Perhaps, finally, an understanding that setting oneself on fire solves nothing

This could well be a headline from the Onion, but it’s from Time:

Tibetans Turn to Alternative Protest as Self-Immolations Prove Futile

What other forms of protest, one asks? The story begins anecdotally with Norbu Jorden, a young man who tried to kill himself with fire but failed.

Now Jorden is expressing his dissent differently. On a Wednesday in late March, he was one of hundreds of young Tibetans kitted out in traditional robes and singing boisterously at a school in Dharamsala. The event was part of a weekly peaceful protest called Lhakar — “White Wednesday” in Tibetan — which takes place in the city where the Dalai Lama set up his exiled administration in 1959. “I wanted to do something to be a part of our freedom struggle, and [self-immolation] was the only way I knew,” says Jorden. “When I came back to school and was introduced to Lhakar, I realized this was a better way.”

There have been 112 self-immolation deaths since 2009, according to Time.

We’re not sure whether song protest sessions will lead to greater understanding, harmony, but we do know this: China is not yielding on the issue of Tibetan sovereignty, and there will always be Tibetans who remain equally uncompromising. What we have here is the very epitome of an impasse. Let’s not throw any more dead bodies at it.

Tibetans Turn to Alternative Protest as Self-Immolations Prove Futile (Time, h/t Derrick S.)

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