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Urban Studies, Vol. 39, No. 9, 1647-1663 (2002)
DOI: 10.1080/00420980220151709

The Village of the Poor Confronts the State: A Geography of Protest in the Assembly of the Poor

Bruce Missingham

School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University, PO Box 11A, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia, Bruce.Missingham{at}arts.monash.edu.au

This paper describes the strategic use of space and construction of place by the Assembly of the Poor demonstration in Thailand in 1997. It aims to further our understanding of the symbolic meanings and political power of the protest. The Assembly of the Poor occupied the streets outside Government House in Bangkok and transformed them into an eye-catching and highly symbolic place of protest, the 'Village of the Poor'. The Village of the Poor symbolically brought the rural village into the heart of the city. In doing so, the protesters disrupted conventional representations and stereotypes of the 'village' and rural life as an enduring source of Thai culture and national identity. This village represented a community in crisis, threatened by the very development and economic growth the city symbolises and depends upon. The demonstration endured for over three months, and within the Village of the Poor the signs and symbols of protest were strikingly combined with the everyday, domestic activities of the villagers. On the streets and footpaths, even seemingly simple, intimate activities, such as eating, bathing and sleeping, became symbolic, signifying the protesters' persistence and resistance to inequitable development in their petition to the state.


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