On Sunday, February 25, Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old active-duty member of the United States Air Force, self-immolated outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, in a one-man airman rebellion against US-backed Israel. The massacre currently being carried out by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.
In the past 143 days, Israel has killed nearly 30,000 Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave. In video footage recorded before and during his self-immolation, Bushnell said, “I will no longer participate in genocide,” adding, “I am trying to participate in radical protests, but people are “Compared to what I've been through before.” Palestine in the hands of its colonial masters is not at all extreme. ”
Indeed, Palestinians have long become accustomed to being burned to death at the hands of Israeli weapons, ever since the Israeli state began its lethal invention on Palestinian land in 1948. The Israeli military's use of skin-burning white phosphorus There is no doubt that recent munitions have contributed to the overall Palestinian “experience.”
After aptly observing that American complicity in the genocide of the Palestinian people is “something that our ruling class has decided is normal,” Bushnell stands right in front of the gates of the Israeli embassy–completely with the U.S. military. Wearing military uniforms, he sat down and began having flammable liquid poured all over his body. . As he was rapidly incinerated, he repeatedly shouted “Liberate Palestine” and security officials ordered him to “get to the ground.” One of his, a particularly kind person, pointed a gun at the blaze.
In the aftermath of Bushnell's self-immolation, the New York Times announced, “Man who self-immolated outside Israeli embassy in Washington dies, police say.'' This is probably a pretty strong contender for the most diluted and decontextualized headline ever. What would people have thought if a record-setting American newspaper had run a headline like this in 1965? “Detroit woman in her 80s dies after self-immolation, police say – incident potentially had nothing to do with women's opposition to the Vietnam War.”
When it comes to self-immolation related to the Vietnam War, remember the following account of the Vietnamese monk Thich Quang Duc, who died in Saigon, South Vietnam, in 1963, by David Halberstam, a prominent American historian and journalist: . His body slowly withered and shriveled, and his head turned black and scorched. The smell of burning meat was in the air. Humans burn out incredibly quickly…I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too confused to even think. ”
And while such an intensely passionate form of suicide will no doubt baffle many, genocide should be even more horrifying. As Bushnell himself said, self-immolation is nothing “compared to what people are going through in Palestine,” where people know all too well how quickly people burn out.
In Bushnell's case, the US political media establishment not only takes him out of context, but seems to be doing their best to discredit him posthumously. For example, a Time magazine article warned that Pentagon policy stipulates that active-duty military personnel “shall not engage in partisan political activity,” as if they were actively abetting genocide. As if it wasn't politically “partisan” to do so.
Additionally, the magazine notes that U.S. military regulations “prohibit the wearing of uniforms during 'informal speeches or interviews' or other activities.”
Perhaps Bushnell's ashes could be tried in a military tribunal.
At the end of the Time article, readers are charitably instructed: “If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis or considering suicide, If so, please call or text 988” – which, of course, implies that Bushnell was simply a victim of a psychologically disturbing political reality. , someone should think about the “mental health crisis” instead of making the most convincing and defiant political argument.
After all, anyone who is not experiencing a serious “mental health crisis” regarding the genocide taking place in Gaza with the full support of the United States cannot safely be prosecuted under the category of mentally ill. can.
Of course, the United States also committed its own genocide against Native Americans. This, too, is a bloody phenomenon that is not considered worthy of diagnosis as a severe mass mental disorder or the like. According to the official narrative, if you think it's crazy that the United States or its partner in crime Israel commits genocide, you're crazy.
I myself come from a family of U.S. Air Force veterans, both of my grandfathers participated in the Vietnam genocide, and I have personally witnessed the psychological effects of serving as an imperial executioner. Ta. Aaron Bushnell was supposed to be a cog in the killing machine, but he sacrificed his life for his cause.
surely, according to Bushnell's former colleague, who they worked with to help the homeless community in San Antonio, Texas, was “one of the most principled comrades I've ever known.” And while we journalists are supposed to speak truth to power, suffice it to say that Mr. Bushnell has put the Western corporate media to shame.
Aaron Bushnell, Rest in Power.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.
