A post-modern coup
10/06/14 17:01 Filed in: South-East Asia
“How do you interpret the Thai military strategy towards the media? Why is it so important for them to control the TV and journalists?”. I was asked this question a few days ago by a young journalist from one of the world's major television networks. A stupefying question, literally. The journalist's candid stupor astounds me: why is it important to control information following a coup d'état??!!
It has always been this way. Without studying the classics (whether it be Sun Tzu or Machiavelli), we need only browse through an interesting book by Edward N. Luttwak: Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook. Published in 1968, at a time when coups d'état were much more common and the concept of information more in-depth. Information in the age of social media seems confirmation of the uncertainty principle. Information cannot be fast and in-depth at the same time.
The Thailand of the coup d'état, and Bangkok in particular, is becoming a laboratory where this phenomenon of quantistical politics is occurring. Few protesters observed a great deal by a hail of photographers, reporters and operators. Communication via Twitter is more useful to the journalists for finding out where the protesters are than to the protesters themselves. A distortion of the observed object, and therefore of communication, is bound to follow. As demonstrated by the stupefying question: the effect (control) conceals the cause (the seizing of power). A lack of depth also justifies another distortion of the reality: the one in which photos from 2006 and 2010 are used simply because they are more dramatic or because they feature tanks in the street.
This is a post-modern coup in every sense. The few protesters on the streets of Bangkok, mainly at the weekend, use increasingly creative ways to show their dissent, inspired by messages and forms taken from global culture. Such as the “revolutionary” salute taken from the film The Hunger Games, reading George Orwell's 1984 in small groups (so as not to infringe the martial law), the “sandwiches for democracy” (“we're just eating a sandwich” said the university students held for infringing martial law). Not to mention that, immediately after the coup, one of the emblems of the opposition was Ronald McDonald, the fast-food chain's clown mascot, simply because the protesters used to hang out there.
As for the military, they have adopted an “overt and covert” strategy, which is a reworking of the hard-soft approach inherent in all Asian culture and martial arts.
Overtness, or softness, is expressed above all in the “return happiness to the people” operation, based on the idea of gross national happiness. The indicator of well-being was adopted several years ago in the Himalayan state of Bhutan and has become a model of Buddhism-inspired economic policy, as well as a happy example of marketing.
The Thai junta has an ambitious plan to return happiness to the people: economic measures (some already supported by the deposed government) in support of the poorer classes and farmers. Re-launching of great works (high speed, flood prevention). Campaign against corruption and for transparency in public officials' income. Improvement of public services. Promotion of domestic tourism (with low cost tour operators). The military has also launched a campaign of national pride, which pits Asian values (those supported by China) against those that the West slightly arrogantly insists on calling “universal”.
Considering the Thai vocation for “sanuk”, or fun, happiness is also pursued with concerts, shows, female dancers in mini-fatigues, free food stalls and even a barber service. Also in the name of fun and with a nod to the tourists, the curfew has been cancelled at holiday destinations and in places where “full moon parties” have been scheduled.
Wilawan Watcharasakwet/The Wall Street Journal
All this makes unhappiness look like a sin, like an antisocial, nihilistic protest by those who do not credit the military for bringing order back to the country. More than Orwell's 1984, it's more a case of Huxley's Brave New World.
A more hidden, harder aspect manifests itself in the repression of all dissent, even minimal, in the limitation of rights and civil liberties, in control of the media and even more of education. More worrying still is the ability to convince arrested protesters to sign a sort of abjuration. Which has happened despite detention periods being very short in many cases and, as the former detainees admitted, “a kind of holiday”. Perhaps the unspoken is the most powerful mechanism of psychological pressure, at least for the Asian mind. Teamed with an awareness that, if the confrontation degenerates, there is no more room for agreement.
As far as public opinion is concerned, the real flop was when Facebook was blocked for half an hour. It should have been a warning. But it backfired on the military: the reaction of millions of users was ferocious. Not because they felt their freedom of expression had been under threat, but because they were no longer able to message friends, post photos, arrange appointments, set up meetings and share them.
It has always been this way. Without studying the classics (whether it be Sun Tzu or Machiavelli), we need only browse through an interesting book by Edward N. Luttwak: Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook. Published in 1968, at a time when coups d'état were much more common and the concept of information more in-depth. Information in the age of social media seems confirmation of the uncertainty principle. Information cannot be fast and in-depth at the same time.
The Thailand of the coup d'état, and Bangkok in particular, is becoming a laboratory where this phenomenon of quantistical politics is occurring. Few protesters observed a great deal by a hail of photographers, reporters and operators. Communication via Twitter is more useful to the journalists for finding out where the protesters are than to the protesters themselves. A distortion of the observed object, and therefore of communication, is bound to follow. As demonstrated by the stupefying question: the effect (control) conceals the cause (the seizing of power). A lack of depth also justifies another distortion of the reality: the one in which photos from 2006 and 2010 are used simply because they are more dramatic or because they feature tanks in the street.
This is a post-modern coup in every sense. The few protesters on the streets of Bangkok, mainly at the weekend, use increasingly creative ways to show their dissent, inspired by messages and forms taken from global culture. Such as the “revolutionary” salute taken from the film The Hunger Games, reading George Orwell's 1984 in small groups (so as not to infringe the martial law), the “sandwiches for democracy” (“we're just eating a sandwich” said the university students held for infringing martial law). Not to mention that, immediately after the coup, one of the emblems of the opposition was Ronald McDonald, the fast-food chain's clown mascot, simply because the protesters used to hang out there.
As for the military, they have adopted an “overt and covert” strategy, which is a reworking of the hard-soft approach inherent in all Asian culture and martial arts.
Overtness, or softness, is expressed above all in the “return happiness to the people” operation, based on the idea of gross national happiness. The indicator of well-being was adopted several years ago in the Himalayan state of Bhutan and has become a model of Buddhism-inspired economic policy, as well as a happy example of marketing.
The Thai junta has an ambitious plan to return happiness to the people: economic measures (some already supported by the deposed government) in support of the poorer classes and farmers. Re-launching of great works (high speed, flood prevention). Campaign against corruption and for transparency in public officials' income. Improvement of public services. Promotion of domestic tourism (with low cost tour operators). The military has also launched a campaign of national pride, which pits Asian values (those supported by China) against those that the West slightly arrogantly insists on calling “universal”.
Considering the Thai vocation for “sanuk”, or fun, happiness is also pursued with concerts, shows, female dancers in mini-fatigues, free food stalls and even a barber service. Also in the name of fun and with a nod to the tourists, the curfew has been cancelled at holiday destinations and in places where “full moon parties” have been scheduled.
Wilawan Watcharasakwet/The Wall Street Journal
All this makes unhappiness look like a sin, like an antisocial, nihilistic protest by those who do not credit the military for bringing order back to the country. More than Orwell's 1984, it's more a case of Huxley's Brave New World.
A more hidden, harder aspect manifests itself in the repression of all dissent, even minimal, in the limitation of rights and civil liberties, in control of the media and even more of education. More worrying still is the ability to convince arrested protesters to sign a sort of abjuration. Which has happened despite detention periods being very short in many cases and, as the former detainees admitted, “a kind of holiday”. Perhaps the unspoken is the most powerful mechanism of psychological pressure, at least for the Asian mind. Teamed with an awareness that, if the confrontation degenerates, there is no more room for agreement.
As far as public opinion is concerned, the real flop was when Facebook was blocked for half an hour. It should have been a warning. But it backfired on the military: the reaction of millions of users was ferocious. Not because they felt their freedom of expression had been under threat, but because they were no longer able to message friends, post photos, arrange appointments, set up meetings and share them.
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