ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author uses the phrase ‘Mae Ping Moonlight’ to refer to the romantic notions in Thailand of ‘community villages’ and ‘community rights’, first introduced by Marxian academics in the 1970s and that have enjoyed enduring popularity amongst Thai academics, the media and the urban middle class over the last thirty years. He addresses the question why the academics, non-governmental organizations and other organizations that had been prominent in promoting community rights were so critical of the Thai Rak Thai government, which had received such unprecedented political support at the village level. During the period of Marxist domination over schools of thought in Thai academia the most important thinker was Chatthip Nartsupha, who influenced many scholars and contributed a great deal to the discourse of ‘community culture’. Thai middle-class protestors became known as the ‘mob mue thue’ or the ‘mobile-phone mob’ — a term coined by political scientist Anek Laothammathat.
