this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2024
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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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[–] nutsack@lemmy.world 115 points 8 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!"

[–] conditional_soup@lemm.ee 61 points 8 months ago (7 children)

I dislike this. I've seen first hand what serious burns do to people, both in the immediate and long term. Imo, this is there should be no speech louder than this, but it just kinda gets an "oh, damn, really? Man. What's on the next channel?" reaction. I dislike that people resort to this when they're going to get ignored, and I dislike that it largely is ignored except for a fleeting moment of sensational headlines.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 35 points 8 months ago (7 children)

The problem is, as far as I see it, that this doesn't change minds. Thousands of children are dead now. Unless you're totally ignorant of that, in which case you will be totally ignorant of why he killed himself in this manner, it's not going to make you suddenly care about Palestine when exponentially more dead children who didn't die by their own hand will not.

[–] Orbituary@lemmy.world 22 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Or discredit him as a libtard crazy. That is what people on the other side of this argument have been saying. I hate this world.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago

I wish I could say I was surprised.

[–] Zink@programming.dev 7 points 8 months ago (3 children)

The base’s Pavlovian rejection of anything said by an accused outsider has got to be one of the Republican party’s biggest real “achievements.”

Or maybe I’m giving them too much credit. Mixing simple “ill will towards others” with a dash of “confirmation bias” will produce a very similar result.

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[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 9 points 8 months ago (9 children)

no speech louder than this

It's loud about the strength of this guy's conviction but it provides no actual argument or information. I don't think it's cause to change one's opinion about Biden's foreign policy one way or another. In fact, I'd go further and say that it probably should be ignored as much as possible in order to avoid motivating other people to do the same thing.

[–] Tremble@sh.itjust.works 11 points 8 months ago (5 children)

I disagree. Fairly certain it got politicians attention. When your own soldiers are standing outside of your house setting themselves on fire it’s probably best to pay attention to the message.

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[–] machinin@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

Self immolation started the Arab Spring.

We have no idea what still happen.

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[–] Rubisco@slrpnk.net 52 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 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

[–] whoelectroplateuntil@sh.itjust.works 12 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

This strategy presumes that the authorities are concerned with the protester’s well-being in the first place.

Actually, it presumes access to media outlets/social media who will help build pressure on authorities. It's a pressure campaign tactic whose success or failure relies on building outside, non-state civil society support. By failing to engage with why people resort to tactics like hunger striking or self-immolation and just making shit up, the piece fails to really make its case.

While I don't support self-immolation as a tactic, the mentality this critique relies on enables the abuses that lead people to self-immolate or go on hunger strike to start with.

BTW about 98% of everything CrimethInc publishes is exactly this off-base and unhelpful.

[–] Flumpkin@slrpnk.net 11 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

“This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”
-- Aaron Bushnell

[–] olivebranch@lemmy.ca 8 points 8 months ago

I think it is done to pressure the regular people to overthrow the government. Showing how important the issue is and how much he sacrificed himself just to motivate people, that everybody else can sacrifice far less by risking arrest overthrowing the government.

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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 46 points 8 months ago (2 children)

It's horrible that someone feels this situation is so dire that they need to resort to this.

However, I also don't know that this will achieve anything any more than it did in Vietnam.

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[–] Suavevillain@lemmy.world 44 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Aaron Bushnell is a hero and understood what is at stake. I wish people stop trying to downplay his actions as being mentally ill.

[–] JudahBenHur@lemm.ee 22 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Jan Palach self immolated in Prague to protest the invasion of Soviet forces at the end of the Prague Spring.. there are monuments to him around the city. It seems lighting youself on fire aint what it used to be

[–] Linkerbaan@lemmy.world 20 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Protesting Russian war crimes means you are a hero and should be remembered forever.

Protesting Western war crimes means you are a mentally ill tankie and need to get off Twitter.

[–] RVGamer06@sh.itjust.works 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I've seen people on Reddit blaming "leftist circlejerk holes" for "radicalizing" him (apparently Aaron had a Reddit account)

I felt the urge to get off Reddit more than ever.

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[–] solarvector@lemmy.zip 22 points 8 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.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 16 points 8 months ago

They meant it to be a disservice.

[–] Land_Strider@lemmy.world 7 points 8 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.

[–] TheRealKuni@lemmy.world 20 points 8 months ago (4 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.

[–] olivebranch@lemmy.ca 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It will be all for nothing if the people don't unite in demanding that US stops supporting genocide and if they have to, go to the streets and stop this war crime by force.

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[–] John_McMurray@lemmy.world 13 points 8 months ago

...Well good. Living through stuff like that is awful.

[–] Linkerbaan@lemmy.world 13 points 8 months ago

Free Palestine. RIP Aaron Bushnell.

[–] PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works 10 points 8 months ago

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

[–] agitatedpotato@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago

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

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