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January 12, 2012, 1:40 PM
Spate of Self-Immolations Reported in Tunisia
By J. DAVID GOODMAN
More than a year after the self-immolation in Tunisia that incited the first revolution of the Arab Spring, Tunisians are setting themselves on fire at a disturbingly high rate, with at least four people doing so in the last week.
At least 107 people set themselves ablaze in roughly the first six months of last year, according to the BBC, citing figures collated by the head of a trauma center in the capital, Tunis, where many burn victims are taken.
While the report did not provide statistics on the number of self-immolations in the second half of 2011, a series of recent episodes appeared to indicate that the pace of such protests had not substantially abated since the toppling of the Tunisian president last January ushered in a more democratic government.
A woman died on Wednesday after setting herself on fire in the port town of Sfax, The Associated Press reported. Her death followed that of a 42-year-old father of three, who doused himself with fuel and ignited a suicidal blaze last Thursday in the central town of Gafsa; he succumbed to his wounds this week. Two other men survived attempts to kill themselves by self-immolation in the towns of Bizerte and Siliana.
In the town of Gafsa, the self-immolation briefly set off antigovernment protests by stone-throwing young men who attacked police stations, Tunisia Live reported, before local security forces dispersed the crowds with tear gas. According to a report by Agence France-Presse, the man had been part of a group of unemployed people who had been staging a sit-in over several days near a government building in the town. His self-immolation coincided with a visit by representatives of the Tunisian central government, the agency reported.
A large number of Tunisians have complained that political change has not brought economic improvement. Like Mohamed Bouazizi, the fruit vendor who set himself on fire in December 2010 to protest his poverty and the heavy-handedness of the local police, many of those involved in the recent self-immolations appear to have reacted to a lack of opportunity in the country （大批突尼斯人抱怨政治的变革并没有带来经济的改善。像在2010年为了抗议贫困和当地警察的高压手段而自焚的Mohamed Bouazizi一样，近来很多自焚的人看来都因为在国内缺乏机会）.
“I had no education, no job and was desperate,” said one man who survived with severe facial burns and spoke to the BBC from his hospital bed. “The whole country seemed to be on fire, so I set myself alight too, but it hasn’t made things any better. I’ve destroyed my life and that of my family.” （“我没有文化，没有工作也看不到希望”，一位面部严重烧伤的幸存者在病床上对BBC的记者说。“整个国家似乎都在燃烧，所以我把自己也点燃了，但是这并没有带来改善。我毁掉了我自己和我的家庭”。）
Tunisians rallied around Mr. Bouazizi’s deadly protest earlier this year, with images circulating widely in the Arab world, transforming Mr. Bouazizi, a humble 26-year-old from the impoverished town of Sidi Bouzid, into a posthumous international celebrity. In the aftermath their country’s revolution, some Tunisians have come to see self-immolation as a way to achieve justice and recapture some measure of dignity, Tunisia Live reports.
There were other self-immolations reported elsewhere in the Middle East this week as a pair of men in Jordan reportedly set themselves on fire in separate episodes in the capital, Amman. The first man, identified by The Jordan Times as a 51-year-old government employee, died on Monday after sustaining severe burns. Another man was hospitalized in a self-immolation on Thursday.
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狗仔卡
楼主
提升卡
变色卡
抢沙发
千斤顶
显身卡
发表于 2012-2-6 16:54
