POLITICS FROM THE RIVER: THE RAK CHIANG KHONG GROUP AND THE CHALLENGE TO STATE AND CAPITALIST HEGEMONY IN THE MEKONG REGION

Abstract

This article is a research article aimed at studying the movement development and analyzing the interactions of actors in the Mekong River conservation movement of the Rak Chiang Khong group between the years 1995 - 2024, using the concepts of hegemony, organic intellectuals, and the war of position, according to the theory of Antonio Gramsci, as the main analytical framework. This research employed a qualitative research approach, collecting data from documents, in-depth interviews with 15 members of The Rak Chiang Khong group and its associated actors, selected for their knowledge and varying levels of participation in the movement. The findings indicate that the Rak Chiang Khong group is not only an environmental conservation movement but also a civic movement with the character of an “Organic Intellectuals,” formed through the convergence of diverse citizens-civil servant teachers, businesspeople, and artists. Over more than three decades, the group’s activism has not been limited to opposing physically oriented development projects; rather, it has constituted a profound ideological struggle, particularly in terms of the “War of Position.” This entails not merely disseminating information but “New Common Sense” by constructing its own body of knowledge and ideology based on intellectual, cultural, and social capital. This constitutes a principal strategy for systematically challenging and dismantling the hegemony of the state and capital by shifting the arena of struggle from “physical space” to “intellectual space,” which has significant power to contest the hegemony of the Thai state in the Mekong context. Although it may be only a voice from the Mekong River, it is a voice that is clearly reshaping development in the region.