Lobga Rangzen’s Self-Immolation and the Roots of China’s New “Ethnic Unity” Law

Like those before him, Rangzen’s testimony makes clear that this new law is the latest assault among a series of other policies implemented in Tibet under the banner of national unity and security that have legalized the systemic elimination of Tibetan culture and identity. These laws highlight the structural nature of China’s ethnic elimination policy in favor of national hegemony. This is despite the rights of language and culture guaranteed to ethnic minorities in the People’s Republic of China’s Constitution and the Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law.

His method of protest was informed and inspired by other Tibetan self-immolations, and like them, his action was both a response to and shaped by a life of dispossession under policies shaped by China’s colonial approach to ethnic governance in Tibet.