9 February 2012

Photographer and long-time ATC member Jamie Williams writes on the candle-light vigil in Sydney yesterday and the recent wave of immolations in Tibet:

I almost started this post with these sentences - “Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for a year you would know about the tragic situation unfolding in Tibet. Since March last year at least 19 monks, nuns and more recently herders have made the seemingly incomprehensible decision to self-immolate - set fire to themselves with the intention of dying - in protest over the Chinese Communist Party’s continuing cultural, environmental, religious and human rights abuses inside Tibet.”

But after talking with bystanders and commuters at last night’s candle light vigil in Sydney’s Martin Place, part of a global day of action to pay respect to those recently killed, I realised that not only were many people unaware of these recent deaths, some were even unaware of the plight of Tibet and Tibetans in general. How could this be? Read his blog