Updated 2024-08-24
2024-08-15 Bushnell STAR – Never Forget https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=349619781540093&set=a.201020719733334
2024-04-06 In Gaza and Beyond, War Itself Is the Problem Condemning “war crimes” is nothing more than a shrug; it’s war itself that must be not simply “condemned,” but transcended.
And then I thought about Larry Hebert, a U.S. airman who recently began waging a hunger strike in defiance of his country’s complicity in the genocide of Gaza. He stood in front of the White House holding a sign declaring: “Active-Duty Airman Refuses to Eat While Gaza Starves.”
And Hebert was influenced by Aaron Bushnell, also an active-duty airman, who stood in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. on February 24, doused himself in flammable liquid, lit a match, and set himself on fire, shouting, “Free Palestine!” as he burned to death.
War is personal, even when it’s occurring on the other side of the planet—or it can be. Hebert and Bushnell—and all the others on the planet who feel the same connection with the victims of war—aren’t simply “being critical” of how Israel is “conducting” its war. They’re screaming from their souls: “No! No! No! Stop blowing the limbs off children! Stop killing moms and newborns! Stop dehumanizing them, stop doing what you’re doing. War is wrong!”
Even the international condemnation of the Israeli devastation of Gaza often feels tepid. United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said: “This is unconscionable. But it is an inevitable result of the way the war is being conducted.”
Yes, of course, this is unconscionable, but the implication here is that there are decent, moral ways to conduct a war, to “defend yourself” from an impoverished, occupied population.
Attention, patriots! Attention, mainstream journalists! Waging war doesn’t keep us safe. Diminishing the humanity of others, then killing them and stealing their land, while it may be embedded in our history, doesn’t make anyone safe. It guarantees endless hell. But guess what? “Just as individuals can relinquish their righteous rage and compulsion to punish indiscriminately, so, too, can groups and nations. But doing so requires leaders who can reach across divided communities and provide hope in a seemingly hopeless time to override the all-too-human drive to retaliate.” https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/war-problem-in-gaza
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
2024-04-27 Aaron Bushnell Is the Latest Victim of Madmen Arsonists Aaron Bushnell just couldn’t take any more.
He couldn’t bear to see any more people eviscerated and incinerated by American bombs dropped by Israelis on innocent Palestinians.
So, in his Air Force uniform, he walked determinedly to the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. and set himself on fire. What can we say about a young man who would do that to protest his government’s acts of cruelty and genocide?
It is important we say nothing before quoting his own calmly spoken, final words to the world. “I am an active-duty member of the United States Air Force and I will no longer be complicit in genocide. 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. Free Palestine!” https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/aaron-bushnell-gaza-free-palestine
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Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict
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