I’m surprised that Thailand’s King Bhumibhol wealth suddenly jumped 7-fold because some 3,000 acres (about 9,000 rais) of Bangkok prime real estate was included in the count . . . thus earning the Thai monarch Rank No. 1 in the Royal Richest roster.
We are talking of real estate gentlemen! Shouldn’t those Arab kings with black gold beneath their properties be priced more? Many times more . . . I would think. Sumtingwong, huh?
But I won’t quibble . . . because many NM readers are quick to accept Forbes accounting as exact science. But the Thai monarch was not a profligate and I could argue too of ‘moderation’ in his conduct and demeanor , as befit Thailand’s most revered king.
Couldn’t the RFD relocation of persons in the name of conservation and the DLD relocation of persons in relation to the khor jhor kor programme be easily conflated?
Indeed. I believe that the numbers of those in ‘rural’ areas and of those engaged in agricultural in Burma are both estimated at about 70% of the population. In respect to the concerns of this rural population, Ardeth Maung Thawnghmung’s 2003 paper on “Rural Perceptions of State Legitimacy in Burma/Myanmar” is, I think, quite important. She argues that this demographic has strong political concerns that tend to be more focused on the local-level implementation of State (primarily agricultural) policy than they are on the “high profile issues singled out by the international press” (p. 8).
I think that one can make a strong case for prioritizing reform of agricultural governance in Burma over issues of like the release of political prisoners or handing over power to the NLD, but the challenge is how to carry this out. If agricultural governance is, as Fujita and Okamoto have shown, largely about “avoidance of social unrest and sustenance of the regime” then agricultural reform is highly political and potentially subversive to military rule. As far as I am aware the FAO has been quite unable to address any kind of agricultural reform despite the multimillion dollor projects they are currenly implementing in Burma. Instead, the SPDC has only allowed them to implement programmes focused on increasing overall production of select crops; which, given policies of agricultural exploitation, are largely about “sustenance of the regime“.
If I were Thai and I want to ‘tham boon’ by donating to royal causes, does the revelation of the tremendous assets of HM mean that my donation will no longer be credited a boon in the celestial accounting because HM’ wealth is already overflowing?
If HM’s wealth is the greatest shouldn’t royal projects be multiplied a thousand thousand times?
Yes, definitely don’t let that distract you. The message is not wrong just because the doctor does not take his/her own advice. The principles of Reasonableness, Moderation and Immunity are good ones to live by. A good plan might be useful too, however.
Of more concern to me is: “Certain populist policies lured the voters with easy money.” And in the larger article … “if the funds earmarked for villages are not properly supervised, they can instead encourage rural people to borrow more to serve their material needs.”
-On the first, the message seems to be “the voters got it wrong” smudged under “the policy was bad” message. On the second, the message is perhaps patronising in tone that some can serve their material desires, but rural people can not be trusted to do this. Rural folk are perfectly capable of making mistakes or acting wisely as they wish, thankyee!
Stephen, you raise a point that is extremely important to keep in mind in any discussions about Burma policy, the fact that the majority of the population, of whatever ethnic background, is rural and agricultural. This point was also brought home in the Packer article where he wrote about the gulf between the dissident from Rangoon and the rural population she was helping in the delta following Nargis. For the majority of Burma’s population, does it really matter whether the oil pipelines are built by Americans, Chinese or Indians, does it matter who gets to attend Australian universities, or does it matter whether Western backpackers can follow the Lonely Planet guide through Burma guilt free? For the Burmese population, the three agricultural policies you mention have much more of a daily, direct impact. What would a future US policy look like that was based on the situation of the rural population?
Oh yes Nich, but you really must remember that sufficiency economy is about the principles of Reasonableness, Moderation and Immunity. Don’t let the odd 35 billion distract you from the principles!
Jim Taylor: Again you have failed to answer direct questions, and instead continue with the spin.
Are you concerned at manipulation of the judiciary per se, or only because Thaksin no longer seems to be able to stack it in his favor?
Its all crocodile tears, because you know that when Thaksin complains about the judiciary not being fair, what he is really saying is that it’s not fair that he cannot buy them (or the tax officials) anymore.
If I understand what they’re saying, the Nam Ngeum dam could help control the flooding, but due to fear of the dam bursting after heavy rains in June (remnants of Typhoon Kamuri?), the dam administrators made the fateful decision to open the floodgates. This saved the dam but caused the already swollen Mekong to take on even more water.
This doesn’t have any hard rainfall data but may shed some light.
To me, as the original post was ofcourse sarcastic for good reason, if one wants to draw with bigger brush…The Chinese “unity” thing is no different from the Thai “unity” publicity stunts. One Thailand/China, Many Ethnicities. That is all pure whitewash as the other ethnicities are clearly driven over in every other aspect…Just thinkin’ out loud as this ethinicity thing was presented also in Shanghai Museum and I couldnt help to think how artificial it is, from the level that any Chinese can even in their dream quote how many ethnicities there are, reminding more of forced learning than true interest in the other ethnicities…
OK boys, something else to reflect on re: interference in the thai judicial system. Mr Jarun bhakdithanakul who is the current constitutional court was appointed the permanent secretary of the ministry for justice, committee to draft the current constitution by kor mor chor. Recently, he applied to sit in the above court while the anti psd protested his application. As a result, he is now sitting there in the constitutional court to judge thaksin’ s case. Also, he was the person responsible for spreading the story about thaksin’s lawyer bribing court officers a while ago. Now the supreme court asks for evidence that he claimed to have but he said that he had already passed it on to por por chor ( anti corruption body). This body, as we all know, is composed mobs who hate thaksin such as klanarong chantik, etc.. It gets better..more to come (watch this page!!)
Here isan open letter by Democratic Activist and Journalist Tavivoot Chulavachana
7/2/1907
QUOTE
Dear International Press
A Protest Note of In-Justice Being Done on Thailand’s Former Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra
Grabbing the head-lines in Bangkok are two high profile cases, one bought about by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and another one bought about by the junta’s appointed Corruption Probe Body.
The DSI case is being used to bring Thaksin back to Thailand, from England. The Corruption body case was used to confisticate Thaksin’s assets in Thailand.
On both cases, those responsible for the cases have issued statements relating to the charges. In The DSI case, a company gave up the right to exercise a capital increase plan to Thaksin’s daughter and another company sold back shares to Thaksi’s family held company in a short time, after having bought the company from Thaksin’s family. The DSI concluded from these two events, that the company are therefore nominees of Thaksin’s family all along.
If this was proven by the courts as true, that the company was indeed a Thaksin’s family nominee, Thaksin is guilty of not telling the stock market of significant shares transfers, second not telling the anti-corruption body in declaring all assets of politician, and third, of hiding the true level of ownership in a company, hurting small share-holders.
The validity of the argument by DSI, is telling of the type of circumstantial evidence bought against Thaksin, in such an important case, that could see Thaksin brought back to Thailand, when the junta leader, have expressed viled threats on Thaksin’s life.
The second case, used to confisticate Thaksin’s assets, is equally circumstantial, an weak in nature. By law Thai politicians can’t hold assets in companies that does business with the state, such as the telecom empire Thaksin built before entering politics. So he sold the company to his sons and daughters. To prove Thaksin never sold the company to his sons and daughters, the junta appointed corruption body said, Thaksin lent money to his childerns through promissory notes, where the interest on the promissory notes tied to the dividens his children received from the telecom empire he sold to them.
Again, the validity of this argument by the junta appointed body, is equally circumstantial and weak in nature.
In finance, there are many reasons why a company will choose not to participate in a capital increase plan and choose to give the right to someone. This hardly qualifies the company as a nominee. Then the question about the reason behind the length in holding a company before selling it, is even more in numbers. Then the sheer fact that interest expense is tied to dividend received, is hardly enough to say, the one receiving the dividens is the owner of the company.
These two cases illustrated the length in “connecting the dots and level of interpretation” Thai suthorities are using against Thaksin.
Please also note the penalty of such offense if proven by the Thai courts as true. These crimes are not corruption crimes but crime of “breaking small technicalities”. And please note the level of prosecution, such as seeking to arrest Thaksin as international criminat back to Thailand when the juta leader have issued viled threat against Thaksin’s life. And second, used the charges to confisicate a business empire built before Thaksin entering Thai politics.
This note is meant to educate readers of what is occurring in Thailand and to protest the “prosecution”of Thaksin, with so little hard evidence.
UNQUOTE
Tavivoot Chulavachana
//www.Thai-Journalist-Democratic-Front
“We are fighting for democracy and justice in Thailand”
Readers can also check underground alternative sites (away from the media dominated fascist PAD propaganda) such as:
“Thai translations of Michel Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu”
The vocabulary is probably there to translate the literal detail in such complicated works, in the form of Pali-derived vocabulary.
A former monk who now works in the HR department at work brought a document that he was translated into English for help and the vocabulary he used seemed to be a product of his many years of Pali education.
Pali seems to function as a sort of adjunct to the Thai language, perhaps contributing the bulk of words to an unabridged Thai dictionary (hypothesis), just as classical Chinese contributes the bulk of words to an unabridged Korean dictionary.
[BTW The largest Thai to any western language that I’ve seen was the French to Thai dictionary that someone pointed out to me at the Chiang Mai EFEO this Monday.]
rc: maybe each of us is trying to pack too many things into a concise blog format. Do tell what you found so absurd. My remark at the end, the comparison with tests for EPO and such, was meant to suggest that the category “natural” is highly problematic. The shock that the ethnic kiddos were not genuinely ethnic (whatever that means) seems to rest on the assumption that governmental classifications of identity are (or are not) somehow the real thing. I simply wanted to suggest an affinity with our occasional shocks regarding athletes (tour de france, the olympics, professional baseball, college sports, and so on) that rest on unstated assumptions about the real thing. Athletes train and are on specialized diets etc., ethnic shows are usually by trained performers and some of them offer the viewing audience special ethnic foodstuffs. Ethnic shows, like sports, are a kind of play, where the participants (contestants, performers, audience, referees) suspend the rules of everyday life for a temporary configuration of rules, relationships, and rewards that lasts as long as the game is on. Whether it is “mere play”, a higher level of seriousness, or a combination of the two is up for grabs (analytically speaking). Any Olympic contest may test people’s ability to suspend their disbelief (or prejudice) regarding the units of social life and how they connect. What happens if, say, Iraq beats the USA in wrestling? Or if Thailand and Cambodia work out their animosity through a friendly game of takraw? What happened when the East Timorese runner competed in the previous Olympics, wearing shoes donated by Australia (because E.T. couldn’t afford such luxury)?
The “absurdity” regarding a comparison with the opening show in Atlanta may simply be that the conventional self-presentations of modern nations are as contrived as the 56 Beijing kiddos (no one asked; where these genuinely a cowboy and -girl?). We are apparently not disturbed by folkloric essences, whereas there is a long lineage of “Western” distrust regarding “China’s March toward the Tropics” and related themes. What “China” does with/to its “minorities” already takes for granted the state’s cosmology and classifications, and is already prepared to have a problem with it. The minorities at the Beijing ceremony are a stunt that as such is always the privilege of a host country for these games. I’d rather have fun with the Olympics (analytically and otherwise) than get locked in some sparring match over nationalism and other similar lightning rods. If the dance at the Altanta opening ceremony was more or less a Shan peacock dance, how did it get there?
Leif, i agree the Olympics are always about nationalism –period; however, the own absurdity of your conclusion regarding the display of the ceremony in Atlanta simply demonstrates how that example cannot be applied to the Beijing show
i also agree ethnicity and nations are not “natural, ahistorical and genetic” entities, but this idea does not help explaining what happened in the opening ceremony or what happens in everyday life in minority regions in China –because if it is Western journalists and academics “who dine on ethnicity” who maintain this essentialist position towards ethnicity and nation, does that mean that the Chinese government, as shown in the opening ceremony display, have a non-essentitalist, completely state of the art view of ethnicity and the nation as something contingent, constructed, localized, etc.? i don┬┤t think so…
In reply to Chamnan, I just meant that authors like this can be hard to understand even when translated into English from the native French. As a non-native speaker of Thai, I found accessing a Thai translation of such works quite difficult! But it was very interesting and I am glad such translations have been done. I wish I had read deep enough to see how a Bourdieu phrase like “structuring structures” would be rendered in Thai. р╣Вр╕Др╕гр╕Зр╕кр╕гр╣Йр╕▓р╕Зр╕Чр╕╡р╣Ир╕Чр╕│р╣Гр╕лр╣Йр╣Вр╕Др╕гр╕Зр╕кр╕гр╣Йр╕▓р╕Зр╣Ар╕Бр╕┤р╕Фр╕Кр╕╖р╣Йр╕Щ р╕лр╕гр╕╖р╕н?
Burmese have known Nagas in the NW frontier of Burma along the Indian border from time immemorial what with their striking attire, physique and custom not least as head-hunters, and their inevitable presence in anniversaries held by the state . Better known in the past than the Wa in Shan State, the other head-hunting tribe now enjoying notoriety as the strongest armed group involved in the drug trade.
They were fighting the Indian govt and had also fought the Burmese govt. Military co-operation between the two govts in counter-insurgency measures has increased greatly in recent times. Like the Zomi, aka Chin or Mizo, farther south, they aspire to an independent state which spells trouble for both Burma and India if handled in a chauvinistic cackhanded way. Next door are the Chittagong Hills where yet another Mongolian race, the Chakmas, are fighting a rising level of state sponsored settlement by Bengalis. We certainly are living in interesting times.
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Sufficient discipline, sufficient wealth
I’m surprised that Thailand’s King Bhumibhol wealth suddenly jumped 7-fold because some 3,000 acres (about 9,000 rais) of Bangkok prime real estate was included in the count . . . thus earning the Thai monarch Rank No. 1 in the Royal Richest roster.
We are talking of real estate gentlemen! Shouldn’t those Arab kings with black gold beneath their properties be priced more? Many times more . . . I would think. Sumtingwong, huh?
But I won’t quibble . . . because many NM readers are quick to accept Forbes accounting as exact science. But the Thai monarch was not a profligate and I could argue too of ‘moderation’ in his conduct and demeanor , as befit Thailand’s most revered king.
Northern Thailand’s specter of eviction
Couldn’t the RFD relocation of persons in the name of conservation and the DLD relocation of persons in relation to the khor jhor kor programme be easily conflated?
Response to Kaplan on Burma
Indeed. I believe that the numbers of those in ‘rural’ areas and of those engaged in agricultural in Burma are both estimated at about 70% of the population. In respect to the concerns of this rural population, Ardeth Maung Thawnghmung’s 2003 paper on “Rural Perceptions of State Legitimacy in Burma/Myanmar” is, I think, quite important. She argues that this demographic has strong political concerns that tend to be more focused on the local-level implementation of State (primarily agricultural) policy than they are on the “high profile issues singled out by the international press” (p. 8).
I think that one can make a strong case for prioritizing reform of agricultural governance in Burma over issues of like the release of political prisoners or handing over power to the NLD, but the challenge is how to carry this out. If agricultural governance is, as Fujita and Okamoto have shown, largely about “avoidance of social unrest and sustenance of the regime” then agricultural reform is highly political and potentially subversive to military rule. As far as I am aware the FAO has been quite unable to address any kind of agricultural reform despite the multimillion dollor projects they are currenly implementing in Burma. Instead, the SPDC has only allowed them to implement programmes focused on increasing overall production of select crops; which, given policies of agricultural exploitation, are largely about “sustenance of the regime“.
Sufficient discipline, sufficient wealth
If I were Thai and I want to ‘tham boon’ by donating to royal causes, does the revelation of the tremendous assets of HM mean that my donation will no longer be credited a boon in the celestial accounting because HM’ wealth is already overflowing?
If HM’s wealth is the greatest shouldn’t royal projects be multiplied a thousand thousand times?
Sufficient discipline, sufficient wealth
Yes, definitely don’t let that distract you. The message is not wrong just because the doctor does not take his/her own advice. The principles of Reasonableness, Moderation and Immunity are good ones to live by. A good plan might be useful too, however.
Of more concern to me is: “Certain populist policies lured the voters with easy money.” And in the larger article … “if the funds earmarked for villages are not properly supervised, they can instead encourage rural people to borrow more to serve their material needs.”
-On the first, the message seems to be “the voters got it wrong” smudged under “the policy was bad” message. On the second, the message is perhaps patronising in tone that some can serve their material desires, but rural people can not be trusted to do this. Rural folk are perfectly capable of making mistakes or acting wisely as they wish, thankyee!
Sufficient discipline, sufficient wealth
Impressive – Perhaps we need to add Self Discipline to Reasonableness, Moderation and Immunity.
However, I personally could never be paid enough to be a royal and would not want to be a king, no matter what wealth came with the position.
Response to Kaplan on Burma
Stephen, you raise a point that is extremely important to keep in mind in any discussions about Burma policy, the fact that the majority of the population, of whatever ethnic background, is rural and agricultural. This point was also brought home in the Packer article where he wrote about the gulf between the dissident from Rangoon and the rural population she was helping in the delta following Nargis. For the majority of Burma’s population, does it really matter whether the oil pipelines are built by Americans, Chinese or Indians, does it matter who gets to attend Australian universities, or does it matter whether Western backpackers can follow the Lonely Planet guide through Burma guilt free? For the Burmese population, the three agricultural policies you mention have much more of a daily, direct impact. What would a future US policy look like that was based on the situation of the rural population?
Sufficient discipline, sufficient wealth
Oh yes Nich, but you really must remember that sufficiency economy is about the principles of Reasonableness, Moderation and Immunity. Don’t let the odd 35 billion distract you from the principles!
PAD and the Democrats will miss Thaksin
Jim Taylor: Again you have failed to answer direct questions, and instead continue with the spin.
Are you concerned at manipulation of the judiciary per se, or only because Thaksin no longer seems to be able to stack it in his favor?
Its all crocodile tears, because you know that when Thaksin complains about the judiciary not being fair, what he is really saying is that it’s not fair that he cannot buy them (or the tax officials) anymore.
Mekong flooding
Radio Free Asia’s Lao Service looked into the role of dams in the recent flooding a few days ago. Here is the link:
http://www.rfa.org/lao/khao/khaolao/mekong/Nam_Ngeum_dam_does_help_limit_flooding_in_Vientiane_province-08162008043339.html
If I understand what they’re saying, the Nam Ngeum dam could help control the flooding, but due to fear of the dam bursting after heavy rains in June (remnants of Typhoon Kamuri?), the dam administrators made the fateful decision to open the floodgates. This saved the dam but caused the already swollen Mekong to take on even more water.
This doesn’t have any hard rainfall data but may shed some light.
Shock! Horror! China dresses non-ethnics as ethnics!
To me, as the original post was ofcourse sarcastic for good reason, if one wants to draw with bigger brush…The Chinese “unity” thing is no different from the Thai “unity” publicity stunts. One Thailand/China, Many Ethnicities. That is all pure whitewash as the other ethnicities are clearly driven over in every other aspect…Just thinkin’ out loud as this ethinicity thing was presented also in Shanghai Museum and I couldnt help to think how artificial it is, from the level that any Chinese can even in their dream quote how many ethnicities there are, reminding more of forced learning than true interest in the other ethnicities…
Shock! Horror! China dresses non-ethnics as ethnics!
i┬┤m sorry, Leif, i cannot reply concisely to all that; i┬┤ll take some time to think about some ideas more carefully
Mekong flooding
http://dmhlao.etllao.com/Images/rain24.jpg
http://dmhlao.etllao.com/Images/rain1.jpg
http://dmhlao.etllao.com/English/rainfall.html
I’m not sure where any of this data is archived.
PAD and the Democrats will miss Thaksin
OK boys, something else to reflect on re: interference in the thai judicial system. Mr Jarun bhakdithanakul who is the current constitutional court was appointed the permanent secretary of the ministry for justice, committee to draft the current constitution by kor mor chor. Recently, he applied to sit in the above court while the anti psd protested his application. As a result, he is now sitting there in the constitutional court to judge thaksin’ s case. Also, he was the person responsible for spreading the story about thaksin’s lawyer bribing court officers a while ago. Now the supreme court asks for evidence that he claimed to have but he said that he had already passed it on to por por chor ( anti corruption body). This body, as we all know, is composed mobs who hate thaksin such as klanarong chantik, etc.. It gets better..more to come (watch this page!!)
PAD and the Democrats will miss Thaksin
Here isan open letter by Democratic Activist and Journalist Tavivoot Chulavachana
7/2/1907
QUOTE
Dear International Press
A Protest Note of In-Justice Being Done on Thailand’s Former Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra
Grabbing the head-lines in Bangkok are two high profile cases, one bought about by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and another one bought about by the junta’s appointed Corruption Probe Body.
The DSI case is being used to bring Thaksin back to Thailand, from England. The Corruption body case was used to confisticate Thaksin’s assets in Thailand.
On both cases, those responsible for the cases have issued statements relating to the charges. In The DSI case, a company gave up the right to exercise a capital increase plan to Thaksin’s daughter and another company sold back shares to Thaksi’s family held company in a short time, after having bought the company from Thaksin’s family. The DSI concluded from these two events, that the company are therefore nominees of Thaksin’s family all along.
If this was proven by the courts as true, that the company was indeed a Thaksin’s family nominee, Thaksin is guilty of not telling the stock market of significant shares transfers, second not telling the anti-corruption body in declaring all assets of politician, and third, of hiding the true level of ownership in a company, hurting small share-holders.
The validity of the argument by DSI, is telling of the type of circumstantial evidence bought against Thaksin, in such an important case, that could see Thaksin brought back to Thailand, when the junta leader, have expressed viled threats on Thaksin’s life.
The second case, used to confisticate Thaksin’s assets, is equally circumstantial, an weak in nature. By law Thai politicians can’t hold assets in companies that does business with the state, such as the telecom empire Thaksin built before entering politics. So he sold the company to his sons and daughters. To prove Thaksin never sold the company to his sons and daughters, the junta appointed corruption body said, Thaksin lent money to his childerns through promissory notes, where the interest on the promissory notes tied to the dividens his children received from the telecom empire he sold to them.
Again, the validity of this argument by the junta appointed body, is equally circumstantial and weak in nature.
In finance, there are many reasons why a company will choose not to participate in a capital increase plan and choose to give the right to someone. This hardly qualifies the company as a nominee. Then the question about the reason behind the length in holding a company before selling it, is even more in numbers. Then the sheer fact that interest expense is tied to dividend received, is hardly enough to say, the one receiving the dividens is the owner of the company.
These two cases illustrated the length in “connecting the dots and level of interpretation” Thai suthorities are using against Thaksin.
Please also note the penalty of such offense if proven by the Thai courts as true. These crimes are not corruption crimes but crime of “breaking small technicalities”. And please note the level of prosecution, such as seeking to arrest Thaksin as international criminat back to Thailand when the juta leader have issued viled threat against Thaksin’s life. And second, used the charges to confisicate a business empire built before Thaksin entering Thai politics.
This note is meant to educate readers of what is occurring in Thailand and to protest the “prosecution”of Thaksin, with so little hard evidence.
UNQUOTE
Tavivoot Chulavachana
//www.Thai-Journalist-Democratic-Front
“We are fighting for democracy and justice in Thailand”
Readers can also check underground alternative sites (away from the media dominated fascist PAD propaganda) such as:
Thai-grassroots.com
truethaksin.com
thaksin.net
nocoup.org
Thai E-News
On learning Thai
“Thai translations of Michel Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu”
The vocabulary is probably there to translate the literal detail in such complicated works, in the form of Pali-derived vocabulary.
A former monk who now works in the HR department at work brought a document that he was translated into English for help and the vocabulary he used seemed to be a product of his many years of Pali education.
Pali seems to function as a sort of adjunct to the Thai language, perhaps contributing the bulk of words to an unabridged Thai dictionary (hypothesis), just as classical Chinese contributes the bulk of words to an unabridged Korean dictionary.
[BTW The largest Thai to any western language that I’ve seen was the French to Thai dictionary that someone pointed out to me at the Chiang Mai EFEO this Monday.]
Shock! Horror! China dresses non-ethnics as ethnics!
rc: maybe each of us is trying to pack too many things into a concise blog format. Do tell what you found so absurd. My remark at the end, the comparison with tests for EPO and such, was meant to suggest that the category “natural” is highly problematic. The shock that the ethnic kiddos were not genuinely ethnic (whatever that means) seems to rest on the assumption that governmental classifications of identity are (or are not) somehow the real thing. I simply wanted to suggest an affinity with our occasional shocks regarding athletes (tour de france, the olympics, professional baseball, college sports, and so on) that rest on unstated assumptions about the real thing. Athletes train and are on specialized diets etc., ethnic shows are usually by trained performers and some of them offer the viewing audience special ethnic foodstuffs. Ethnic shows, like sports, are a kind of play, where the participants (contestants, performers, audience, referees) suspend the rules of everyday life for a temporary configuration of rules, relationships, and rewards that lasts as long as the game is on. Whether it is “mere play”, a higher level of seriousness, or a combination of the two is up for grabs (analytically speaking). Any Olympic contest may test people’s ability to suspend their disbelief (or prejudice) regarding the units of social life and how they connect. What happens if, say, Iraq beats the USA in wrestling? Or if Thailand and Cambodia work out their animosity through a friendly game of takraw? What happened when the East Timorese runner competed in the previous Olympics, wearing shoes donated by Australia (because E.T. couldn’t afford such luxury)?
The “absurdity” regarding a comparison with the opening show in Atlanta may simply be that the conventional self-presentations of modern nations are as contrived as the 56 Beijing kiddos (no one asked; where these genuinely a cowboy and -girl?). We are apparently not disturbed by folkloric essences, whereas there is a long lineage of “Western” distrust regarding “China’s March toward the Tropics” and related themes. What “China” does with/to its “minorities” already takes for granted the state’s cosmology and classifications, and is already prepared to have a problem with it. The minorities at the Beijing ceremony are a stunt that as such is always the privilege of a host country for these games. I’d rather have fun with the Olympics (analytically and otherwise) than get locked in some sparring match over nationalism and other similar lightning rods. If the dance at the Altanta opening ceremony was more or less a Shan peacock dance, how did it get there?
Shock! Horror! China dresses non-ethnics as ethnics!
Leif, i agree the Olympics are always about nationalism –period; however, the own absurdity of your conclusion regarding the display of the ceremony in Atlanta simply demonstrates how that example cannot be applied to the Beijing show
i also agree ethnicity and nations are not “natural, ahistorical and genetic” entities, but this idea does not help explaining what happened in the opening ceremony or what happens in everyday life in minority regions in China –because if it is Western journalists and academics “who dine on ethnicity” who maintain this essentialist position towards ethnicity and nation, does that mean that the Chinese government, as shown in the opening ceremony display, have a non-essentitalist, completely state of the art view of ethnicity and the nation as something contingent, constructed, localized, etc.? i don┬┤t think so…
On learning Thai
In reply to Chamnan, I just meant that authors like this can be hard to understand even when translated into English from the native French. As a non-native speaker of Thai, I found accessing a Thai translation of such works quite difficult! But it was very interesting and I am glad such translations have been done. I wish I had read deep enough to see how a Bourdieu phrase like “structuring structures” would be rendered in Thai. р╣Вр╕Др╕гр╕Зр╕кр╕гр╣Йр╕▓р╕Зр╕Чр╕╡р╣Ир╕Чр╕│р╣Гр╕лр╣Йр╣Вр╕Др╕гр╕Зр╕кр╕гр╣Йр╕▓р╕Зр╣Ар╕Бр╕┤р╕Фр╕Кр╕╖р╣Йр╕Щ р╕лр╕гр╕╖р╕н?
Nagaland not on the curriculum
Burmese have known Nagas in the NW frontier of Burma along the Indian border from time immemorial what with their striking attire, physique and custom not least as head-hunters, and their inevitable presence in anniversaries held by the state . Better known in the past than the Wa in Shan State, the other head-hunting tribe now enjoying notoriety as the strongest armed group involved in the drug trade.
They were fighting the Indian govt and had also fought the Burmese govt. Military co-operation between the two govts in counter-insurgency measures has increased greatly in recent times. Like the Zomi, aka Chin or Mizo, farther south, they aspire to an independent state which spells trouble for both Burma and India if handled in a chauvinistic cackhanded way. Next door are the Chittagong Hills where yet another Mongolian race, the Chakmas, are fighting a rising level of state sponsored settlement by Bengalis. We certainly are living in interesting times.