|
 |
| g-k9kp.o=kpxjk g]nvfcf'mkfbog-HP pkdgpHo-hoc8hovy[0o c]tc]h;;yorikd g-k]',k0kdpvfg-k .9hg'k,skodvbomiu ]hv,pb'Ffpditspbj, vbj,.ogspnjv9y;ouh F=8fuluj-yhoryofk; gs,nvofk;ij;'s]jo 8;k,gxHo8oij;'skp djvo9kp0ts,kplbj'.f clo8o0opkd lb[8oskdi;ps]kp vy[vkpcdjs]hkahkfbo g-k07'9jvl^h vp^j-hk'8om6d-Ng-HP wfhgsHowfhg-upor^f0k 86d-y'g-kwfh c9jsy;.0xiki5ok gdbf,kg-joSjkvTii, c]h;veok0g5njvo ,k[bfg[nvo[y'so duj8opjvppy[vyxik lv'ryoshkihvpcxf g,Sfexd8]6,ahk fh;pAmTk,skvbomiu ihk'g,nv'gs,nvowih[hko vvdmedkixjkg-k glujp'gvk=u;u,]kp rAK4kshkihvpgdhk cff][g'k0k'skp g-k9kpvp^j-hk'mk'gd;upo Lr8oouhoujsinv8nv 0b9i 4^,bLydfbN 9kp8ks]ydg-9xjkdy[ok8i g-k9kp.o=kpxjk g]nvfmkfbovblko vudoko vudoko vudoko g-k9kpgs,nvowih8jk c9j9jv,kdhv'ok, z^h8ow5j5k,vpkdgiupo =njv 0b9i 4^,bLydfbN gxHooyd8bfoydg-upo fyj'gmupo5jv'cmhcdj8o |
He fell at the
edge of the forest His blood soaked the troubled land A land impoverished and bleak. (repeat) On the day he came Down from the mountains, Under the giant eagle's shadow. His killers were gleeful. His death brought good fortune: Promotion, four stars and many stripes. As a shooting star falls, So fell his life. But how long can we expect to live? Ten rich men For each hundred thousand poor, A shame between heaven and earth. But his lot was cast On the side of the poor, Speaking out all he had seen. Prison may hold his body, But never his hopes, Determined to struggle for justice His path blocked and twisted By traitorous rulers, So many like him were destroyed. In the year of 1965* Dark clouds blocked the sky With the spell of the giant eagle He left home and village For guerrilla life in the jungle, A
life of unending risks. This body, this body is Jit Pumisak * 1965 = year Thai government declared it would "wipe out the communists within three years." |
| Jit Pumisak is considered by many to be Thailand's most distinguished leftist
intellectual. Born in the coastal province of Prachinburi in Eastern Thailand in 1930, he
was raised by his mother, attending primary school in Kanchanaburi province and secondary
school in Pradabong (now part of Cambodia). His higher education was in Bangkok from 1950
to 1957 at Chulalongkorn University.
He was an avid scholar, studying literature, art, linguistics, English, French, and
economics. In the area of language he was influenced by Dr. William J. Gedney, an American
linguist teaching at Chulalongkorn in 1955. In literature he was influenced by "Nay
Pii," (the pen name of Astanii Ponjan), a lawyer and writer who was the one of the
first members of the Communist Party of Thailand. In economics he was influenced by Supaa
Simanon, who translated Marx's Capital into Thai. Jit was the first person to do a serious analysis of Thai history using a Marxist framework. His book, The Face of Thailand Feudalism, is a formidable work of critical scholarship. He wrote a long work on the origins of the Thai language, another on the role of women in Thai society, and a book entitled Art of Life, mostly on Western art. For a period of time he was a teacher at Petchburi Teachers College in Bangkok. In the aftermath of the September, 1957 coup of Sarit Thanarat, Jit was arrested in 1958 for his political writing in a student publication. He was able to do some writing during his stay in prison, until his release in 1965. On release, he joined the armed struggle in the Northeast and was killed the following year by government troops. When the ban was lifted from Jit's writings after October 1973, his works were widely read and he became a hero of the student movement. His picture was widely seen on posters and even printed on school notebooks, the face very thin, a cigarette dangling from his lips.
For addtional reading about Jit Pumisak and the decade of the 70's
in Thailand, two excellent works are: |
|
IN THE MIRROR by Benedict. R. O'G. Anderson and Ruchira Mendiones. Bangkok: Duang
Kamol. 1985.