On February 25th, 2024, United States Air Force member Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., in protest against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Moments before, he activated a livestream and stated:

“I will no longer be complicit in genocide… Free Palestine.”

This act was not impulsive. It was carefully planned, deliberately public, and framed—by Bushnell himself—not as despair, but as resistance. In the weeks since his death, efforts have been made to pathologize his actions, framing them as the result of mental illness rather than a political stance. Bushnell anticipated this. He left behind statements, communications, and a meticulously structured final protest intended to make clear: this was not a crisis of the mind, but a cry of conscience.

The following piece is written in the second person. It attempts to honour the clarity with which Bushnell acted, and to preserve the intention of his final hours against the erasures of official narrative. It is not a glorification of self-immolation. Rather, it is an effort to reckon with the extremity of protest when all other avenues appear closed.

Bushnell’s death demands discomfort. This piece does not seek to comfort. It seeks to remember

You wake up, don the uniform that tells the world your body is owned by your own government. You make sure it is immaculate, everything you do is to tell the world you are of sound mind and body. You are not mentally ill, you know that they will tell the world you are mentally ill. You are an anarchist who believes in mutual aid and helping your community, you want to take your body back. You want to take it back from a government complicit in genocide. 

You know that everything you do from here on out has to be calculated, it has to be fast. This has worked before, it has turned the tides before, Vietnam, Russia, and you hope with all of your heart that it will work again. You will not see the results of this action, but you know it has worked before. You do not see another way. There may not be another way.  

You are calm, as calm as you can be, again they need to know you are not mentally ill. They will tell everyone you are mentally ill. You take some deep breaths, and you leave your house; phone, tripod, uniform, hat, accelerant, lighter. You walk to the Israeli Embassy, you turn on twitch, you’ve notified journalists, you want the world to see just how desperate you are to no longer be part of a machine not just complicit, but actively funding a genocide. You are desperate. 

You are not mentally ill. 

“My name is Aaron Bushnell. I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I’m about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people are experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonisers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal. Free Palestine.”

You pour the accelerant over your body. You take a deep breath. You light yourself on fire. 

You scream

Free Palestine

Free Palestine 

Police are pointing guns at you, one says “I don’t need a gun I need a fire extinguisher” your clothes are melting off your body and you are still standing. You know a fire extinguisher is not going to stop the fire you have lit, you know this has been a turning point in other horrific wars before. You hope that no one follows you, you also hope that people wake up. 

Free Palestine

Free Palestine

Your words are hoarse, you are still shouting, you will shout until you cannot anymore. You collapse. The last words on your lips are Free Palestine. 

They have called you mentally ill, you knew that would happen, you also knew that your years dedicated to the service of this country would make it very hard for the media to spin this into something it is not. You held leadership roles, you were an airman, you were still active duty. They are trying, but people are not buying it. You did the work to make sure they could not. 

People are confused by you Aaron, they don’t understand how a nice white military man could care about brown people halfway across the world. You knew that too, you knew that looking like a friend in every white friend group in the country would make a bigger statement. You thought of everything. 

You were not mentally ill. .  

You are calm, as calm as you can be, again they need to know you are not mentally ill. They will tell everyone you are mentally ill. You take some deep breaths, and you leave your house; phone, tripod, uniform, hat, accelerant, lighter. You walk to the Israeli Embassy, you turn on twitch, you’ve notified journalists, you want the world to see just how desperate you are to no longer be part of a machine not just complicit, but actively funding a genocide. You are desperate. 

You are not mentally ill. 

“My name is Aaron Bushnell. I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I’m about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people are experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonisers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal. Free Palestine.”

You pour the accelerant over your body. You take a deep breath. You light yourself on fire. 

You scream

Free Palestine

Free Palestine 

Police are pointing guns at you, one says “I don’t need a gun I need a fire extinguisher” your clothes are melting off your body and you are still standing. You know a fire extinguisher is not going to stop the fire you have lit, you know this has been a turning point in other horrific wars before. You hope that no one follows you, you also hope that people wake up. 

Free Palestine

Free Palestine

Your words are hoarse, you are still shouting, you will shout until you cannot anymore. You collapse. The last words on your lips are Free Palestine. 

They have called you mentally ill, you knew that would happen, you also knew that your years dedicated to the service of this country would make it very hard for the media to spin this into something it is not. You held leadership roles, you were an airman, you were still active duty. They are trying, but people are not buying it. You did the work to make sure they could not. 

People are confused by you Aaron, they don’t understand how a nice white military man could care about brown people halfway across the world. You knew that too, you knew that looking like a friend in every white friend group in the country would make a bigger statement. You thought of everything. 

You were not mentally ill. 

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