Flames Of Truth Burn In A Brutal, Collapsing Empire
"I will no longer be complicit in genocide!"
“Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral. ”
— Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
By Mark Taylor
DeMOCKracy.ink (2/26/24)
NOTE: See new development in this story at bottom!
True heroes appear unexpectedly, out of the numb routine, noise and static of daily life. Active duty United States airman Aaron Bushnell was one such hero who walked up to the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. Sunday and calmly, deliberately set himself on fire as an act of protest against the U.S. complicity with the Israeli fascistic genocide in Gaza.
In doing so, he left us with an iconic image capturing this moment of national moral crisis. Every moment of historical crisis, change and collapse is captured in a few such iconic images. Bushnell’s legacy is the image above and is now part of our collective history and memory.
You can link to the entire video, if you wish, here. The image of his body aflame is blurred, but even so, it is a tough video to watch. Bushnell's call to “Free Palestine” is repeatedly heard from the enveloping inferno.
“The sounds stay with you more than the sights,” writes commentator Caitlin Johnstone. “The sound of his gentle, youthful, Michael Cera-like voice as he walked toward the embassy. The sound of the round metal container he stored the accelerant in getting louder as it rolls toward the camera. The sound of Bushnell shouting “Free Palestine”, then switching to wordless screams when the pain became too overwhelming, then forcing out one more “Free Palestine” before losing his words for good. The sound of the cop screaming at him to get on the ground over and over again. The sound of a first responder telling police to stop pointing guns at Bushnell’s burning body and go get fire extinguishers.” [Can cops ever do anything different?]
He shouted “Free Palestine” seven times before the flames and pain overtook him. He was announced dead later in the day.
Smothering the flames of truth
In the coverage — which is quickly being muzzled and swept aside — it was revealed there was an earlier self-immolation on December 2nd, in front of the Israeli consulate in Atlanta I had never heard of. I learned of Bushnell’s act of protest at 7 a.m. this morning (2/26) when I checked the HuffPost. The story was the banner piece, stretching across the top of the page. By 8 a.m., the story was not just off the top of the page, it was nowhere to be found on the site. (Note: The story reappeared in HuffPost in the evening.)
While National Public Radio had a brief story on their website, they didn’t broadcast it.
If you ever wondered what you would have done during the Holocaust or the dark, twitchy witch-hunting days of the McCarthy era or on the day of the bombing of the Birmingham Church, the CIA assassination of JKFK, or the first day of the crime of the Iraq War, look in the mirror … you’re doing it now.
Your question for this moment
As thousands of Gazan children are maimed, ripped apart, traumatized, starved and orphaned by the U.S. and Israel, we are in one of those iconic national moral moments. The question for each of us is “What will I do?”
Act … or look away.
Speak out … or stay silent.
Be a human being … or a Nazi.
Enable our national depravity and cruelty … or resist.
My choice. Your choice. Our choice.
No middle ground.
Aaron Bushnell acted upon a level of moral clarity and courage I can’t even imagine. He joins the ranks of history’s true moral heroes and — I would hope — prompt others to get active. When our government has gone full on depraved criminality — as it has in Gaza — it is time for citizens to speak up, act, to show up, openly and actively challenge and oppose the fascistic corporate war state and — as Substacker ‘Ohio Barbarian’ noted in today’s column “Aaron Bushnell's Sacrifice and the Beginning of the End for Israel” — actively support and promote the Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement to completely shun and isolate the fascist, criminal Israel state from the world economy.
What should punishment for the United States’ complicity and active participation in the genocide look like? As citizens, that is up to us and the moral consequence of what we do — or don’t do — rests with each of us.
As for the Gazans…
“The greatest humanistic and historical task of the oppressed: to liberate themselves.” — Paul Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
In the words of Aaron Bushnell:
Free Palestine!
Free Palestine!
Free Palestine!
Free Palestine!
Free Palestine!
Free Palestine!
Free Palestine!
Big New Development In Aaron Bushnell Story That May Soon Affect Us All!
Aaron Bushnell had received orders to be ready to deploy on a “moment’s notice” to Israel!
5-minute video
By coincidence the latest copy of Ralph Nader’s quarterly Capitol Hill Citizen arrived the same day of Aaron Bushnell’s action with this cartoon on the front page…
Thanks for the updates on the Aaron Bushnell story. I'm afraid Scott Ritter is right... most Americans are doing what they'd do if they were faced with such a moral dilemma as a genocide. They're doing nothing as their leaders say the "quiet part" out loud. (See my post "The Quiet Part" tomorrow morning.)
The phrase 'moral clarity' stands out from your well written article, Mark.
Where is our collective moral clarity, and how will we act upon it?