this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2024

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U.S. Air Force member who set himself on fire outside Israeli Embassy in D.C. has died (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

141 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The airman, who filmed the incident and could be heard yelling “Free Palestine,” was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after collapsing to the ground.

The U.S. Air Force member who set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., in an apparent protest against the Israel-Hamas war has died, according to a U.S. official.

Next of kin notification is continuing, so the Air Force won’t release his name until 24 hours after the final notification is complete.

The District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Service Department responded to a call about a person on fire outside the embassy just before 1 p.m. Sunday, and found the flames extinguished by the Secret Service’s uniformed division.

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[–] [email protected] 173 points 7 months ago

his last words were:

"My name is Aaron Bushnell. I am an active duty member of the United States Air Force, and 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!"

[–] [email protected] 97 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (5 children)

"As a tactic, self-immolation expresses a logic similar to the premise of the hunger strike. The protester treats himself or herself as a hostage, attempting to use his or her willingness to die to pressure the authorities. This strategy presumes that the authorities are concerned with the protester’s well-being in the first place.

It is not willingness to die that will sway our rulers. They really fear our lives, not our deaths—they fear our willingness to act collectively according to a different logic, actively interrupting their order."

CrimethInc

If you pull that trigger, Takeshi, it doesn't all go away. Just you.
-Quellcrist Falconer

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Has anyone else noticed a surge in social media posts using history stories about US teenagers under the ago of 18 that signed up for military service illegally, but the stories have these folkloric and heroic side that we never afford child soldiers of other nations and conflicts ?

So weird.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

No but I'm not sure where I would consume such content. Is that Facebook or something?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (4 children)

RIP, I respect his anti war ideology but people shouldn’t be hurting themselves to make a point. I highly doubt this is going to make the impact he thought it was going to do. He might have had mental health issues and felt suicidal.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago

This form of protest goes back a long way - famously by Buddhist monks during the Vietnam war.

It’s also very similar to hunger strikes, in my opinion. There was Bobby Sands and his comrades, of course. There were hunger strikes protesting the brutal conditions at Guantanamo Bay, resulting in force feeding techniques condemned as torture by the international community.

Do all of the people performing acts of self harm in protest to bring attention to a situation they consider intolerable suffer from mental health issues? Do people who join the Marines and put their lives at risk in the infantry because they think they’re “defending their country” have mental health issues? Do drone pilots, who in no way put themselves at risk of harm but who absolutely and knowingly end up killing arbitrary civilians have mental health issues?

If you ask me, I’d say yes to all of those. I’d say the same about politicians who pass laws to ban medical care to patients, and I’d say the same about the people who vote for them.

So people protesting via self-immolation, protesting via hunger strike, joining the military in a role that risks death are suicidal. People joining the military in a way that causes death, or who pass legislation that causes death, or who elect politicians who pass legislation that causes death are homicidal.

What should we do about all of that?

[–] [email protected] 27 points 7 months ago

Sure made a hell of an impact on me.

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[–] [email protected] 70 points 7 months ago (5 children)

Next of kin notification is continuing, so the Air Force won’t release his name until 24 hours after the final notification is complete.

But he live-streamed it and said his name. He is Aaron Bushnell, a brave man who knew he wouldn’t survive the protest he felt he needed to carry out.

I cried when I watched the video. The man inhaling lungfuls of flame and smoke to chant “Free Palestine!” was painful. I hope his family may find some small comfort in the pride they should feel for his courage.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 7 months ago

Rest in Power. I pray we can somehow ensure your actions aren't in vain.

[–] [email protected] 94 points 7 months ago (2 children)

The article showing a (sanitized) picture of the consulate with police standing around is something of a disservice to the man who sacrificed himself to make a statement.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago

[...] in an apparent protest against the Israel-Hamas war [...]

The article is just blurring the act, censoring its force gained by sacrifice, and mis-attributing its target. One can easily say, after having been exposed to hundreds of similarly malicious wording in public accountings of acts usually consisting of protests not in line with the local authority, that this is very deliberate and made to utilize even the last thing a person does to raise awareness about a systemic unjust treatment.

Someone with zero context about the situation could easily understand this act with different intent.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 7 months ago

They meant it to be a disservice.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 7 months ago

Poor guy. I admire his courage and conviction to protest this genocide, and I cannot imagine how painful that must have been.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 7 months ago

🫡

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