Indigenous Calendar July, 2018: Lord Buckethead

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It is ironic that the country most responsible for spreading colonial rule, the United Kingdom, is the same country whose form of parliamentary democracy is now the most widespread. It is even more ironic, then, that the UK should be unique in the extent to which its citizens satirize their country's political process.

This month's photo was taken in a country that has never been successfully colonized — Thailand. This young boy is an adult man now. Even so, unless he has joined the military, it is unlikely he will take part in any political process any time soon. A constitutional monarchy for most of the Twentieth Century, Thailand has been under military rule for the past four years.

His peers would, perhaps, nickname him 'Mr. Buckethead,' but certainly not 'Lord Buckethead.' (In Thailand, the title 'Lord' is reserved for Lord Buddha.) 'Lord Buckethead' is the 'title' of a UK citizen who did take part in the political process last year when, for the third time, he contested election to that country's parliament. He was, of course, a joke candidate running in the British tradition of political satire. Like this boy, he wears a bucket over his head. I can explain this in the case of the boy: he had been working on the west bank of the Mekong River and needed a moment of respite from the heat of the baking sun. In the case of Lord Buckethead, if you don't already understand the satire, I don't think I can explain it in a way that you will. He has, in the meantime, become something of a celebrity — appearing on television in the US, releasing a Christmas record and, at the end of last year, satirizing the Queen's annual Christmas address to the Commonwealth of Nations. Some say he is currently more popular in the UK than the British Prime Minister!

When the UK was a monarchy proper, Lord Buckethead might have been hung for treason following such satirical antics. Serious treason offenses there still carry up to life in prison. In that respect the two countries are similar: Thailand has a history of, in the opinion of many, harsh sentences for disrespect toward its monarchy.

Despite economic blips, Thailand has been, economically, a model developing country for the past sixty years. Now, as it tries to transition to "Thailand 4.0," the official, political line is the promise of a more socially inclusive society. This boy, now man, being one of the majority Tai peoples will be a part of that inclusive society. Yet the minority peoples in the north of Thailand, despite being indigenous to the area, have never really been included in Thai society.

It is, perhaps, not ironic that the UK leads the world in political satire. Its electorate has always been able to discern when a political candidate or system is a joke. Not so in many other parts of the world. If "Thailand 4.0" is ever achieved, I suspect the country's indigenous people in the north will be as capable of recognizing and understanding political jokes as the British are.

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