I couldn’t watch the photos of a 27 year old Tibetan, Jampa Yeshi, burning himself to death without horror. But even though Yeshi’s intent by setting himself ablaze was to bring attention to the Tibetan protest against China, my first reaction was, why? The reports say that over 30 Tibetans have set themselves ablaze in the last year, and what good did it bring?
The international community has so much ‘sympathy’ towards the Tibetan cause, and occassionally blames China but they wouldn’t move a finger against the Chinese. India, being the ‘kind’ hosts that we are, also wouldn’t do a thing against the neighbor because despite being the projected ‘super-power-in-20XX’ we don’t want to get into trouble with the powerful Chinese. Plus we have Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh to look after. So nobody, except the Tibetans themselves, are interested in the cause. Perhaps except some individuals and some human rights organizations. If Tibet had oil, perhaps ‘some’ would have shown interest but that is not the case.
So what good does the ‘attention bringing suicide’ do to help the Tibetan cause? Why let the youth of a country kill themselves when it is clear that it is not helping the cause? If you want to fight for a cause, you should live to fight for it. Not die to protest, because your voice would fade away in a few days. I can’t believe that the protestors had prevented police from taking young Yeshi to the hospital. And the Tibetan leader saying that the boy ‘took an appreciative step’! If this so called Tibetan leader Dorjee really thinks it is helping the cause, he should set himself on fire to set an example. Or ask his family members to do so. Would he dare do that? Is this the message that people like him and Dalai Lama are sending to the world? Do they think they can change the Chinese oppression in Tibet by letting or encouraging their youth to burn to death themselves? is this what the Buddhist preaching is all about? Please, let them young people live. And fight.
(Photo courtesy: MSN India)