17 January 2011 Fanning the flames of freedom

Self-immolation reports spread through north Africa

By Josh Levs, CNN



-- The popular protests in Tunisia that have caused upheaval in the government were sparked by Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old unemployed college graduate, who set himself on fire in protest. He later died. Now, reports are coming in from other countries in the region -- Egypt, Algeria, and Mauritania -- that other demonstrators are turning to self-immolation…



http://us.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/01/17/tunisia.self.immolation/index.html?hpt=T2



http://www.counterpunch.org/deraymond11292006.html

“Self-Immolation as Anti-War Protest

“On November 2, 1965, Norman Morrison immolated himself within sight of Robert McNamara's window at the Pentagon, to protest the war in Vietnam. Norman did not leave a suicide note. His friend John Roemer described his action as follows, "I don't know. I don't know. He fought the war more and more deeply. I mean, when are you one of the Germans?...You have to be mentally different to fly in the face of received wisdom in this country. He played it out in his mind, I think, in terms of being a moral witness", and, "In a society where it is normal for human beings to drop bombs on human targets, where it is normal to spend 50 percent of the individual's tax dollar on war, where it is normal...to have twelve times overkill capacity, Norman Morrison was not normal. He said, 'Let it stop' ".

Norman was one of several people who chose to become a victim of the fire of the Vietnam War. Others include Vietnamese Buddhist monks, Quang Duc, June 1963, in Saigon; an unnamed monk in Phanthiet, August, 1963; Thich Nu Thanh Quang, in Hue, 1966. Each death galvanized opinion and resistance to the war within Vietnam. On March 16, 1965, Alice Herz, an 82-year-old pacifist, immolated herself on a Detroit street corner. She stated in her suicide note, that she was protesting "the use of high office by our President, L.B.J., in trying to wipe out small nations." And "I wanted to call attention to this problem by choosing the illuminating death of a Buddhist." A week after Norman Morrison's death, Roger LaPorte burned himself in protest in front of the United Nations in New York. In May of 1970, George Winne, Jr., burned himself in protest of the Vietnam War on the University of California campus in San Diego “

Cassi Creek:

I recall all too well when these individuals chose to use their lives to hammer home their opposition to a war taking place in Vietnam. I understood then the amount of courage required to cause one’s own death in such a painful manner. I can’t imagine taking that step in such a fashion. I have to admire anyone who can make such a decision and follow through on it.

When Vietnam wound down so, apparently, did the number of people who chose to make such a supreme protest. In December 2010, an unemployed college graduate chose to expend his life in hopes that the flames he fed might lead to a better life for people in his nation. The North African states have historically been Islamic monarchies/oligarchies or dictatorships that cared little for their citizens. There has long been need and call for political and social reform in these nations. Now the flames of protest are spreading to other nations. Tunisia has undergone change in government but needs to change much more to become a modern state rather than a third world nation.

The CNN link above brings up a news column followed by reader commentary. Reading these comments was disgusting. Many of the readers responded with anti-Islamic slurs, racist comments, and other forms of bigotry that we would be better to see vanish from our culture. It was apparent that those who made such posts were unable to distinguish between outbreaks of nationalism in repressive countries from the actions of terrorists and repressive religious rulers such as al-Queda and the Taliban. I’m can only hope that some of these people will undergo an intellectual awakening, but doubt that such a change will ever visit them.

I’m certain that the bigots, the racists, and the ignorant will never make such a heroic decision. They will boast of their bravery, of American exceptionalism, and of their imagined religious superiority. But if the time ever arrives when they are called upon to carry out an act of such bravery, regardless of cause, they will lack the internal courage to sit down calmly and light the fire that speaks so loudly.

In all honesty, I doubt that I could carry out such an agonizing suicide. I hope I will never have the answer to that self-examination.

I hold in honor, those who choose to feed the flames of freedom in North Africa. May their deaths ignite the torches that lead to their freedom. May their names be written on the hearts of their countrymen and in history.

Below is a link to a video of Quang Duc’s self-immolation. It is brutal in its purpose and honors his courage and commitment. Don’t feel you have to watch it.

I’ve seen it previously. If you do choose to watch it remember that you are not hearing the sounds or smelling the smells that attend such injuries. I know them from previous times.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E37cMtCrKoA