“This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal”
Content warning: This article includes descriptions of a specific instance of self-harm and suicide. If you or someone you know are/is experiencing thoughts of self-harm or suicide, please visit thelifelinecanada.ca or find more resources below. For immediate help, you can call 9-8-8 in Canada.
This article includes discussion of ongoing acts of genocide.
Feb. 25 — A young man walks up a Washington, DC street in his Air Force uniform. He is carrying an open thermos and talking to his phone.
“I am an active duty member of the United States Air Force,” he tells anyone watching his Twitch livestream, “and I will no longer be complicit in genocide.”
Still walking, he continues: “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.”
He sets down his phone and walks into the frame of his livestream. He is standing in front of the Israeli embassy.
He dumps the contents of the thermos over himself before putting his hat on.
“Free Palestine.” He first attempts to light the match on his pant leg.
Off-camera we hear a voice: “Hi sir, can I help you?”
He strikes the match on the concrete ground; he ignites himself.
“Free Palestine,” he yells as flames grow. You can hear deep-pained gasps between further screams: “Free Palestine. Free Palestine. Free Palestine.” He collapses.
One law-enforcement officer holds a gun aiming into the flames, another yells for an extinguisher to be brought.
Aaron Bushnell, 25 of Massachusetts, died of his injuries in a DC hospital that evening. His military contract was set to expire in May 2024.
Bushnell died on the 142nd day of the siege on Gaza. In that time, more than 29,000 Palestinians had been killed with munitions provided by Israeli allies like the US.
“What our ruling class has decided will be normal”
Almost three months earlier; Dec. 1 2023, a woman self-immolated in front of the Israeli embassy in Atlanta, Georgia. In a news conference, Atlanta police chief Darin Schierbaum was quoted by the Associated Press: “We believe it was an act of extreme political protest that occurred.”
Self-immolation as a form of protest has a long history; the sight, or even the retelling of the events, are so horrific and incomprehensible that they demand attention.
What was Bushnell calling attention to in his final moments of consciousness?
Author and activist Susan Abulhawa spoke about the two weeks she recently spent in Gaza with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now:
“I want to say that, the reality on the ground is infinitely worse than the worst videos and photos that we’re seeing in the West. There is a — you know — beyond people being buried alive on mass in their homes, their bodies being shredded to pieces, these kinds of videos and images that people are seeing, beyond that, there is this daily massive degradation of life. It is a total denigration of a whole society that was once high-functioning and proud.”
Abulhawa had just returned to Cairo after spending two weeks in late February/early March in Gaza. At that time she wrote:
“Nothing can truly prepare you for this dystopia. What reaches the rest of the world is a fraction of what I’ve seen so far, which is only a fraction of this horror’s totality.”
“Journalists and politicians call it war. The informed and honest call it genocide. What I see is a holocaust – the incomprehensible culmination of 75 years of Israeli impunity for persistent war crimes.”
Spending most of her time in Rafah, Abulhawa wrote of the stories trickling out of the North of Gaza:
“It’s worse in the north. My friend Ahmad (not his real name) is one of a handful of people who have internet. It’s sporadic and weak, but we can still message each other. He sent me a photo of himself that looked to me like a shadow of the young man I knew. He has lost over 25 kg.”
This is the reality our ruling class has decided will be normal.
A note on reporting of Self-immolation:
When publishing articles intended for wide audiences one must be aware that a portion of their audience will be experiencing thoughts of self-harm. In such instances, it is the responsibility of those writing to provide resources to that segment of their audience.
Bushnell left behind family and friends who will be forever altered by the trauma of his death.
In the will Bushnell left behind, he wrote: “I am sorry to my brother and my friends for leaving you like this. Of course, if I was truly sorry, I wouldn’t be doing it. But the machine demands blood. None of this is fair,”
“I wish for my remains to be cremated. I do not wish for my ashes to be scattered or my remains to be buried as my body does not belong anywhere in this world. If a time comes when Palestinians regain control of their land, and if the people native to the land would be open to the possibility, I would love for my ashes to be scattered in a free Palestine.”
What then becomes the duty of those left behind? For Americans, acknowledging the actions of Aaron Bushnell and understanding his actions as something more than suicide brought on by mental illness is crucial. Aaron’s loss is the result of horrific choices he felt forced to make. He used his final moments to tell you his intent, show you his state of mind, and to face death by accelerated fire, certain that it was “not extreme at all” when understood in the context of life in Gaza in the last 142 days.
Bushnell died to oppose the normalization of violence. Had he died in an American warzone he would have received posthumous honours from the military. They would bury him with a flag draped over his coffin and call him an American hero.
His legacy will almost certainly be further reaching and more heavily contested because of his final actions. He could not live with the atrocities he was seeing.
If you are concerned for your own well-being or that of another, please know that there are resources for you and a community to be built in organizing. Please stay with us to continue this fight. Further resources are listed below.
Levi Pierpont on Democracy Now
On Feb. 28, Goodman spoke with Levi Pierpont, a conscientious objector who left the American Armed Forces in May 2023 and had met Bushnell in basic training. When Goodman asked what Pierpont what he wanted Bushnell to be remembered for:
“I want people to remember that his death is not in vain; that he died to spotlight this message.”
“I don’t want anyone else to die this way. If he had asked me about this, I would have begged him not to, I would have done anything I could to stop him”
“But obviously we can’t get him back. And we have to honour the message that he left.”
“I would have told him that this wasn’t necessary to get the message out, I would have told him there were other ways. But seeing the way that the media responds now, now that this has happened, it’s hard not to feel like he was right. That this was exactly what was necessary to get people’s attention about the genocide that’s happening in Palestine.”
“So I just — I want people to remember his message.”
In the two weeks since Bushnell died, the death toll from Gaza has surpassed 30,000, with thousands of people still missing and presumed dead under rubble in areas that have been heavily bombed.
On March 4, US Vice President Kamala Harris called for an immediate ceasefire of no less than six weeks. This performance came two weeks after the US vetoed an Algerian resolution for a ceasefire presented to the United Nations Security Council.
Starvation has set in, there are children dying each day from lack of access to food, and it feels safe to assume, given the conditions on the ground, these numbers aren’t getting out in a timely manner.
This is man-made. It could all be stopped tomorrow. People have taken to the streets of major cities and smaller communities around the world calling for it; demanding a ceasefire and more aid for civilians.
Aaron Bushnell broadcasted his chilling death to magnify the suffering of Palestinians and bring the issue to the doorstep of Americans who might otherwise consider this to be a foreign conflict they personally have no part in.
To honour his memory and sacrifice we can organize, lend our bodies and time to protests, and continue to amplify the ongoing Israeli atrocities killing Palestinians. Please do not let despair consume you.
A non-comprehensive list of local mental health resources appears below…
On campus…
- University of Ottawa Health Services (UOHS), 100 Marie-Curie Private
- Offers counselling, psychiatric services, individual, couple or family therapy, access to psycho-educational groups and referrals to specialists off-campus
- Student Academic Success Service (SASS), 100 Marie-Curie Private
- Offers individual counselling, peer-counselling, workshops, online therapy and group counselling using new stepped model; referrals
- Faculty mentoring centres (locations differ by faculty)
- Specialized mentoring services catered to the needs of students in each faculty
Off campus…
- Mental health hotlines…
- Drugs and Alcohol Helpline: 1-866-531-2600
- Canada Suicide Prevention Service phone available 24/7: 1-833-456-4566
- Fem’aide: 1-877-336-2433
- Good2Talk: 1-866-925-5454
- Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6668 or text CONNECT to 686868
- Mental Health Crisis Line: 613-722-6914
- Distress Centre of Ottawa and Region: (613) 238-3311
- Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre: 613-562-2333
- Tel-Aide Outaouais: 613-741-6433
- Trans Life Line: 1-877-330-6366
- Walk-in counselling clinics (six Ottawa locations)…
- Somerset West Community Health Centre (55 Eccles Street)
- South-East Ottawa Community Health Centre (1355 Bank Street)
- Family Services Ottawa (312 Parkdale Avenue)
- Jewish Family Services of Ottawa (300-2255 Carling Avenue)
- Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization(959 Wellington St. W)
- CFS/SFC Ottawa (310 Olmstead Road)
- Community health and resource centres (13 in Ottawa)
- Carlington Community Health Centre (900 Merivale Road)
- Eastern Ottawa Resource Centre (215-1980 Ogilvie Road)
- Nepean, Rideau and Osgoode Community Resource Centre (1547 Merivale Road, Unit 240)
- Rideau-Rockcliffe Community Health Centre (225 Donald Street)
- Sandy Hill Community Health Centre (221 Nelson Street)
- South East Ottawa Community Health Centre (1355 Bank Street)
- Western Ottawa Community Resource Centre (2 MacNeil Court)
- Centretown Community Health Centre (420 Cooper Street)
- Lowertown Community Resource Centre (40 Cobourg Street)
- Orleans-Cumberland Community Health Centre (240 Centrum Boulevard)
- Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre(1365 Richmond Road)
- Somerset West Community Health Centre (55 Eccles Street)
- Vanier Community Service Centre (270 Marier Avenue)
Warning signs of suicide include:
Talking about wanting to die
Looking for a way to kill oneself
Talking about feeling hopeless or having no purpose
Talking about feeling trapped or being in unbearable pain
Talking about being a burden to others
Increasing use of alcohol or drugs
Acting anxious, agitated, or recklessly
Sleeping too little or too much
Withdrawing or feeling isolated
Showing rage or talking about seeking revenge
Displaying extreme mood swings
The more of these signs a person shows, the greater the risk. If you suspect someone you know may be contemplating suicide, you should talk to them, according to the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention.
