ABSTRACT
As the most popular tourist destination of the Wuhanese, Thailand became an early epidemic hot spot. Using state securitization, under continuing political polarization, the Thai government has managed the crisis by using the State of Emergency Decree with the government as the command-and-control center. Curving the infection statistics with a curfew, physical distancing and lockdown as key strategies turns the pandemic crisis into a crisis of pervasive societal vulnerability. This chapter investigates how people from below respond to the pandemic crisis, centralized policies and socioeconomic dilemmas of disease control. It outlines how the pandemic crisis was managed and its impact on widening social inequality. It sheds light on the grip of state power in managing the crisis with some skeptical and critical observations. The society engages in debates on ethical issues, new normal conditions, the unfolding of a sharing and solidarity economy, social networks of care and, in contrast, social discrimination, stigmatization and political exclusion. It is imperative to examine whether the management of the pandemic crisis observes Thailand’s multicultural context and the diverse forms of informal economy. Finally, the chapter assesses the implications of the crisis on the transformative potential for a resilient future.
