Podcast Alley: RIP Aaron Bushnell

If you've been under a rock, or are willfully ignorant of the troubles of the world you may have missed this: Air force member Aaron Bushnell performed the act of self-immolation outside of the Israeli embassy in his military fatigues to bring attention to the genocide happening in Palestine. In what seemed to be a calculated move, Aaron livestreamed this and used his online presence and writings to be extremely clear with why he did what he did and to make sure that the media would not be able to ignore it.

I am an active duty member of the United States Air Force. And I will no longer be complicit to 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.

Quote above is from Aaron Bushnell's livestream, quoted by many news sources including Time

Naturally, mainstream media attempted to obfuscate which caught the ire of people with common sense as well as journalists, activists, and scholars with integrity. Some media sources corrected their initial reports to clarify the who what where and why of it all. Below is an apt summary of media coverage from wikipedia:

The coverage of Bushnell's self-immolation by mainstream media outlets drew criticism for attempting to "discredit" and "dilute" Bushnell's motive of protesting against Palestinian genocide. In an Al Jazeera column, Belén Fernández gave an example of The New York Times which mentioned nothing about Bushnell's motive in the title of their report and implied that Bushnell might be mentally ill by providing contact information for a mental health provider at the end of the Times article about Bushnell.^[50] The Hill pointed out that the Times was treating Bushnell asymmetrically compared to their coverage of Irina Slavina, a Russian journalist who died protesting by self-immolation against the Russian government in 2020. The Times article about Slavina included the phrase "blaming government" in the title.

Self-immolation is not to be imitated, or replicated. It is used when the back is against the wall and no one with power is listening. As of writing this, I haven't seen any statement from Biden himself on the matter, when the president traditionally comments on the loss of a member of the military or when folks in foreign countries perform extreme acts to protest countries that are our governments' enemies.

I want to leave you with a few podcasts that give nuanced and respectful insight on Aaron, the history of self-immolation as a tactic for liberation, and the western world's reaction to more vocal resistance to Israeli apartheid than ever before.

https://redmenace.libsyn.com/man-on-fire-aaron-bushnells-sacrifice-for-palestine

Rest in Peace, Aaron. Free Palestine!
"To burn oneself by fire is to prove that what one is saying is of the utmost importance. There is nothing more painful than burning oneself. To say something while experiencing this kind of pain is to say it with utmost courage, frankness, determination, and sincerity."

-Thich Nhat Hanh in a letter to MLK Jr. regarding the self-immolation of Vietnamese Buddhist monks

On February 25, active duty U.S. Airman Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in protest of the war on Gaza. He screamed “Free Palestine” as he burned. His heroic act has shown the profound shift in U.S. consciousness against Israel’s war on Palestine, and inspired even greater resistance.
Brian Becker is joined by Mike Prysner, a veteran, anti-war activist, producer of The Empire Files & host of the podcast "Eyes Left.”

We talk to Talia Jane, the reporter who broke the story of Aaron Bushnell's powerful act of self-immolation as protest against the genocide in Gaza earlier this week. TALIA JANE @taliaotg on Twitter @MXTaliaJane on IG taliajane.com DONATE TO THE PALESTINIAN CHILDREN'S RELIEF FUND https://pcrf1.app.neoncrm.com/forms/gaza-relief

This week (following some light banter) we discuss Aaron Bushnell, and all of the discourse surrounding his act of self-immolation. Plenty of mental health issues packed into this one, so please be patient and remember that none of the opinions you hear expressed here are endorsed by the Trillbillies podcast. (Banter ends around 27 minute mark)

On Facebook before performing this act, Aaron wrote this:

“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.”

It is important to bear witness and reflect. That's the least you can do in this moment. Stay well.