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Photograph by Timothy P. Riethmiller[/caption]
By Claire Hadley, World Writer
Seven Tibetans killed themselves in anger over Chinese repression in a one-week period last month, bringing the total number of self-immolations to about 60 since March 2011, according to the Los Angeles Times. Dozens of Tibetans set themselves on fire in the Tibetan regions of China since March 2011 to protest what activists say is Beijing's heavy-handed rule in the region. Many have called for the return of the Dalai Lama, their exiled spiritual leader, noted The Huffington Post. Protesters ranging from a young mother of two to an 80-year-old grandfather have taken their own lives in public by setting their bodies aflame. The Chinese and Tibetan governments are in a panic. The Chinese government is especially frantic due to the Communist Party congress that will meet this week, according to Fox News. Officials were hoping the power showcase that the congress would present would prove to the world the stability of its rule. Now they are using emergency procedures to block roads and guard key Buddhist locations that might become self-immolation targets. The LA Times reported that the Public Security Bureau in the region recently tacked up notices offering rewards up to $8,000 for "information on the scheming, planning and instigation of such acts." Robbie Barnett, a Tibet scholar at Columbia University, said Chinese authorities have also offered to give money to the families of the dead if they'll claim that the self-immolations were not done in political protest. "The government is trying to give them money to say it was a suicide because of depression, problems with school or marriage," Barnett told the LA Times. But unfortunately self-immolations are not new to the region. A wave of them happened last autumn on the southern edge of the Tibetan plateau, noted The Huffington Post. China blames the Tibetans' exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, for inciting the immolations, but he denies the claim. Chinese authorities have attempted to use power, persuasion, propaganda and money to extinguish the flames that are threatening to engulf western China, but they are finding such methods unsuccessful, reported the LA Times. More than 50 Tibetans have self-immolated to protest China's rule of the Himalayan region, and most of them have died, according to Fox News. "The Chinese don't understand our religion," said a former Labrang monk named Tashi, according to the LA Times. "They don't believe in it, and they create a suffocating atmosphere." Photos have circulated around websites used by the exiled Tibetan government showing several victims in various stages of being burned, with family members and protesters standing around them, reported the LA Times. Tibet's exiled government has asked its people to refrain from sacrificing their lives in this manner, as it will do no good for their cause, and it is shameful to their Buddhist religious beliefs.
