SOCIAL ACTIVISTS from Thailand

Top 2

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Thai Social Activists of all time. This list of famous Thai Social Activists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Jacques Vergès (1924 - 2013)

With an HPI of 56.34, Jacques Vergès is the most famous Thai Social Activist.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages on wikipedia.

Jacques Vergès (French pronunciation: [ʒak vɛʁʒɛs]; 5 March 1925 – 15 August 2013) was a Siamese-born French lawyer and anti-colonial activist. Vergès began as a fighter in the French Resistance during World War II, under Charles de Gaulle's Free French forces. After becoming a lawyer, he became well known for his defense of FLN militants during the Algerian War of Independence. He was later involved in a number of controversial and high-profile legal cases, with a series of defendants charged with terrorism, serial murder, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. This includes Nazi officer Klaus Barbie "the Butcher of Lyon" in 1987, terrorist Carlos the Jackal in 1994, and former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan in 2008. He also defended infamous Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy in 1998 as well as members of the Baader-Meinhof gang. As a result of taking on such clients, he garnered criticism from members of the public, including intellectuals Bernard-Henri Lévy and Alain Finkielkraut, political-activist Gerry Gable as well as Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld. Vergès attracted widespread public attention in the 1950s for his use of trials as a forum for expressing views against French colonial rule in Algeria, questioning the authority of the prosecution and causing chaos in proceedings – a method he promoted as "rupture defense" in his book De la stratégie judiciaire. He was imprisoned for his activism in 1960 and temporarily lost his license to officially practice law. He was a supporter of the Palestinian fedayeen in the 1960s. He would later disappear from 1970 to 1978, without ever explaining his whereabouts during that period. An outspoken anti-imperialist, he continued his vocal political activism in the 2000s, including opposing the War on Terror. The media sensationalized his activities with the sobriquet "the Devil's advocate", and Vergès himself contributed to his "notorious" public persona by such acts as titling his autobiography The Brilliant Bastard and giving provocative replies in interviews, such as "I'd even defend Bush! But only if he agrees to plead guilty."

2. Aed Carabao (1954 - )

With an HPI of 41.69, Aed Carabao is the 2nd most famous Thai Social Activist.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Aed Carabao (Thai: แอ๊ด คาราบาว, RTGS: Aet Kharabao) is the stage name of Yuenyong Opakul (Thai: ยืนยง โอภากุล, RTGS: yuen-yong o-phakun; born 9 November 1954) He is a singer-songwriter and leader of the Thai rock band Carabao, known for its songs in the "songs for life" genre. In October 2022, the governor of Suphan Buri province filed a defamation complaint with Thai police; Yuenyong Opakul "called the governor names as he slammed him for not inviting him to play at an annual fair in" his hometown; Yuenyong Opakul has apologised.