“Protests won’t win us victory”

Yes—no matter how much we protest, we will never win—if victory insinuates acquiring that absolute power, or if it means that our society is suddenly transformed into a peaceful and democratic one. But no—we do not agree. We do not agree with the victory-defeat narrative or a zero-sum game. We do not agree with mobilizing the movement with that rhetoric.

Perhaps we could return to the question of the fight itself, to ask again who our “enemy” is exactly? For us, the enemy is not an individual, not Prayut, this government, or a particular person. It is the matrix of oppression, a system that breeds injustice and its tyrannic tendency. Hence, the fight for democracy shares struggles with the fight to topple patriarchy, and feminists’ work is one that also fights for labor’s rights. The matrix is intricate and labyrinthine. It weaves nodes of power. It also infiltrates. It penetrates the workplace, seeps into relationships, lives within “our side,” and even within ourselves. We have not washed off our own rigid tendencies having simply raised the three-finger salute, read the right books, or condemned the right names. To fight for justice is to confront the enemy in all its forms. As such, “enemy” might be too contentious a word. We may not be able to pinpoint an entity, not only because it is hazy and nuanced, but because we are not fighting only to be “against” something. Rather, we are asking, “How can we be otherwise?”

This fight (or any other fight) is not a world war in which there are uniforms to designate sides, a literal fight where one obliterates the opponent until one side surrenders or another declares they have “seized control.” Fighting for democracy, equality, or justice, we are not aiming for total victory. We are not trying to discourage saying so, but only to emphasize that this is a long marathon, that mobilization is a process of gradually eroding the power of hegemony, persistently raising the ceiling, and expanding society’s imagination. It is the plowing of soil, taking root, and growing.

Of course, when we accomplish certain goals big or small—like seeing the overwhelming masses at Ratchaprasong intersection in October 2020, the release of our friends, or the spark of hot debates on pressing issues—they can be considered “victory.” We could and should celebrate the change for which we have been hoping. However, a victory is not an absolute that translates to the end of the road or permission to be complacent. We celebrate because we can witness the fruits of our labor and the manifestations of resistance. But it is victory’s transience that reminds us to keep walking and keep struggling.

So, yes. We agree that we will never win no matter how much we protest, because we don’t believe in the same definition of victory. We should not surrender to the binary narrative between victory and defeat, a narrative that debilitates us. We will not let it become the enemy’s tool to consume our capacity to struggle and resist. We will, however, confront the enemy in whatever form, and recognize that the fight does not end. The endless road is not aimless, but is full of hope that fuels our ability to dream of an expansive universe.

Namkheun Collective

15 May 2021