Aaron Bushnell, RIP

A martyr for Palestine.

Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images

On Sunday, Aaron Bushnell, an active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force, went in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington DC. “I will no longer be complicit in genocide,” he 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.” Then he set himself on fire and yelled “Free Palestine.”

Bushnell has reportedly died from his injuries. He was 25.

There is video of Bushnell’s self-immolation, which you can watch here (the footage of him actually burning has been blurred out, but the sound is still there) though I very much understand if you’d rather not. In the video, you can see some kind of cop or security person rushing over to Bushnell and then aiming a gun at him while a firefighter tries to save him. The American way of death.

Setting yourself on fire—consciously putting yourself through such horrendous pain—is very difficult to imagine doing. But self-immolation has been a form of protest for thousands of years, by people all over the world. Its horrific power comes precisely because of the seemingly unfathomable choice at its heart. What would make someone do that? Why would they inflict that kind of agony on themselves?

You wouldn’t know if you read many of the leading headlines about Bushnell’s self-immolation.

Twitter

I’ve written thousands of headlines in my time. Trust me when I say that these outlets could have found a way to work Gaza in.

But Bushnell was clear why he did it. The genocide being carried out in Gaza is inhumane in a way that can sometimes feel beyond our capacity to understand. So is the fact that the world, and the United States in particular, is letting it happen, day after day after day.

Now Aaron Bushnell has committed an act that, in its suffering, is commensurate with the suffering of the Palestinian people. Nobody would wish the pain he went through on themselves, and almost nobody would actively seek that kind of pain out. But people in Gaza are dealing with that kind of pain every second of every day, and the United States, led by Joe Biden, is ensuring that the pain goes on. So here we are.

There have been far too many martyrs for Gaza recently, and now there is one more. Rest in peace, Aaron Bushnell. May your final words come true. Free Palestine.