The "golden age" of massive student activists taking to the streets to fight for democracy is long gone and will not likely return at any foreseeable future, said student leader Anuthee Dejthevaporn, who has just finished as secretary-general of the Students Federation of Thailand (SFT).
"The society has changed. The age of middle-class [stu-dents] fighting for peoples' rights is gone, because they have gained their [political and economic] benefits," said Anuthee, adding that those middle-class students still fighting for democracy and other causes were now few and far between.
Although Anuthee predict-ed that more student activism would be seen because Thai poli-tics was in a crisis, he said it would be "impossible" to match the numbers that joined the student movement two decades ago. Today, Anuthee reckons there were no more than 100 active members of the SFT, which is pro-red.
He added, however that there were students who support the yellow-shirt People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) or the current government but their numbers were also small.
Acknowledging that a num-ber of youth were now into cyber activism, Anuthee, who recently graduated from Thammasat University in political science, added however that this could not compare to face-to-face bonding, which fostered a sense of camaraderie.
He said witch-hunting online against people perceived as being anti-monarchist as a worrying development.
"Although some criticise with reasons, in some other instances, death threats are made."
In a related development, Chaturon Chaisaeng, former deputy prime minister under Thaksin Shinawatra, said young people should engage more in online activism to oppose the government.
Chaturon was speaking at a symposium on whether stu-dent activism has disappeared or not, at the 111 Foundation yesterday.
"I believe cyberspace and things like Facebook are another form of activism. Students need not come out onto the street but can surf cyberspace in order to exchange information and facts," Chaturon said.
He claimed the current government was one of the most dictatorial regimes of the past two to three decades as a whole net-work existed to perpetuate its longevity.
Chaturon said the current regime has sent letters to university administrators telling them to curb anti-government student activism.
"Red Sunday" group leader Sombat Boon-ngam-anong said students were now making a move, and that arresting students - as the authorities recently did in Chiang Rai province, with five students - would come at a high cost because students merely insist on their basic right to freedom of speech.
"To forbid humans to think or say something is like forcing them to stop breathing," Sombat said.
A group of students who recently took part in a failed protest against Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at Chulalongkorn University - failed because their protest placards were confiscated - predicts that more attempts to make such protests will spread from now on, however.