TWO TIBETANS BURN THEMSELVES TO DEATH IN PROTEST

August 15, 2012

On Monday, another two Tibetans burned themselves to death in protest against the Chinese occupation of Tibet, bringing the total number of people who self-immolated to around 50, since the latest wave of unrest began in 2008.

The protesters were in their early twenties: one, Lungtok was a monk and medical student, while the other Tashi, had been a confrere at the same monastery, but had left the order. They set fire to themselves in the main street of Ngaba (Sichuan Province) which, because of its association with these immolations, has become known as "the path of martyrs".

The Chinese authorities have cracked down on the demonstrations that followed and have referred to the self-immolations as "barbaric terrorist acts" incited by separatist propaganda from the Dalai Lama and his foreign allies.

Tibet has been under Chinese rule since 1950, after which China negotiated a Seventeen Point Agreement with the current Dalai Lama who had just been enthroned. This granted the area some autonomy, but proved unsatisfactory, leading to the 1959 rebellion and the Dalai Lama's departure and setting up of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. Thousands of monasteries were then destroyed and tens of thousands of Tibetans killed as China consolidated its rule. The resentment is therefore understandable, as are the self-immolations. But as the Dalai Lama himself states:

"In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher."

Let's hope the Chinese government learns something too.