Of war, fire and death…one smouldering name beneath the ashes — America.
It has been reported that an active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., yesterday, in apparent protest of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which he described as a “genocide.”
According to independent journalist Talia Jane, the man in question, identified as 25-year-old Aaron Bushnell, succumbed to his injuries before day broke today.
As reported by the Time, Bushnell reportedly sent a message to media outlets before his planned self-immolation. “Today, I am planning to engage in an extreme act of protest against the genocide of the Palestinian people,” he warned.
On Facebook Sunday morning, he also wrote “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.”
According to reports, after the man set himself aflame, he shouted "Free Palestine".
Free Palestine… It’s a shame. Putrid, ugly and unsavoury. Even a worm will turn. Look at the lengths a man has to go to demand freedom from another man before he can be heard.
This isn't the first time.
In 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a Vietnamese monk, set himself on fire at a major intersection in Saigon and just sat there like a boss until he burned to ashes, not a whimper nor a quiver, a perfect demonstration of mind over matter. Why?
After Vietnam, led by Ho Chi Minh, finally won the war against France, ending 6 decades of French occupation, the world powers at the time sat and split the country along ideological lines. Communists in the North and Capitalists in the South.
Ho Chi Minh, being a communist, naturally assumed leadership of Northern Vietnam. In the South, the government of Eisenhower through a questionable elections put an absolute maniac named Ngo Di Diem in charge of the reins. He filled the cabin with his Catholic friends and family members.
Also, he started prosecuting Buddhists. The problem was, Vietnam at that time was about 70% Buddhists. His authoritative regime was rife with corruption. Eventually, dissatisfaction erupted in protests and even street clashes. In response, Diem initiated a crackdown, which sometimes resulted in violence and the death of protesters. In 1963, Diem's brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, targeted Buddhist pagodas throughout South Vietnam. By May 1963, Buddhists decided to resort to the ancient tradition of self-immolation to demonstrate their objection.
Thich Quang Duc was resolved to make the ultimate sacrifice. On June 11, 1963, he was driven by a host of Buddhists to a major intersection near Saigon. He calmly stepped out of the vehicle and moved into the street. The monks placed a mat for him to sit on. He assumed the lotus position. Two monks then drenched him with gasoline. Saying a calming chant, he took out a match, struck it on the asphalt and dropped it in his laps. According to Malcolm Browne, who took the Pulitzer-winning shot of the incident, some in the gathered crowd chanted; others cried; others bowed as the monk burned to death.
I don’t know exactly when he died because you couldn’t tell from his features or voice or anything. He never yelled out in pain. His face seemed to remain fairly calm until it was so blackened by the flames that you couldn’t make it out anymore. Finally the monks decided he was dead and they brought up a coffin, an improvised wooden coffin. — Malcolm Browne
Before his self-immolation, Quang Duc reportedly wrote: “Before closing my eyes and moving towards the vision of Buddha, I respectfully plead with President Ngo Dinh Diem for compassion towards the people of the nation and for implementing religious equality to maintain the strength of the homeland for eternity.”
The three countries in the world who supported the Apartheid regime in South Africa to the end were America, Britain, and Israel. Instrumental in the criminalisation of Nelson Mandela's ANC struggle for freedom was the CIA.
As the global police, America is found in the backdrop of every major destruction, every wreckage, and every bloodshed in the last half-century. As the champion of freedom, the major protests against suppression involving the ultimate human sacrifice — self-immolation — have found them on the oppressor’s side.
One wonders; America is the champion of freedom — what freedom?
