their behalf. Those valuable experiences have led Anon to become a lawyer to defend rural residents. He has been legislatively helping locals in some 40–50 cases; in truth, he has lost count. He is happy to be considered a son of these villagers, happily sleeping among the locals in their communities.
Anon, the Activist
Throughout 2020, and particularly during the last half of the year, Anon was busy making pro-democracy speeches throughout the capital. In his strongly worded Harry Potter-themed speech of August 3, Anon argued that the excessive power of the monarchy had undermined Thai democracy for a long time: “We must concentrate on the root cause of the Thai problem, this means that we must be free to speak in public.”3 After being released from jail, at Peoples’ Park on September 19, Anon bravely spoke of the monarchy’s involvement in politics and called for the reallocation of the monarchy’s budget to support the citizens’ needs.4 In his November 29 speech in front of a military barracks, Anon stated that the monarchy was hand in hand with the military and called for a return to democracy.5
Anon and His Family
I had the chance to sit with the Anon family one weekend evening. We had a chat nearby Anon’s sister’s milk tea store. Anon’s family related that Anon was just an ordinary child while growing up in their village. His mother said she was not always aware of what Anon was doing, and that she had just recently become aware of his activism. Anon’s father explained that he recognized that Anon was a lawyer when he was doing things voluntarily to help political victims in 2011 in a court case related to the democratic movement in the Red-Shirt period.
Anon’s father and mother remembered that Anon once explained to them that the local people should have lawyers who could protect them from social injustice. They never expected that their son would become a famous frontline activist or a lawyer either. Anon’s father remembered that Anon was strong in supporting political fairness since he was young. He would persuade family members to vote but never tried to influence how they voted.
Anon’s sister said that Anon was a leader among his fellow students, and he always volunteered for school and social activities. In his sister’s eyes, Anon is an ordinary person who has fear like others, but she never expected the fearlessness that he exhibits in his recent activism. She respects her brother’s decisions and always supports him.
Anon’s family is very appreciative of Anon receiving the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights 2021, acknowledging his value in promoting democracy and human rights. Even though his family does not know much about his activism, they are proud of Anon, who is frequently seen on the stage of democracy.
“Do Not Forget”
One message that Anon tells almost everyone is “Please don’t forget me when we reach the goal,” showing that he has prepared himself for any circumstance that might happen to him in his activism on the path to achieving democracy. How fitting it is that Anon Nampa has been awarded the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights 2021.
Sources
1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Diwb3idmWo
2 https://www.bbc.com/thai/thailand-54492602
3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6I6oRInN7c
4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDGBHpI16tM
5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXelwWU1VzM
Photographs courtesy of the Anon Nampa Facebook page (fb.com/arnonnampa.)\
The Author
Don Tajaroensuk is a project director for the People’s Empowerment Foundation and human rights activist in Thailand, who is working specifically on the rights of the vulnerable at the national to international level. He is also an advocate for democracy and pursues equity in society for all human beings.