self-immolation
Fatal fire protest
Self-immolation is the act of killing oneself, especially by fire, typically as a form of protest or religious sacrifice.
The term evokes dramatic public acts—Buddhist monks who set themselves ablaze during the Vietnam War remain the iconic example.
More broadly, immolation means sacrifice, so self-immolation can describe any deliberate self-destruction: His refusal to compromise was professional self-immolation.
Beijing square and gate
- monkCloistered religious devotee
- dissentDisagreement with authority
- defianceOpen resistance to authority
- activismDirect effort for reform
demonstration · resistance · political · solidarity · human rights · civil disobedience · martyrdom · statement
Giving up something precious
- offeringSomething presented or given
- widowBereaved wife, unmarried since
- altarSacred ritual table
- purificationRemoval of contaminants
devotion · piety · Hindu · funeral · consecration · religious · ceremonial · tradition
Damage by heat
- flamesVisible burning combustion
- pyreFuneral burning heap
- incinerateBurn to nothing
- blazeIntense burning fire
ignite · combustion · gasoline · kerosene · ash · fatal · char · smoke
Cessation of life
- deliberateConsciously chosen, not accidental
- fatalCausing death or ruin
- desperateDriven by urgent need
- anguishIntense mental suffering
irreversible · finality · tragedy · psychological · extreme · ultimate
Tiananmen
Beijing square and gate
- monkCloistered religious devotee
- dissentDisagreement with authority
- defianceOpen resistance to authority
activism · demonstration · resistance · political · solidarity · human rights · civil disobedience · martyrdom · statement · desperate
sacrifice
Giving up something precious
purification · devotion · piety · Hindu · funeral · consecration · religious · ceremonial · tradition · obligatory
burn
Damage by heat
- flamesVisible burning combustion
- pyreFuneral burning heap
- incinerateBurn to nothing
blaze · ignite · combustion · gasoline · kerosene · ash · fatal · char · smoke · torch
death
Cessation of life
- deliberateConsciously chosen, not accidental
- fatalCausing death or ruin
- desperateDriven by urgent need
anguish · irreversible · finality · tragedy · psychological · extreme · ultimate
- Sixties Activismanti-war movement, anti-war protests, campus protests, counterculture, draft resistance
- harmful copingsubstance abuse, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, binge drinking, overeating
- Tibetan exileexile community, Dalai Lama, Dharamshala, Green Book
- resistanceresistance, defiance, resistance fighters, civil resistance, resist
- Vietnam WarVietnam War, Vietnam, Tet Offensive, My Lai Massacre, Viet Cong
- Cold War Dissentdissidents, samizdat, refuseniks, defectors, Radio Free Europe
self-immolationaccidental death
Unintentional fatal outcome
natural death · murder · natural causes · homicide · execution
self-immolationself-preservation
Instinct to survive danger
self-care · survival · self-protection · staying alive · survival instinct
self-immolationpeaceful protest
Nonviolent collective expression of dissent
silent vigil · hunger strike · petition · terrorism · bombing
self, self-sacrifice, immolate, immolation, immolated, immolations, self-sacrificing