My story of three days in a Thai detention center

And its paradoxical result: From cancellation to anti-cancellation

Before I share my account of my detention in Bangkok Airport, I want to stress that this article is not meant as a critique of Thailand, nor even of its Immigration services. I have lived for twenty years in Thailand, since October 2003, and by all accounts, it has been a blessed time for me. Of course, like all places and countries, it has its qualities, and it has aspects that we may not appreciate. But as a guest of the country, I never felt it was my place to focus on critique. So please read this as a personal account.

Most of my articles here have been relatively thought out editorials, on the current issues of the day, from a specific point of view, i.e. that of the commons as an institution, which in my opinion needs to receive a more central place in a transforming world, and that of the new global capacity for trans-local self-organization through digital networks.

This is not such an article, but a subjective account of my personal experience.

I will end it with an appeal for support, so that the disruption caused by my deportation can be compensated, and to enable me to continue my life’s work of research into the above topics.

So what happened , from my point of view ?

First the broad arc of my life, for context.

I am a Belgian citizen, currently 67 years old, and with four children from two marriages. Two of my older kids, from an earlier marriage, live in Paris, where my daughter is a legal expert finalizing her transformation to become a notary, planning a future neo-rural life, and my son just finished a 300 page treatise on the alchemical symbolism in Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’, based on medieval (neoplatonic) Christian and Islamic sources. My Thai children who grew up with me in Chiang Mai, are respectively finishing an environmental engineering education (currently in Louvain, Belgium, after 4 years in Chulalongkorn), and my youngest daughter is studying fashion design while also starting a career as a budding actress. I mention my children because one of the aspects of the deportation is of course the severing of a twenty year life experience with them in Thailand.

As for my professional life, I have been a knowledge manager (from librarian to cybrarian) all my working life, first for the United States Information Agency, then for British Petroleum. In the nineties, I decided to try the startup life, creating two internet companies, a magazine on digital culture, and a 3-hour documentary. I ended the decade with a role as director of digital transformation for Belgian’s leading telco at the time. In parallel, I had an intense philosophical and spiritual path as a searcher, trying to process a rather difficult childhood, which I relate in an unpublished biography. If you are interested in the societal trends that occured since the sixties, you might want to give it a try.

In 2003, after a burnout in 1998, and an increasing dissatisfaction with the corporate world and its role in the destruction of our lifeworld, I decided, in agreement with my Thai wife, to move to Thailand, so that I could afford to do non-profit oriented research and advocacy work, researching the historical and present role of commons-based institutions and ‘peer to peer’ dynamics. This resulted in the creation of the P2P Foundation. Web3 practitioners know the P2P Foundation as the place where Satoshi Nakamoto published his White Paper, and perhaps as the first person to ever tweet about Bitcoin, but many researchers and change agents have used our wiki, which had reached a billion viewers quite a few years ago. The highlight of this ‘career’ was the period between 2013 and 2020, where I was giving 100 lectures each year, all over the world, meeting important figures like Pope Benedict, the president of Ecuador, the mayors of Seoul and Ghent, and a stint in the state compound of Beijing, discussing and consulting on digital transformations, while also working with countless grassroots initiatives. I spent time with researchers in Yale, Harvard, Oxford, the Sorbonne, and the Vatican.

This thrilling but unsustainable spiral of relative success came to a screeching halt in August 2018, when I was cancelled after sharing two critical videos of Jordan Peterson, and refusing to bow to the new identitarian ideology that had taken over the West, holding on to the more egalitarian emancipatory traditions based on ‘common humanity’ views. I have related this experience in this article. At this time, I was triply defunded from the NGO’s that supported our work previously (we were a team of 10), cancelled in many cultural European institutions in the Flanders and Europe, where I used to keynote in many different cultural festivals, de-banked and de-Paypalled. But the worst effect was psychological, due to the accompanying demonization, but also the lack of support. The strength of the woke cancel mobilizations at that moment, and the danger to the professional reputation and futures of those who would oppose them, were such that most of my supporters looked the other way. Not all, but most, and those that did, for example signing a petition of support, were not able to give the kind of material support that I had needed at the time. I lost one third of my income immediately, quickly mounting to two-thirds, and to this day, there are still episodes in which active attempts are made. Thus, it was a traumatic break for me as a person, with all kinds of consequences that are in fact still unfolding today.

Thus a relative retreat from public interventions, which I compensated by deciding to do more research. First by studying the historical origins of identity politics itself, second by doing a very deep and systematic study of macro-historical trends, my aim being to integrate the ebb and flow of the commons, in a coherent view of human history. This path of inquiry coincided with the relative isolation that occurred in the Covid years. The relative isolation lasted until more or less 2023, when interest started picking up again. I started a three year research project for the Civilization Research Institute, formalizing my new civilizational insights for a private educational project to form ‘new Jedi’s’. And I started writing for this very same Substack blog that you are now reading.

But a new period was definitely inaugurated when I was invited for the very first Web3/Ethereum pop-up village, called Zuzalu, in Montenegro, organized by the Ethereum community. It is also where I met my new friends from the Global Chinese Commons (now called Community), as they helped me to start a new line of inquiry into the emerging network nations that are springing up amongst the fifty million digital nomads.

What I found there was a rare pluralistic community that combined all shades of opinion, but united through their commons: building a new infrastructure that would be beneficial for all its participants, but also for the world community as a whole, by developing global coordination mechanisms that had never existed before. Last October-November, there were twelve different pop-up villages in my home town of Chiang Mai, when I gave two lectures per day, leading up to DevCon, the global mass of the Ethereum community, which had 800 side events, and ended with neo-Epicurean gatherings such as ZuGarden, where I taught my course on civilizational transitions.

And this brings us to the present day. Ten days before my deportation, I participated in a very interesting workshop organized by members of the SEApunk community, such as for example by Sam Chua and Venkatesh Rao, called Khlongs and Subaks. Khlongs are the Bangkok channels, which function as commons, and Subaks are the Balinese water temples, which regulate the water flow from the mountains, also self-managed as commons. These temples bring us back to the very birth of human civilization, when horticultural village communes had their own public infrastructure regulating water and rice production. But this workshop was of course about the digital updates to these models, and the participants were the young digital leaders of the region. It was a privilege to participate in these types of meetings where the future of a culture and region are being forged.

And then I went to Moscow, where the National Centre, Russia, the kind of institution that organizes the participation in World Expo’s and the like, organized a BRICS and Growth conference. It was the first time in my life I travelled to Russia, and I was of course curious to see it from the inside, how it coped with the war, but also to meet people from the whole world, and how they were envisioning a post-Western multi-polar world. While I had taken BRICS seriously, I discovered how strong the hope was, that was invested in this new ideology, and how real it was as a factor for the attendees from the whole world. I also had the opportunity to speak to two privately organized lectures, one associated with Moscow University, with Ecovillage networks that onboard people who want to leave the cities and move to the countryside.

It was upon my return from Moscow that the unexpected happened.

Arrest and Deportation

Perhaps a bit of background first. I have lived continuously in Thailand since October 2003. I built a house there, invested the 20 million baht I had brought back from my startup ventures, and lived with my wife and children there continuously, interrupted by my conference travels, Since 2013, I embarked on annual projects abroad during the spring burning season of Chiang Mai, after the pollution caused an outbreak of asthmatic bronchitis. Perhaps surprisingly, I have done this through a wide variety of visas. Indeed, I never asked for the regular Spouse or Retirement visas. The reason is that though I build the house, financed the university education of three children (2 of them in Thailand, where it is not free), and helped the extended family of my thai wife, it was always difficult to mobilize (and thus ‘immobilize’ on a account), the cash requirements demanded for these regular visas. But every visa, such as for example, the non-immigrant O visa, was obtained with the full approval of the Thai authorities. This system functioned for twenty years.

But during my very last re-entry, I did receive a warning from the Bangkok Immigration service at the airport. They judged that I had too many ‘ins and outs’, and needed to obtain a more serious visa. The officer who told me this was friendly, and clearly intended to give me a second chance to comply, I had been warned.

I took this warning seriously, spent a whole day in the Administration building of the Bangkok Immigration office with my wife, but they concluded I had to do the process where we lived, in Chiang Mai. In Chiang Mai, we spent an additional half-day with higher level officials, asking them for advice, but they concluded that I should not worry, and they would provide me with a family extension visa. My passport shows this number and is named ‘visa’. I felt I had done my due diligence, and went on the Moscow trip without worrying.

I returned from Moscow on May 2. The timing was not auspicious as it was the second day of the new digital requirements for the Digital Arrival Card and the Thai E-Visa process. As I passed the immigration booth, I was immediately taken to the interrogation room. There, it did not go well for me, and I did not have more than 80 seconds of conversation with the immigration officials. It did not help that I had lost my phone in Moscow and that there was no electricity to power my computer. People with visa problems are mixed there with mostly Chinese visitors taking illegal photographs of this immigration process area, creating a lot of tension and stress in that office. After a relatively long wait, I was taken to the detention center. I also want to stress here that despite the lack of interest in my narrative or defense, at no moment did I feel the Thai staff was inappropriate, or rude. Everything was done according to the rules, as they saw it. Two thousand people have this experience every year, but it doesn’t seem excessive given the more than 30 million visitors that visit the country every year. However, listening to some of the testimonies of my fellow detainees, I do believe a substantial number of people should not be in such a jail. They are not illegally in the country, and they have committed no crime.

The experience in the detention center was less than pleasant, but also remember that you arrive there with feelings of distress. For example: will I ever see my family again, how will my children and wife take this separation? The detention center has room for a few dozen people, in bunk beds. The upstairs bed has 24 hours of light, the downstairs bed has 24 hours of dark. There are no stools or chairs except those in the office area which are taken up by people ‘in process’. No place to read, and you either stand up or sit in your bed. There is one shower with cold water, but no towels or soap. There is no pillow, just a small bundle holding the sheets, which most people use instead. The mattress was stone hard and this was my main problem. One of the results of my period of constant lecturing was that I was diagnosed with ‘adrenaline fatigue’ and an ongoing myalga, i.e constant muscle pain and a retraction of the muscles. Concretely this meant a cumulative lack of sleep as the pain prevented it. The area is also constantly under high stress, with many of the detained passengers in distress, seeking a way out through loud conversations with their family members on the phone, and sometimes, in dispute with the Thai staff. A lot of the arrestees are working class people that do not have easy access to funding. I could not bring myself to eat much. You are also insecure: will I be able to get out, and when. Some of the arrested are required to pay hotel costs and are prevented from leaving, losing their tickets, if they refuse or cannot pay. The saving grace of the place is that people can keep their phones and computers and connect to the internet. And that the staff does not behave in abusive ways.

Thus, I could connect not just with my wife, who was moving mountains to get me out, but also with friends and associates, so as to get all kinds of support. I won’t name them here, as some of them went into discrete negotiations with officials.

From Cancellation to Anti-Cancellation

As in the yin-yang symbol, every dark process has a silver lining, and so it was for me. Despite the physical pain, and the distress of being separated from my family, I was blessed. First of all by the support of my wife, who was literally amazing, and from my four children, all of whom I could connect with, but also by a wave of solidarity. Some of my friends and associates connected to higher levels of the Thai administration, explaining my case. While they did not succeed to reverse the decision, they will be able to assist with my process of return. They all tell me I can be hopeful. Other people, like Christine Marsan of AlterCoop in France, set up a rather successful fundraising. This allowed me not only to purchase the very expensive ticket to Belgium, but to cope with the tripling of costs that I am facing in Belgium and Europe, where the cost of living is three times those in Chiang Mai. Since I have been severely underfunded since 2018, I will also use this income for purchasing essential material, such as a new computer.

So here is what I mean with the ‘anti-cancellation’: in 2018, I experienced a negative spiral of loss of support; in 2025, I am experiencing a positive spiral of solidarity. This gives me hope, not only of processing the painful separation with my family, but of some sort of relaunch of my more public career. I did share my experiences, almost day by day, through my accounts on LinkedIn and on X, and it is not just the statements of support and the fundraising, but elaborate thank you notes and assessments I received about the importance of my work. So thank you to all that helped me during these difficult times, and those that expressed the appreciation of my role in the world.

Here is an example, from Boris Sirbey, of the neo-civilizational Point Zero movement in France:

"I met Michel Bauwens eight years ago through Christine Marsan. For me, he is an essential figure in several respects.

In 1996, I discovered the Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace written by John Perry Barlow. What a shock! My heart resonated because I felt that his text touched on something essential: the Internet marks the transition to a new type of civilization.

Sure, the Web has since become a supermarket, a home movie theater, and a global psychic garbage dump. But so what! The shift from a world that functioned as a power pyramid to one that works as a network has begun.

And Michel was one of its architects. In 2007, he created the P2P Foundation, an international research network focused on the commons. He published several essential books on the free Internet, peer-to-peer, and new forms of governance and knowledge sharing.

He then became one of the most recognized international figures on the subject. His talks attracted a growing community, including American woke activists, who saw in him a symbol of the minority rights cause.

Unfortunately, Michel has one major flaw: he is a free thinker. This led him to commit an unforgivable offense: referencing an American author deemed unacceptable by the woke movement. And then came the ultimate punishment: being “cancelled,” that is, banned, censored, actively denigrated, and socially erased.

Michel then lost part of his support. Added to that were budget cuts to nonprofits under the Trump administration. This led to a few years of wandering in the desert.

Then, after returning from a recent trip, he found himself stuck without a phone in a detention center in Thailand due to a visa issue. After he put out a call for help on LinkedIn—which at first looked so much like phishing that it stunned people—support began to pour in. Finally, he managed to return to Belgium this week.

So, what’s the moral of the story?

Taking an interest in a champion like Michel at a time when the world is spiraling into chaos is important for several reasons:

Intellectuals are glaringly absent right now, so we must support the great minds who produce relevant maps for navigating complexity.

In addition to his work on the Commons, he is one of the greatest contemporary thinkers on civilizational cycles (a shout-out as well to Olivier Frérot, who is another!). We are transitioning to a new type of civilization, and until we understand that, we will continue to fear crises rather than treat them as the birth pangs of a new world.

He is a truly wonderful human being.”

And here is Robert de Quelen:

“ une capacité exceptionnelle à produire une synthèse des travaux des méta-historiens qui nous aide à comprendre les cycles civilisationnels profonds. De nombreux auteurs se sont nourris de ces travaux, sans toujours les citer. Deuxièmement, bien sûr, le travail sur les Communs et le formidable potentiel qu'ils représentent pour régénérer la civilisation à chaque fin de cycle. On lui doit notamment le concept de "pulsation des Communs" : chaque fois qu'une société s'enrichit matériellement, elle verse dans l'individualisme, tandis que les Communs sont redécouverts en périodes de crise."

These kudo’s and assessments are always welcome, along with critiques, but the human solidarity has been very concrete. For example, I received 6 propositions for lodging in Belgium, one in France, one in Italy, and three in Barcelona. Thus, I will be able to visit various places in Europe before my attempted return at the end of June, when I hope to reconnect with my family. A big thanks therefore to my current hosting family in Leuven, Belgium, i.e. Anne Billen and Neil Davidson from And Now What?, a collapse-resilience initiative.

I end my account with an appeal for more support. While my emergency costs have been covered, if you believe my work merits a relaunch, and if you want to help with potential legal costs to insure my return, please respond to the fundraising appeal just below.

How you can help ?

• The fundraising campaign in France is coordinated here at https://www.helloasso.com/associations/altercoop/paiements/soutenir-michel-bauwens

• If you are crypto savvy, there is a donation account here at 0xAEE413a9E640Ce817E4aE024176fE8a4550104fD

• And don’t forget, a for-pay subscription to this substack also helps creating a ongoing income that will fund further research and interventions.

Thanks to everyone for the support!

If you want to meet me and discuss, and eventually assist in the relaunch of my work, let me know,

Or meet me here: