U.S. Serviceman Dies After Setting Self on Fire Outside Israeli Embassy to Protest War in Gaza
U.S. Serviceman Dies After Setting Self on Fire Outside Israeli Embassy to Protest War in Gaza
Active-duty Air Force member Aaron Bushnell has died after staging a pro-Palestinian protest in D.C.
Today, I am planning to engage in an extreme act of protest against the genocide of the Palestinian people
Many of us like to ask ourselves, ‘What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?’ The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now.
I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I’m about to engage in an extreme act of protest. But compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.
Free Palestine
I'd like to point out that according to what's reported, they're trying to frame it as a "mental health" episode, where it appears it is not. The Airman was sending a clear message of support for Palestine, and I imagine, demonstrating a complete disgust with Israel and his leadership in continuing to fuel a genocide.
I sincerely doubt US officials or the military cares, and they're going to double down on the individual's "mental health" as being the culprit and source of problems rather than the infinite harms this genocide has on Palestine and those around the world with sight and soul.
All leaders involved should see victims up close. A little empathy might motivate them to do more to end the war.
Rest in Power, Aaron.