Sadness of Copy Cat actions across Middle East

I read over the weekend about some of the many copycat actions young people across the Middle East have engaged in, emulating the acts of Mohammad Al Bouazizi to bring the world's attention to the situation in their own countries. The above photo is of an incident involving a young man called Issan Nadir, in Morocco (he thankfully survived). There is an excellent article outlining further cases here

It gave me some thought as to whether the campaign could be interpreted as encouraging or endorsing such actions - which of course is not my intention at all.

But the fact remains that Muhammad Al Bouazizi's original actions have had the most profound effect - the news unfolding from Libya today is quite astounding, (with even unconfirmed reports that Gadaffi may have fled to Venezuela). And the Time award is measured by the degree of change a person's actions have resulted in. And so Muhammad Al Bouazizi clearly merits this acknowledgement.

But to be clear. I am not glorifying acts of self immolation and I watch in sadness and despair at the violence that is unfolding before us.