A young Tamil, and from all reports a well educated man, committed suicide here Thurday night, at the entrance to the UN, by dousing himself with petrol and striking a match.

There is a small memorial, such as you would see on a roadside after a fatal accident, candles, wreaths and things and a four page statement that he left before “the incident”. He was hoping that by this act he could draw attention to the plight of his people in Sri Lanka. But the only notification we received Friday was that there would be a traffic disturbance around the UN plaza ( more protesters ), no explanation of what had happened and after a quick search of the local papers there has been no media coverage.

As far as I can see the only thing he has done ( I’m sorry ) is to leave a scorch mark on the pavement, and a sad little memorial that is getting soaked in todays rain.

Now I don’t really understand what is happening in Sri Lanka but could it really bring a person to this?

How horrible.

It’s sad to think they believe they’re going somewhere better.

It’s sad to think they believe they’re going somewhere better.

Not really, they think theyre going somewhere better, they die and either a) they go somewhere better or b) nothing happens. Only sad for their family (and in general that people are driven to that).

either a) they go somewhere better or b) nothing happens.

If nowhere is better than here, then maybe a), yeah.

I’ve never understood how Buddhist monks can calmly mediate whilst their flesh is burning.

I have to admit that I’m somewhat impressed.

thats quite horrific gg.

Well, ugly though Tamil militancy and their use of suicide bombing has always been, it is a bit harsh to tear a strip off the chap for “just” committing suicide in front of the UN. The islamic jihadist logic afterall runs that everyone who votes for a government in a country that aids and abets their oppressors is culpable and deserves to be killed. Killing himself is at least an act of self-sacrifice rather than a macho massacring of others.

That it was largely un-noticed is a matter of Western media priorities. Making a cause celebre out of the ultra-violent (but largely local and military) nationalist struggle of an ethnic and religious minority which has regularly used suicide bombing as well as highly sophisticated guerilla warfare (and indeed air and naval attacks) is fairly tricky. If it isn’t a media priority it isn’t a media prioriy.

I do not see what his being “educated” or not has to do with anything. The OP states that he is ignorant of Sri Lankan politics. Presumably this chap wasn’t, and felt strongly about it. Presumably, apparently unlike the OP, he was also familiar with the example of buddhist self-immolation protests against the Vietnam war.

Compare, just for a moment, the image of this chap calmy burning himself to a frazzle in front of the UN in a small protest against his compatriots in Sri Lanka being herded into camps by the Sri Lankan military with their aspirations for political self-determination effectively crushed with that of bearded doctor turned ranting twit Kafeel Ahmed staggering around Glasgow airport on 30 June 2007, tanked up on pain-killers and burning merrily after cocking up setting off a gas-cyclinder bomb vainly trying to find some infidels to kill because he was hacked off that no-one had got around to setting up a pan-islamic caliphate.

The former is more effective, more dignified and reflects vastly better on him and his cause than does the latter.

😐

+1

A painful and tragic act however the nerve, resolve and commitment to go through with this.. he must have been very very brave. Sorry, a bomb or bullet tends to be instant, he would have known it was going to be an agonising death.

I do not see what his being “educated” or not has to do with anything. The OP states that he is ignorant of Sri Lankan politics. Presumably this chap wasn’t, and felt strongly about it. Presumably, apparently unlike the OP, he was also familiar with the example of buddhist self-immolation protests against the Vietnam war.

And this chap was clearly aware of the fact that self-immolation protest against the Vietnam war was famously by a Buddhist monk and that he feels that by repeating the act he makes a similar and unmistakable point to the Buddhist Sinhalese majority in Sri Lanka.

BigDummy, whilst I agree that the gentleman in question has taken a less selfish approach to bringing the attention of the world to the cause of the Tamils, I’m a little confused why you’ve chosen to contrast this with the actions of a totally unrelated case and cause.
You could quite easily have highlighted the approach of the suicide protester against the actions of his own Tamil brothers, who have made more suicide bombings than Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and al-Qaeda combined. Many of those attrocities, aimed at Muslims.

It’s a fair point trailmonkey and the comparison is principally rhetorical. As a general point, blowing up random people irritates me.

I think it’s true to say (please do correct me) that while the LTTE has used suicide attacks for many years their grasp of what might be justified as a legitimate target is considerably firmer than that of the islamist groups you mention. We do not see much in the way of attacks attributable to them outside Sri Lanka and their willingness and ability to hit Sri Lankan military and government targets gets them slightly more respect and legitimacy.

buddhist self-immolation protests against the Vietnam war

Technically the Buddhist monks were not protesting against the Vietnam war, they were in fact protesting against the South Vietnamese government which did not allow religious freedom, and only allowed the state-controlled Buddhist Church to operate.

IMO the distinction is important, as I imagine many people are under the misconception the the United States was supporting a democratically elected elected government during the the Vietnam war. They weren’t – they were supporting an unelected and repressive dictatorship.

Of course the South Vietnamese dictatorship was only able to exist because it was being propped up by the US military, so the “self-immolation protests” could be seen as anti-American acts.

Thanks Gus, duly corrected.

Agreeing with Big dummy , it depends on your attitudes to death.

BigDummy, I’d say the LTTE’s ability to hit government or military targets reflects as much on their ability to do so ( use of airpower for instance )as much as it does on their attitude to avoidance of civillian casualties.
As an organisation that’s allegedly willing to use child soldiers to further it’s cause, I think we can ill afford to offer them too much in the way of respect and legitimacy.

Today’s Guardian has a report on this:

Tamil killed himself ‘to guide others to liberation

Good spot chap, thanks for that.

and it seems his action did have some effect.. This email just in…

Safety and Security Coordination Service (SSCS) has been advised that the Swiss police is expecting a large Tamil demonstration to take place at the Place des Nations this Friday. The police anticipate 20,000 demonstrators.

Activities will commence at 11:00 where a service for the February 12 Tamil suicide will take place at the St. Nicolas church on rue de Lausanne. Only Suisse based Tamils are expected to participate.

Thereafter, a march will begin at 13:00 at Gare Cornavin toward the Place des Nations via Avenue Guiseppe Motta, the march to arrive at 14:00. All foreign based Tamils are expected to be there by this time.

The police advise they will stop vehicle traffic between the Avenue Appia near the Red Cross and the Chemin des Mines (World Meteorological
Organization). The Chemin Eugène Rigot will also be closed to traffic and, given an expected 260 Tamil buses, to say nothing of private cars, severe traffic problems are anticipated near the Palais.

20,000 Tamils marching down the street.. I think tomorrow is a good time for a day off work.