Chit Phumisak
Jit Phumisak [Note 1] ( Thai: จิตร ภูมิ ศักดิ์, RTGS transcription Chit Phumisak; pronunciation: [ t͡ɕìt p ʰ u ː míʔsàk ]; born September 25, 1930 in Prachantakham, Prachinburi province, Thailand; † ( shot) May 5, 1966 in Amphoe Waritchaphum, Sakon Nakhon Province ) was a Thai intellectual and author. He studied linguistics, but also published on the history, art and philosophy, wrote poems and songs. Influenced by Marxism, Jit represented a radical social criticism. He was sometimes referred to as an icon of Thai intellectuals not only of the left bearing and since the 1970s due to his charismatic as " Thailand's Che Guevara ".
Life and work
Jit Phumisak was the son of a revenue officer and a seamstress who worked for the Army. He was born in the province of Prachinburi in the east of Thailand and had an older sister. His birth name was Somjit, he later cut it down but off to Jit. Due to the position of the father in the civil service, the family was forced to move regularly, including the mid- 1940s in the province conquered Cambodia Battambang. Already as a teenager he wrote articles on literature, philosophy, history and art. In 1950 he began his studies of linguistics at Chulalongkorn University. He dominated Thai, English, French and Chinese fluently.
With Marxism, he came in 1953 calculated by an order for the United States Embassy in contact. To convince the Thai government for tougher action against communists, the U.S. wanted to translate the Communist Manifesto into Thai and took it to the young linguists Jit in service. A short time later he published a Marxist critique of Buddhism. Since he was known to be an excellent writer, his classmates chose him as editor of the university yearbook. With the accusation that he was a Communist, his task was, however, withdrawn.
In 1957 he completed his studies and began teaching as an English teacher at the Theves - Suksa School. A short time later he published Sinlapa phuea chiwit, sinlapa phuea prachachon ( "Art for Life, Art for the people" ) and Chomna sakdina khong thai nai patchuban ( " The face of Thai feudalism today "). He also wrote, sometimes under different pseudonyms, several linguistic works and a variety of essays, especially about religion and art, but also some pieces of fiction and short stories. In 1958, he was detained under the authoritarian regime of Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat 1958 on charges of supporting communism.
During his detention in prison Lat Yao, he worked on the vegetable garden, taught children of the guards and brought a national of the Lahu people, and his son in Thai. At the same time he completed a study of the Lahu language and folklore. In prison, he was an even more productive author and translator as before. He has translated The mother of Maxim Gorky, Yevgenia Stepanova's biography of Karl Marx, Premchand's novel Godan ( " The Kuhschenkung " ), George Thomson's An Essay on Religion and a collection of Vietnamese short stories. When he finally got a court case after six years, he was acquitted and released.
After his release in 1965 Jit joined the Communist Party of Thailand and went, as part of their adopted under Maoist influence " rural strategy " in the wooded mountains in the northeast of Thailand. He now wrote militant poems and songs, which prompted the villagers to join the fight against social injustice and oppression. He identified himself seriously with the poor and encouraged his comrades with his evocative poetry. On 5 May 1966, he was in the Phu Phan Mountains in the province of Sakon Nakhon, probably by policemen shot.
Works (selection)
The non-fiction " The face of Thai feudalism " and " etymology of the names Siam, Thai, Lao and Khom and the social characteristics of the ethnonyms " and the collection of Jit's poems belong to a 1996 assembled canon of " 100 books that should be read every Thai ".
- โฉมหน้า ศักดินา ไทย ( Chomna Sakdina Thai; " The face of Thai feudalism " ), under the pseudonym Somsamai Sisuttharaphan posthumously in 1974 - previously released as: โฉมหน้า ศักดินา ไทย ใน ปัจจุบัน ( Chomna Sakdina Thai nai patchuban; " The face of Thai feudalism today " ), 1957 in Nitisat.
- รวมบทกวีและงานวิจารณ์ศิลปวรรณคดีของ กวี การเมือง ( Ruam botkawi lae ngan Wichan sinlapa wannakhadi khong Kawi Kanmueang; " Collected poems and literary criticism of, Kawi Kanmueang ' " ), under the pseudonym Kawi Kanmueang posthumously in 1974 - most of the poems were smuggled out of prison and in 1964 in the newspaper Prachatipatai published literature reviews were published in 1957-58 under the pseudonym Somchai Prichacharoen in the newspaper Sanseri
- ความ เป็น มา ของ คำ สยาม ไทย, ลาว และ ขอ ม และ ลักษณะ ทาง สังคม ของ ชื่อ ชนชาติ ( Khwampenma khong kham Sayam Thai Lao lae Khom lae Laksana thangsangkhom khong chu chong chat; " etymology of the names Siam, Thai, Lao and Khom and the social characteristics the ethnonyms " ), posthumously in 1976
- โองการ แช่งน้ำ และ ข้อคิดใหม่ในประวัติศาสตร์ไทยลุ่มน้ำเจ้าพระยา ( Ongkan chaengnam khokhitmai lae nai prawattisat thai lumnam Chao Phraya; " The fealty and new thoughts about Thai history in the Chao Phraya Basin " ), posthumously in 1981
Known songs
- แสง ดาว แห่ง ศรัทธา ( Saengdao haeng Sattha; " starlight of trust" )
- รำวง วัน เม ย์ เดย์ ( Ramwong wan May Day; " Ramwong May Day " )
- มาร์ช ลาดยาว ( March Lat Yao, " Lat Yao -Marsch " )
- มาร์ช ชาวนา ไทย ( March Chaona thai; "March of the Thai farmers " )
- Thai version of the International: อินเตอร์ เนชั่นแนล ( International )
Further Literature
- Craig J. Reynolds: Thai Radical Discourse. The Real Face of Thai Feudalism Today. Cornell Southeast Asia Program, Ithaca NY, 1987, ISBN 0-87727-702-8.
- Arjun Subrahmanyan Jit Poumisak. An Intellectual Biography. University of Oregon, 1994.