Suicide is usually a private, impulsive response to extreme personal stress or anxiety, and is carried out, in most cases, in the confines of a person’s home or office, far from the glare of photographers and news reporters.

However, for more than 100 Tibetans who have committed suicide in public by dousing themselves with gasoline and setting themselves on fire — “self-immolation” is the Western media’s polite word for this — such actions were intentionally public and carry an important message.