Self-Immolation As The Ultimate Political Protest
January 20, 2011
IT IS USED TO PROTEST WARS, TO CALL ATTENTION TO ABUSE AND INJUSTICE—self-immolation, the burning of one’s own body, may be a desperate act to some, though it is also seen as the ultimate political protest. Self-immolation is credited with galvanizing popular uprisings, as in the case of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia this month.
Now there is news of more self-immolations spreading through the Arab World, with three reported attempts this week. And the practice is not limited to North Africa: two Romanians attempted self-immolation to protest homelessness and poverty.
What does this all mean? In an interview with NPR, Michael Biggs, a sociologist at Oxford University, says a person’s willingness to kill themselves is a powerful public statement, and “the injustice they’re suffering should be taken seriously.”
Related articles:
This piece from Thought Catalog looks back at the photo of Mahayana Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức, In Terrifying Color: Vietnamese Buddhist Monk’s 1963 Self-Immolation
Americans who self-immolated as anti-war protest
Afghanistan: When Women Set Themselves on Fire
