So Lang: The Establishment of Commons Through Land-grabbing by Southern Peasants of Thailand

Abstract

This article analyzes the concepts of common through lands occupation and communities’ management after the land occupation of Southern Peasants Movement. My purpose is to make a new understanding about the concepts of common of Southern Peasants Movement. The research question is how the concepts of common operated by Southern Peasants. I argue that So Lang or common of Southern Peasants Movement is distinctive from the two previous common perspectives, which can be divided into two groups of scholars. The first group described the Common as a chaos, so the state has to direct the disorder lands of common into private properties. The second group explained the Common is rooted in the community, which is based on culture. However, in the case of Southern Peasants Movement, the peasants are not rooted in the culture-based community, but they form a movement to struggle against the land-grabbing of the state, who is cooperated with capitalists in the last three decades. They negotiated with the state by forming new common through occupation lands of capitalists and designed managed the taken properties as a common. Therefore, establishment of commons, in this case, do not lead to chaos and do not rely on cultural roots of community. The finding leads to rethinking about the concepts of common which distinct from these two groups of scholars.