Aaron Bushnell
Updated 2024-03-25
2024-03-03 Mourning Two Principled Opponents of War Aaron Bushnell and Johan Galtung both devoted their lives to ending war in different ways.
Johan Galtung died on February 17 at the age of 93. The Norwegian sociologist was known as the father of peace studies and spent his life researching conflicts and fostering dialog in pursuit of peace. Johan Galtung was also a conscientious objector, as a young man in Norway. As a child, Nazi Germany occupied his country and imprisoned his father. In one interview, he recalled how his mother made him read the newspaper to learn the names of political prisoners who the Germans had executed the day before, to see if his father was among them, to spare her the pain of reading the list. His father survived, but the war forever changed Johan. He devoted his life to bridging divides and finding creative solutions to real-world conflicts.
Aaron Bushnell was just 25 years old. He was an active duty member of the U.S. Air Force. On Sunday, February 25, Aaron Bushnell started a live video stream as he walked toward the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C.
“I will no longer be complicit in genocide,” Bushnell said. “I am 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.” https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/aaron-bushnell-johan-galtung
2024-03-01 Self-Sacrifice is Not Suicide: Understanding Aaron Bushnell’s Self-Immolation with Help from the Humanities On February 25, 2024, Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old member of the U.S. Air Force walked to the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., poured the contents of a canister over his army fatigues, and lit himself on fire. He died later in the day from his self-inflicted injuries. Bushnell’s final words were “Free Palestine,” a statement he cried out at least six times as the flames consumed him.
Bushnell believed that the U.S. government’s support for the Israeli war in Gaza constituted complicity in “genocide.” The war has caused more than 30,000 deaths including more than 12,000 children and a currently unfolding famine. The morning of his death, Bushnell posted a message to Facebook that read: “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.”
Bushnell’s death has further highlighted deep political divisions between those supporting Israel’s total siege of Gaza and those convinced the bombardment constitutes a clear case of genocide. https://jeffreynall.substack.com/p/self-sacrifice-is-not-suicide-understanding?
2024-02-29 Targeting the sponsors of genocide “We don’t need a gun, we need a fire extinguisher.”
On Sunday, Aaron Bushnell lit himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., in protest of the U.S.’s support of the Israeli government’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians. Bushnell, a 25-year-old serving in the United States Air Force, died on Sunday night.
As he walked to the embassy, he spoke plainly: “I am an active-duty member of the U.S. 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.” Flicking a lighter at his clothes, he yelled “free Palestine.”
Self-immolation has a long history as the most extreme level of political protest — an act taken only in the most dire moments, out of the deepest urgency and desperation for change. Incredibly, a policeman first on the scene drew his gun at Aaron. A first responder on the scene yelled in disbelief, “we don’t need a gun, we need a fire extinguisher.” May Aaron’s memory be a blessing, and may these words guide us all as a metaphor in the coming days. https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/2024/02/29/targeting-sponsors-of-genocide/ 2024-02-28 Aaron Bushnell HAD SECRET INTEL That US Troops ARE FIGHTING IN GAZA, Friend Claims: NY Post well we’ve got a major update on the story of Air Force Soldier Aaron Bushnell who set himself on fire in protest of Israel just hours before his self imulation Bushnell claimed that he had secret knowledge of American troops fighting in Hamas tunnels under Gaza now per the New York Post the 25-year-old Airman claimed he had quote Top Secret clearance for military intelligence data in the call to his friends on Saturday night now his friends claim quote he told me on Saturday that we have troops in those tunnels that it’s US soldiers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4v2khCDLPE
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