Like the Buddhist monk who set himself on fire to protest the Vietnam War, Mohamed Bouazizi’s act of self-immolation has fueled political protests and inspired others to kill themselves in the same shocking manner. Self-immolation, which can be a form of protest, is the act of setting oneself on fire.

 

Bouazizi, a university-educated street vendor who burned himself alive after Tunisia’s police confiscated his goods, helped launch the massive protests that brought down dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali last weekend. Since Bouaszizi’s death, at least twelve other individuals in North Africa have tried or succeeded in killing themselves the same way—to protests the situations in Algeria (7), Egypt (4) and Mauritania (1).

 

The response to the Tunisian’s graphic death is reminiscent of Thích Quảng Đức, whose act of self-immolation in 1963 shocked many throughout the world and prompted others, both in South Vietnam and the United States, to do the same thing.

 

Although Islamic suicide bombers have caused many deaths around the world, self-immolation is actually rare in the Arab world because the Qur’an forbids suicide.

 

There have been several political self-immolations in the United States, although they are usually ignored by the media either for political reasons or for fear of inspiring copycat suicides. On March 16, 1965, 82-year-old peace activist Alice Herz set fire to herself in Detroit to protest the Vietnam War. She died ten days later.

 

On November 2, 1965, Norman Morrison, a Quaker pacifist, self-immolated outside the Pentagon office of Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. Although Morrison’s act received relatively little attention in the United States, he was considered a hero in Vietnam. As recently as July 2007, the president of Vietnam, Nguyễn Minh Triết, while on his way to meet with President George W. Bush, stopped by the Potomac River to read aloud a Vietnamese poem in honor of Morrison.

 

Other Americans have committed acts of self-immolation to protest the first Gulf War and the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff

 

 

 

Self-Immolation Protests In Egypt Continue (by Hamza Hendawi, Associated Press)

Mohamed Bouazizi’s Act of Self-Immolation Spreads to Mauritania (by The Moor Next Door, MidEastPosts)

WikiLeaks Helps Overthrow Dictator in Tunisia (by David Wallechinsky, AllGov)

Dying Without Killing: Self-Immolations, 1963–2002 (by Michael Biggs, Oxford University Press) (pdf)

List of Political Self-immolations (Wikipedia)

Thích Quảng Đức (Wikipedia)