Topic: Self-Immolation

Two Tibetans self-immolate in Lhasa: is protest spreading?

Two Tibetans set themselves on fire Sunday in the first such protests against Chinese rule in Lhasa, the tightly controlled Tibetan capital. At least 34 Tibetans have self-immolated since March 2011.

Political suicides: when protesting takes lives

A Christian Science perspective: A response to Tibetans’ use of self-immolation in protest to oppression.

Self-immolations in Tibet must resonate in America

Tibetans around the world are in mourning for the more than 25 Tibetans who have immolated themselves over the past year in protest against China's oppression. These self-immolations are also desperate cries for support from the international community. Americans can help.

Chinese police shoot three in Tibet amid protests

One was killed and two others wounded by the police.

Rare visit to remote region highlights China's clampdown on Tibet

Conversations with ethnic Tibetans suggest that China's authoritarian policies designed to tamp down disorder are causing unrest and self immolations.

As Tibetan New Year approaches, China tightens grip

A senior Chinese official has ordered tighter security in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and on main roads following deadly protests in Tibetan-inhabited Sichuan province.

After Egypt, Tunisia, Libya overthrows, Arab upheaval begins to settle

Egypt quietly moves into another phase of voting, while the monarchs in Morocco and Jordan have stabilized their rule through reforms. 

Self-immolation as protest tactic rises in Tibet, Middle East

Political suicides by fire rise among many Tibetans and Arabs as their situations grow desperate. But such a tactic often fails to ignite protest, and itself raises questions.

Good Reads: China faces unrest as economy slows

The rest of the world was hoping China's booming economy would pull everyone else out of economic slowdown, but now even China appears to be slowing down. 

China's crackdown grows as Tibetan self-immolations increase

The string of 10 recent Tibetan self-immolations – six monks, three former monks, and a nun – is unprecedented in modern Tibetan history. 

Indian monastery aids Tibetan monks facing crackdown

The Kirti Monastery in Dharamsala, an Indian hill town home to thousands of exiled Tibetans, has become a crisis center for the turmoil at its sister monastery under lockdown in Sichuan, China.

Arab women: this time, the revolution won't leave us behind

Arab women were integral players in the post-colonial revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria, but soon lost ground. They are vowing not to be marginalized in the wake of this year's Arab spring.

The slap heard round the world

Countries in the Middle East where the 'winds of change' are blowing

Those who said that 'winds of change' were blowing through the Middle East were right. The past two months have seen a series of stunning political shifts across the region and are now reverberating along the North African coast, through the Gulf, and up into the Levant. Here is a look at where those 'winds of change' are taking us.

Iraqis stage Valentine's Day protest over government corruption, poor services

The Valentine's Day protest came amid reports of a man in northern Iraq killing himself in an apparent copycat self-immolation – the same dramatic act that galvanized popular discontent in Tunisia.

Why Bouazizi burning set Arab world afire

Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi's desperate act of self-immolation triggered a shame in many Arabs that they hadn't done enough for their dignity and freedom, igniting protests for democracy. Under what conditions have such 'founding deaths' worked in other societies?

Iraq swirls with rumors of Egypt-like protests to come

With their televisions set to 24-hour coverage of the turmoil in Egypt, Iraqis have mounted a number of modest protests in recent days against power, water, and food shortages.

Nine countries in the Middle East where 'winds of change' are blowing

Those who said that 'winds of change' were blowing through the Middle East were right. As Egyptians' cries, first of anger and now of jubilation, beam into living rooms throughout the Middle East, here is a look at where those 'winds of change' are taking us.

How revolt in Egypt, Tunisia plays in South Africa

As the number of young people in South Africa increases and access to the Internet improves, so too will access to the kind of resistance we’re witnessing in Egypt and Tunisia, writes guest blogger Khadija Patel.

Heading off a wave of Middle East protest with flame-retardant underwear

A humor post.

Tunisian events likely to spark wider Arab reforms, but not revolutions

A number of copycat self-immolations across the Middle East are raising questions about whether the protests that drove Tunisia's Ben Ali could soon threaten other Arab autocrats.

Tunisian protests and Egyptian self-immolations

What I'm reading this morning.

Tunisian protests escalate, reflecting widespread discontent

Fourteen people were killed this weekend in protests that began last month and have broadened to include a wide cross-section of Tunisians upset about not only high unemployment, but inequality and autocratic leaders.