Self-immolation prompts demonstrations across several countries

Rangzen set himself on fire outside the U.N. on July 2 while livestreaming with a black iPhone. He wore a robe and held a Tibetan flag on a long pole, according to the video reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The video continued for more than 21 minutes as firefighters and rescue workers responded. A witness told police he had smelled gas and “then the guy’s standing there on fire!” The New York Police Department said officers responded to a 6:32 p.m. emergency call and found a man suffering “severe burns throughout his body.” Rangzen was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

His death spread through the global Tibetan diaspora and prompted demonstrations in Canada, France, Australia, India and elsewhere. A floral shrine was placed in front of the U.N., and actor and Tibetan activist Richard Gere headlined a Times Square rally honoring Rangzen.

“It has definitely had a unique impact on the community because this was such a well-known personality,” said Tenzin Dorjee, research director at the Tibet Action Institute.

“Frankly, I felt woken up by this,” Gere told the crowd.

Tibetan activists and supporters have described Rangzen’s act as a political statement rather than simply a suicide. “I want you to understand that this was not a deranged person,” said Jamyang Norbu, founder of the Tibetan National Congress. “This was someone who was making a political statement. A statement for Tibetan independence.”

The video manifesto Rangzen left behind focused on China’s new ethnic-unity law. Activists say the law, which took effect July 1, forces assimilation by criminalizing cultural activity, including the use of minority languages.

Rangzen said in Tibetan in the manifesto, “What I want to say is that communist China’s policies and activities in Tibet are targeted at completely destroying the Tibetan people.” He also said, “For the struggle of our people, if we don’t do anything, we will not achieve anything.”

Tibetan groups blame more than 170 self-immolations since 1998 on desperation over Chinese policies they say threaten ancient cultures. Most of those acts occurred in Asia, primarily in China, where details rarely become public.

China’s government rejects criticism of its policies, defends its treatment of ethnic minorities and accuses Western countries of applying double standards by ignoring their own human-rights problems. A spokesman for Beijing’s Washington embassy said all self-immolations were tragic but also described them as “instigated and manipulated by the Dalai [Lama] group in an attempt to advance its separatist agenda.”

The Tibetan movement has also faced internal divisions over how to confront China. The Dalai Lama’s nonviolent “Middle Way” approach has not ended Beijing’s drive for political and religious control of Tibet, according to the report. The Dalai Lama turned 91 last month and won the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize.

Rangzen was born in Kardze county in Sichuan province, on the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau. Family members said three of his uncles died during China’s 1959 crackdown on Tibet, when the Dalai Lama fled to India, and that other relatives were imprisoned.

Rangzen left Tibet for India in 1992 as a teenager, joining a dangerous monthlong trek across the Himalayas. He spent 12 years as a monk at a monastery in southern India before arriving in New York by 2006. American legal documents list him as Lobsang Palden; Rangzen means independence in Tibetan.

In New York, Rangzen became involved in Tibetan activism and regularly livestreamed his activities. He helped organize promotions for Tibet, including a 90-car rally to Philadelphia for the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday. He also led a religious dance service each Wednesday near his home in Elmhurst, Queens.

Family members said Rangzen had been fired from several jobs for missing work to attend protests. He began working for Uber less than two years ago because its schedule was flexible, but he shared an apartment with other Tibetans and had never married, relatives said.

People close to Rangzen said his behavior changed during his final days. He shaved his black hair like a monk, gathered friends for tea, discreetly paid the bill, began smoking cigarettes and went almost half a month without generating an Uber fare.

He spent much of his final week with his niece, Sonam Choedon. On July 1, he drove her and his roommates to upstate New York for a hike and picnic. “What’s unusual, when I think back, he took a lot of pictures of us,” Choedon said.

Rangzen told his niece that he was missing an important protest that day, when demonstrators marched between China’s Consulate and the U.N. His friend Thupten Chonyi later said Rangzen appeared unusually sad and upset during a video call on July 2.

“All that Lobga let on was, ‘I’m thinking something. I’m thinking,’” Chonyi recalled.

At 5:38 p.m., Chonyi received four photos from Rangzen, including two fliers criticizing Chinese rule of Tibet and a portrait of Rangzen holding a long green pole and a Tibetan flag. Minutes later, Rangzen was outside the U.N., where the video showed him set himself on fire.

“What he did was not for himself,” said his cousin, Lobsang Samdup. “His life was all about Tibet.”