What can be said about Aaron Bushnell, the Air Force soldier who lit himself on fire and died in protest of Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza?
The image of the 25-year-old year old burning to death in his fatigues. The video of him yelling “Free Palestine!” while it happened. The photo of an embassy guard pointing his gun at Bushnell while he was on the ground engulfed in flames.
That will all stick with many people for the rest of their lives. It’s been difficult to stop thinking about it.
“I will no longer be complicit in genocide,” said Bushnell in the video he uploaded to Twitch. “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.”
While watching Bushnell say those words, a cascade of gruesome images from Gaza ran through my mind. A macabre array of horrors that I will also never forget. On social media people inexplicably speculated about Bushnell’s mental state and debated whether his final act was an effective form of protest.
All that stuff felt cruel and frivolous to me. A man died in one of the most harrowing ways imaginable because he was disgusted by the policies of his government. As someone asked on Twitter the next morning, how are we all supposed to just go to work today?
Self-immolation as a political act has a long history dating back centuries, with many notable instances occurring during war on Vietnam. Thích Quảng Đức’s death in Saigon became a defining image of the era and eventually the cover of the Rage Against the Machine album. Norman Morrison doused himself in kerosene and lit himself on fire outside of Defense Secretary Robert McNamara’s office. It had a profound impact on the antiwar movement, and there’s a road named after him in Vietnam.
More recently, 26-year-old Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire after a police officer confiscated his cart. He had been pushed to the brink as a result of multiple humiliations. Bouazizi’s death set off a wave of protests in the region. Former president Barack Obama compared him to Rosa Parks and the Founding Fathers in a speech. Don’t look for U.S. lawmakers to make similar arguments about Bushnell, for obvious reasons. At least not anytime soon.
These brutal deaths made headlines and captivated people across the globe, but some self-immolations are barely covered by mainstream media. In November 2003, a musician named Malachi Ritscher burned himself to death near downtown Chicago in protest of the Iraq War. It took the media weeks to report on the incident. Five years ago, David Buckel burned himself in Prospect Park to protest climate change. Two years ago, climate activist Wynn Bruce self-immolated in front of the Supreme Court.
Aaron Bushnell is actually the second person to self-immolate over Gaza in the United States.
In December, a woman wrapped herself in a Palestinian flag before setting it on fire outside of the Israeli embassy in Atlanta. She’s reportedly still in the hospital, but we’ve never learned even learned her name.
It’s too early to know how Bushnell’s act will be remembered by history. A turning point? A disturbance within the war machine that blossomed into a bigger movement? How will it be remembered within the context of U.S. attitudes toward Israel?
After Bushnell’s death, a reporter asked Air Force Major Pat Ryder whether it pointed to something deeper within the military. Is the Secretary of State worried about growing anger over Gaza among personnel?
Ryder dodged the question and predictably segued to some canned response about Israel’s right to defend itself, but many across the world are presumably hoping that reporter was on to something.
Bushnell made a final Facebook post the morning of his death: “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.”
Is Biden listening to Michigan?
Presidential primaries involving the incumbent have effectively become sleepy formalities in this country, which makes what happened in Michigan on Tuesday all the more notable.
More than 100,000 people went to the ballot box to vote “Uncommitted” in an effort to send a clear message to the Biden administration: Stop backing Israel’s assault on Gaza.
The movement was spearheaded by Listen to Michigan, a group mainly comprised of Arab and Muslim activists in the state. They obtained support from Rashida Tlaib, Andy Levin, Nina Turner, Michael Moore, and a number of local lawmakers.
“Our movement emerged victorious tonight and massively surpassed our expectations. Tens of thousands of Michigan Democrats, many of whom who voted for Biden in 2020, are uncommitted to his re-election due to the war in Gaza,” tweeted the group Tuesday night. “President Biden has funded the bombs falling on the family members of people who live right here in Michigan. People who voted for him, who now feel completely betrayed. President Biden, listen to Michigan. Count us out, Joe.”
Pro-Israel groups tried to downplay the results as soon as voting began. For some reason the lobbying group DMFI thought it was a good idea to send off this tweet on Tuesday afternoon: “National media outlets are using the very low bar—10k votes—set by the ‘Vote Uncommitted’ campaign. Even in 2012—without any challenger against Obama—more than 10% (20k+) voted uncommitted in MI. Double digits is not “impressive”—it’s to be expected, even without a campaign.”
Hours later, when it became clear that the campaign was going to get way more than 10,000 votes, the organization was forced to move their goalposts a great distance and construct a new talking point. The vote shouldn’t be taken seriously because a lot of people also voted uncommitted in 2012.
“The press jumped to create a big story when only a tiny one was apparent,” they tweeted. “After a major campaign, uncommitted did 2.6 percentage points better in Michigan than it did against Barack Obama in 2012 when no one was asking for an uncommitted vote. Obama won MI by 9 points in November.”
Ok, sure.
The funniest thing about DMFI is that they insist support for Israel is ironclad among Democrats, but they were created to stomp out a growing sympathy for Palestine within the party.
This moment is a great example of that contradiction. In public they are shrugging off the Michigan results and insisting there’s nothing there, but back in reality the group spent money on an ad campaign attacking the effort.
“Voting uncommitted hurts Biden, which helps Donald Trump and his hateful agenda,” claimed the ad.
Lobbying groups weren’t the only ones throwing water on Michigan. “Uncommitted didn’t do well by any reasonable benchmark in Michigan, not sure why people are trying to spin this into a story,” tweeted the statistician Nate Silver. “If anything a little bullish for Biden insofar as it suggests that the protest vote over Gaza might not be all that large.”
What is the “reasonable benchmark” being invoked here? This campaign was launched less than a month ago and had virtually no budget. If voters felt uninspired by Joe Biden they could have simply stayed home, but a fifth of them showed up specifically to back the effort.
Of course it’s impossible to know what this means for November. Maybe many of these voters will ultimately vote Biden, maybe they won’t vote, maybe they’ll vote third-party. Perhaps some of them will even vote for Trump.
However, the results should obviously be causing concern for the Biden administration. This campaign came out of the Democratic base. Democrats are the ones who show up to vote in primaries where the incumbent is fully expected to walk away with a massive victory.
Some Democrats have been attempting to sound the alarm for weeks.
“It’s a competitive state, and the Arab American issue is one that’s got to be taken seriously,” Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) told The Hill earlier this month. “We have to talk to them, and we’re gonna. Those issues are very serious ones.”
“Nobody believed me when I said Michigan was competitive in 2015, 2016,” she continued. “I have one thing on my side: People recognize Michigan’s competitive this year. We got to excite young people and get them to turn out the way that they did two years ago.”
“The general election is nine months away, and nearly 15% of Democrats in Michigan – a key swing state – are voted uncommitted due to the war in Gaza,” tweeted Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) yesterday. “We must listen to these voters and remember the diverse coalition that delivered Democrats the White House.”
“Last night’s powerful showing in Michigan by the Uncommitted campaign shouldn’t be ignored, diminished, or demonized,” wrote Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). “These are committed Americans – and Dems – engaging the primary process to show us the path *now* for a winning coalition in Nov. And that includes a ceasefire.”
Is Biden listening to any of the warnings coming from his own party? Politico reports that “presidential aides continue to believe that..’uncommitted’ voters will be November’s Biden voters once they have a stark choice in front of them.”
I’m not so sure about that.
Odds & Ends
???????? ‘Palestine Action activists hit with felony charges over New Hampshire Elbit protest’
????️ ‘More than 100,000 people vote ‘uncommitted’ in Michigan primary over Biden Gaza policy’
???? ‘Extraordinary charges of bias emerge against NYTimes reporter Anat Schwartz’
???? Biden is ‘pristine’ on Israel, says megadonor Haim Saban
???? Counterpunch: What the Mass Media Needs to Cover Re: Israel/Gaza Conflict
???????? The Intercept: ‘Aaron Bushnell, Who Self-Immolated for Palestine, Had Grown Deeply Disillusioned With the Military’
⚖️ Truthout: ‘US Anti-Terror Law Has Stigmatized Palestinians as ‘Terrorists’ Since 1969′
???????? Common Dreams: ‘UNRWA Says Funding Cuts Have Pushed It to ‘Breaking Point’
???????? The Empire Files Substack: ‘Tribute to Aaron Bushnell by Iraq Veteran Mike Prysner’
???? The Denver Post: ‘Israel anti-boycott law stands as Colorado House committee defeats repeal’
???????? New York Times: ‘The War in Gaza Turned This Longtime Michigan Democrat Against Biden’
⚖️ ‘On Eve of Israeli Assault on Rafah, Court Grants Expedited Appeal in Biden Gaza Genocide Case’
???? Haaretz: ‘ADL to Honor Jared Kushner for Israel Work, Calling It ‘Pivotal’ for Hostage Negotiations’
????️ Reuters: ‘Inside the Democratic rebellion against Biden over the Gaza war’
☕ Source New Mexico: ‘Protesters picket Santa Fe Starbucks for company’s dispute with union over Gaza post’
???????? In These Times: ‘The ADL Wants to Conflate Critiques of Israel with Antisemitism. That Won’t Make Jews Safer’
???? An exchange between State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller and reporters at Monday’s briefing:
Question: Okay. My second question is the Secretary was asked during the trip to comment about the Netanyahu plan for Gaza, and he said he’s not going to comment because he haven’t seen it. So the U.S. Government has not seen it officially. The White House dismissed it somehow as disagreement among friends. This plan – I’m sure you’ve seen it; not officially, but you read about it – fundamentally clashes with everything that administration calling, including just now when you talk about two-state solution. So is really the two-state solution a mirage, considering Netanyahu himself and his government don’t believe in it at all? So who are you going to implement it with?
Miller: So with respect to the plan, first of all, again, we have not – you’re right that we have not engaged with the Government of Israel. We’ve seen press reporting, but we haven’t sat down to have a detailed – had a detailed conversation with the Government of Israel about this plan yet, so I will refrain from a specific comment until we have had the chance to do so.
But we have been very clear about what our position is with respect to the governance of Gaza moving forward, when it comes to questions about the reoccupation of Gaza and the reduction or potential reduction of any territory of Gaza. And we’ll continue to be very clear about that publicly and privately.
And when it comes to this question of the two – of two states, all we can do – and you’ve heard me say this before – is present our vision for peace and security in the Middle East, and make clear to the Government of Israel and make clear to the people of Israel that there is a path forward for lasting security, for better relations with Israel’s neighbors, and they have to take it. And if they are ready to do it, we are ready to work with them on how to achieve that vision.
Question: But you have so many – you have so many tools – just the last – my last follow-up, sorry…But you have so much leverage over the Israelis, and this is fundamental vision of the President. So you can use all the leverage you want, including weapons that you sell to Israel..to make sure that this plan is on the – at least on the right path for implementation, considering we have, like, short time between now and November.
Miller: So one thing I will say about that that people often tend to forget is that Israel, like other countries in the region, is a sovereign country that makes its own decisions. The United States does not dictate to Israel what it must do, just as we don’t dictate to any country what it must do. We present what we believe are the —
Question: Unless you invade them.
Miller: We present what we believe are the – (laughter). Good one, Matt.
Question: Well, sorry —
Miller: No, I mean – but come on. Yeah. We present standup hour at the – in the briefing room. We present what we believe are the best proposals to achieve peace and security, and we will continue to do that. But Israel has to make its own decisions, just as every sovereign independent country has to make its own decisions.
???????? Jacobin: ‘Aaron Bushnell Refused to Be Silent on the Horrors in Gaza’
✊ Today 30 Pennsylvanians blocked the entrance to Aydin Displays, a subsidiary of Elbit Systems. Elbit Systems is Israel’s largest military manufacturer.
Liam Ramsey, an anti-war activist who traveled from Bangor, PA to participate in the protest: “Over and over again we have heard military production workers say, ‘We don’t make the bombs. We just make the parts.’ Surely they know that the sum of the components they build add up to whole weapons. We hope that deep down what they are really trying to say is that they are looking for a way out. Perhaps together, we can construct an exit plan, piece by piece, and make our lives whole.”
???????? CrimethInc: ‘This Is What Our Ruling Class Has Decided Will Be Normal’
???????? The Nation: ‘Biden Is Repeating Bush’s Post-9/11 Playbook. It’s Not Working’
✊ 50 Jewish New Yorkers were arrested for disrupting President Biden’s appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers. They were calling on him to end U.S. support for Israel’s assault on Gaza.
Politico: ‘Biden’s late-night talk show appearance draws pro-Palestinian protest’
Stay safe out there,
Michael
Masha Gessen’s piece on Aaron Bushnell in the New Yorker ( delete cookies for access ):
Maybe Bushnell watched or read about the proceedings of South Africa’s case against Israel in the International Court of Justice. Perhaps he listened to the litany of atrocities that grew familiar as fast as it became outdated: the exact thousands of women and children killed, the precise majority of Gazans who are experiencing extreme hunger. That court ordered Israel to take immediate measures to protect Palestinian civilians. Israel has ignored the ruling, and the United States has vetoed resolutions calling for a ceasefire and argued, in another I.C.J. case, that the court should not order Israel to end its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. This was a government that Bushnell had sworn to protect with his life, subverting mechanisms created to enforce international law, including law—such as the Genocide Convention—that the United States had played a key role in drafting…. Perhaps he dreamed that his protest would awaken a country that had descended into a moral stupor. Like Jan Palach, who ran down a street, and Ryszard Siwiec, who set himself aflame at a dance, Bushnell wanted us to see him burn.
Also note –
Bushnell wrote a will in which he left his savings to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/aaron-bushnells-act-of-political-despair
Thanks for this excellent, albeit disturbing, report.