On Feb. 25, 2022, Tibetan pop star Tsewang Norbu walked to a monument in central Lhasa near the Potala Palace, former home of the Dalai Lama. Amid a crowd of tourists and commuters, he doused his body in fuel and set himself on fire., reportedly died in a hospital in the Tibetan capital a few days later, amid heavy security and an information blackout by Chinese media. Much about the 25-year-old’s self-immolation and death remains shrouded in mystery almost a year later.
China's flag flies at a plaza near the Potala Palace in Lhasa. Pop star Tsewang Norbu immolated himself nearby last year.Mr. Norbu is one of an estimated 160 Tibetans who have killed themselves in this manner since 2009, in protest against Beijing’s policies toward Chinese-controlled but nominally autonomous Tibet, which have grown increasingly draconian and assimilatory in recent decades.
Tibetans who once shared information with contacts outside the country have been silenced, their phone and internet communications surveilled and the fear of informers ever present. Penthok, who like many Tibetans goes by a single name, said even when sources do reach out, she has to weigh the potential costs of using their information, because often “it would be easy for the Chinese to pinpoint who was talking.
“Second- or third-generation Tibetans cannot build the same level of trust,” he said. “There is also not the same kind of organic connection; there’s a context gap.” When Mr. Norbu self-immolated, she said, one way his death was publicized was through people changing their profile pictures on microblogging site Weibo and other social-media platforms to black-and-white photos of the late singer, or posting oblique condolences that did not mention his name or how he died.Dorjee Phuntsok and Tenzin Thayai of the Tibet Action Institute speak about the technological challenges of bypassing China's information barriers.
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