The Life & Death of Aaron Bushnell: Friend Says Self-Immolation Was a Demand for Justice
www.democracynow.org
In an act that has captured the attention of the world, Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force, set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington Sunday to protest Israel’s assault on Gaza and U.S. support for the military campaign. Bushnell, who live-streamed the action, said, “I will no longer be complicit in genocide,” before lighting himself on fire and repeatedly shouted “Free Palestine” as he was engulfed in the flames. He was pronounced dead in the hospital later that day. Democracy Now! speaks with Bushnell’s friend and conscientious objector Levi Pierpont, who says his friend’s death was not a suicide but was about using his life to send a message for justice. “We have to honor the message that he left,” says Pierpont, who says Bushnell died “to get people’s attention about the genocide that’s happening in Palestine.” Ann Wright, retired U.S. Army colonel and former diplomat, lays out the history of self-immolation to protest war and how Bushnell’s act could impact U.S. policy for the war on Gaza. “It was an act of courage, an act of bravery, to call attention to U.S. policies,” says Wright, who offers support to Pierpont and other veterans advocating for peace live on air.
  • ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.worldEnglish
    433·
    9 months ago

    Aaron Bushnell actively chose his death and he died, very openly and very specifically, for what he believed in.

    Which in and of itself, before the first word can be said about it, is a HELL of a lot more than anyone screeching “but his death was useless and meant nothing!” can claim.

    Because Aaron Bushnell chose this public death, we are here talking about it.

    The only real crime involved is the one which he was protesting: the Israeli response to the October Hamas attack which has long since left the realm of simple retaliation and has fully entered its genocidal phase.

    This isn’t Israel’s self-defense. This is now full-scale murder of non-combatant civilians.

    And Aaron Bushnell chose to die in such a way that even more people would be forced to acknowledge the existence of the situation and talk about it, screaming “Free Palestine!” even as he suffered the most horrific public death imaginable.

    Whatever anyone has to say against the man or his chosen manner of death, I personally can’t hear you over the sound of his honor.