Suriyasai Katasila

Suriyasai Katasila is a Thai political scientist, activist and former politician, who is currently the dean of the College of Social Innovation and director of the Thailand Reform Institute AT Rangsit University.

Katasila was born in Rasi Salai district, Sisaket province, in Isan. He developed an interest in politics since a very young age, recalling the 1981 Thai military rebellion.

While a student at Kasetsart University, he had participated in Black May, a mass protest where people gathered to oust the junta government led by Suchinda Kraprayoon in 1992. During that time, he was also the secretary-general of Student Union of Thailand (SUT).

In contemporary political history, Katasila is best known for being the coordinator of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), or familiarly known as Yellow Shirts. Political groups that played a key role in the ousting of the Thaksin Shinawatra government in 2006 and the Samak Sundaravej with Somchai Wongsawat governments in 2008.