The Black Book Assembly More-Than-Half-a-Year-in-Review is an irregularly published newsletter initiative of the Black Book Assembly, a loose network of activist writers, artists and publishers from East and Southeast Asia. Each issue is edited from a different locale but treads across geographies to maintain the affinities of common struggle and deepen the toolbox of means and manoeuvres. The first issue began under the pavement of Hong Kong, followed by issue two edited by the Little Black Book Club of Seoul. This third issue, brought together in Bangkok, has been edited by textual collective Namkheun in collaboration with Hong Kong-based Display Distribute. Three years, myriad movements and now amid a pandemic, we ask: When we are no longer able to assemble, what are we doing now?

Wading through the ongoing absurdity of politics and biopolitical catastrophe in Thailand during a post-protest climate, if we cannot publicly engage in collective dissent, can we still collaboratively turn the lights out on continued authoritarianism, corruption, human rights violations, patriarchal structures, and socioeconomic inequality?