Feb 29

Feb 29 RIP Aaron Bushnell

Tonight, members of Chicago’s pro-Palestinian Community held a vigil for Aaron Bushnell, the 25-year old man who five days ago set himself ablaze while standing outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. He hoped his act would draw attention to what he had characterized as a genocide taking place in Gaza.

About 150 mourners were present, standing on the sidewalk in front of the Chicago office of the Israeli Consulate General located in the Ogilvie Transportation Center (500 West Madison Street in the West Loop). The police had erected barricades that kept the mourners at a distance from the entrances to the Transportation Center, but the police did cede a portion of the sidewalk to the mourners. At past demonstrations I have attended at this location, the police required the demonstrators to stand on the sidewalk across the street from the Transportation Center, suggesting that tonight the police took a somewhat sympathetic view given the nature of the demonstration.

In the center of the group, there was a small table holding what appeared to be a picture frame surrounded by candles. The area in immediate proximity to the table was densely populated by mourners. The six or seven photographers standing with the police on the other side of the barricades didn’t attempt to enter the crowd to photograph what was on the table, presumably out of deference to and respect for those attending what was a funeral service.

The mourners were relatively subdued, some even tearful. There were a few speeches. The most notable one coming from a woman who was affiliated with a Filipino group. She read a poem that she had authored, growing more impassioned as she progressed through the poem’s stanzas. I wish someone had handed out copies because some of the phrasing was striking.

The vigil was scheduled for an hour. I left after about 50 minutes, largely because the air was bitterly cold and the service was winding down.

The police took a hands-off approach. Many stood inside the Transportation Center, but I never sensed that any of the mourners had plans to rush the building or engage in acts of civil disobedience. I, however, did wonder whether someone might set Israeli flags or an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ablaze, symbolically redirecting the flames that Bushnell had ignited.

News spread quickly after Bushnell engaged in his act of self-immolation. Immediately before lighting himself on fire, Bushnell said,

My name is Aaron Bushnell. I am an active-duty member of the U.S. 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.

The entire incident was captured in a video that was uploaded to X. Wearing military fatigues, Bushnell walks toward the embassy, as he speaks the quoted words while holding what looks to be a small thermos bottle. He speaks clearly, but at several points he nervously pauses for just a moment, and then continues.

When Bushnell is in position, he sprinkles the flammable liquid over his body [39 secs]; then without pause, he removes a lighter from his right pocket [43 secs]; and then he attempts to ignite his military fatigues [45 secs]. For fifteen second, his efforts fail; he then reaches down to ignite the liquid that had spilled onto the pavement [60 secs]. He is successful [61 secs]. As flames engulf his body, he yells “Free Palestine” several times [63 secs], before he starts screaming in agony [71 secs].

While Bushnell is trying to ignite his clothing, someone outside of the frame yells, “Hey sir, can I help you?” [48 sec]. As Bushnell is engulfed in flames, someone then shouts, “Get him on the ground” [82 secs]. Sirens can be heard blaring in the background [78 secs]. Someone off camera then hollers, “Get the fire extinguisher [102 secs].

Finally, a uniformed man quickly walks into the frame, holding what may be a fire extinguisher [119 secs]. A second figure clad in black enters the frame with his sidearm drawn, pointing at the fire [123 secs]. At that point, Bushnell is no longer standing so he posed no threat.

The man with the fire extinguisher can then be seen spraying its contents. Shortly thereafter, the fire appears to have been largely extinguished [131 secs], but it then reignites. Another person enters the scene with a second fire extinguisher [148 secs]. Immediately before the person arrives with the second fire extinguisher, someone can be heard yelling, “I don’t need guns; I need fire extinguisher [146 secs].

I have seen comments online that shots were fired, but none are heard during the 157 second video. Whoever posted the video had the good sense to blur Bushnell’s body once it was engulfed in flames.

No words can adequately describe what Bushnell did. ‘Unfathomable’ comes to my mind, but even that seems inadequate. As much as I try, I can’t put myself into Bushnell’s mindset. Did his act require courage? Undoubtedly. Did it make sense? Maybe to Bushnell, but not to me. Bushnell’s decision required extraordinary faith that his martyrdom would make a difference. Call me ridiculously practical, but if I were going to make a sacrifice of that magnitude, I would want to see the results that my sacrifice brought about. Bushnell knew he would never know, which is why I see his act as being one of faith.

So far, Bushnell’s decision hasn’t changed the facts on the ground. Both the Israelis and Hamas have balked at a ceasefire; the Gaza Ministry of Health reported this week that over 30,000 Palestinians have now been killed, most being women and children; and on Thursday reports emerged that 112 civilians were killed and 769 were injured as they approached a convoy of trucks carrying food and other aid. The Palestinians claim the Israeli Defense Forces shot the civilians, while the Israelis contend that some people were killed or injured in a stampede and others were run over by aid trucks.

That the war did not suddenly come to a halt does not necessarily mean that Bushnell’s self-sacrifice was in vain. There is historical precedent for Bushnell’s action. Although I was a young child, I recall (or maybe I just think I recall) when the Mahayana Buddhist monk, Thích Quâng Dúc, set himself ablaze in Saigon on June 11, 1963. Dúc was protesting the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government of Ngô Dinh Diêm.

At the time, President John F. Kennedy remarked, “No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one”—that one being the famous photograph by photojournalist Malcolm Browne, which won the World Press Photo of the Year award.

Given the coarsening of the culture since 1963, I was initially surprised when many media outlets refused to show the dramatic video of Bushnell. Yet, in more innocent times, newspapers chose to publish the photograph of Dúc. Not to denigrate Bushnell’s sacrifice, but among the general population, I suspect his sacrifice has already largely been forgotten—just another post in a never-ending flow of social media posts—keep scrolling. People are flooded with so many images that they have lost the ability to reflect on any given one, let alone remember seeing it.

Following Dúc’s act, the South Vietnamese government promised reforms, but those promises never came to fruition, with five more monks choosing self-immolation during October 1963. The Diêm regime was then overthrown on November 1, 1963 by a U.S.-backed coup.

In 1965, three Americans followed Dúc’s example, setting themselves ablaze, one (Alice Herz, a peace activist) in front Detroit’s Federal Department Store; another (Norman Morrison, a Quaker pacifist) underneath the third floor Pentagon window of Defense Secretary Robert McNamara; and the third (Roger Allen LaPorte) in front of the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. All three were protesting the Vietnam War. While all made dramatic sacrifices, none of their efforts directly impacted U.S. policy in Vietnam. The war raged on for another ten years, for years on an ever expanding basis. Over 50,000 Americans and 2.75 million Vietnamese and other Asians were killed.

Like the earlier self-immolators, Bushnell’s effort may not have any direct impact on the war in Gaza, but his sacrifice will undoubtedly galvanize the pro-Palestinian movement’s efforts, just as the earlier self-immolations helped build a cohesive and vocal anti-war movement. While at the demonstration, I ran into a friend who regularly attends pro-Palestinian demonstrations and events. He sent me a text letting me know that he was in the crowd. It read, “I’m here. Small turnout.”

Although the organizers of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations have turned out large crowds, as of late, the events have been dwindling in size, an observation that the organizers would most likely contest. One thing is for sure: the local television stations are no longer regularly covering the demonstrations. One television reporter told me that the demonstrations stopped being newsworthy. Nor are photojournalists working for the local newspapers—at least the newspapers are not regularly publishing articles about the demonstrations. [Post Script: neither the Chicago Tribune, nor the Chicago SunTimes have published articles about the vigil]

Bushnell’s sacrifice may produce larger turnouts in the near term. There is little doubt that he will be referenced in countless speeches, and his image and name will adjourn many signs. But I am skeptical that his sacrifice will directly change U.S. policy, just as the sacrifice of others during the Vietnam Era had no direct impact on U.S. policy.

[Click on an Image to Enlarge It. The Images Are Not Necessarily in Exact Chronological Order]