• Bio

    • Random #punk.
    • Guitar/vocals for The Paper Army
    • Borderline #anarchist
    • Relatively decent human

  • Gender

    Male

Benjamin benjamin@societas.online

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#punk #punkrock #diaspora #mastadon #fediverse
benjamin@societas.online
Benjamin
faab64@diasp.org
Farhad A

After 3 #UN vetoes, cutting fundings of #UNRWA, sending 25000 tons of weapons to Israel, standing by and letting Jewish Terrorists block entry of humanitarian aid and IDF killing 100s of starving palestinians, #GenocideJoe has the nerve to post this shit on social media.

Do they think we are stupid or blind like his stupid supporters who worship this pig?

#IDF #Gaza #Hypocrisy #FoodAsWeapon #SaveGaza #StopIsrael #SaveTheChildren
#palestine #Israel #Politics #PeaceNow #StopTheWar #CeasefireNow

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benjamin@societas.online
Benjamin
faab64@diasp.org
Farhad A

Suicide vs genocide: Rest in power, Aaron Bushnell

Bushnell’s extreme act of protest has put Western corporate media to shame.

On Sunday, February 25, 25-year-old active duty member of the United States Air Force Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in the US capital of Washington, DC, in a one-airman revolt against the US-backed slaughter currently being perpetrated by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip.

Over the past 143 days, Israel has killed nearly 30,000 Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave. In video footage recorded prior to and during his self-immolation, Bushnell states that he will “no longer be complicit in genocide” and that he is “about to engage in an extreme act of protest – but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonisers is not extreme at all”.

To be sure, Palestinians have long been accustomed to, well, burning to death at the hands of Israeli weaponry, ever since the state of Israel undertook to lethally invent itself on Palestinian land in 1948. The Israeli military’s use of skin-incinerating white phosphorus munitions in more recent years has no doubt contributed to the whole Palestinian “experience”.

After pertinently observing that US complicity in the genocide of Palestinians is “what our ruling class has decided will be normal”, Bushnell plants himself directly in front of the Israeli embassy gate – in full US military fatigues – and proceeds to douse himself with flammable liquid. As he rapidly burns to death, he repeatedly shouts: “Free Palestine”, while security personnel order him to get “on the ground”. One particularly helpful individual points a gun at the blaze.

In the aftermath of Bushnell’s self-immolation, the New York Times announced: “Man Dies After Setting Himself on Fire Outside Israeli Embassy in Washington, Police Say” – a rather strong contender, perhaps, for the most diluted and decontextualised headline ever. One wonders what folks would have said in 1965 had the US newspaper of record run headlines like: “Octogenarian Detroit Woman Dies After Setting Herself on Fire, Police Say – An Event Having Nothing Potentially To Do With Said Woman’s Opposition To The Vietnam War Or Anything Like That”.

Speaking of Vietnam War-related self-immolations, recall renowned US historian and journalist David Halberstam’s account of the 1963 demise in Saigon, South Vietnam, of the Vietnamese monk Thich Quang Duc: “Flames were coming from a human being; his body was slowly withering and shriveling up, his head blackening and charring. In the air was the smell of burning flesh; human beings burn surprisingly quickly… I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered even to think”.

And while such an intense and passionate form of suicide is no doubt bewildering to many, genocide should be all the more appalling; as Bushnell himself said, self-immolation is nothing “compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine”, where people know all too well how quickly human beings burn.

In Bushnell’s case, the US political-media establishment appears to be doing its best to not only decontextualise but also posthumously discredit him. Time Magazine’s write-up, for example, admonishes that the US “Defence Department policy states that service members on active duty should ‘not engage in partisan political activity’” – as though actively abetting a genocide weren’t politically “partisan”.

Furthermore, the magazine specifies, US military regulations “prohibit wearing the uniform during ‘unofficial public speeches, interviews’”, and other activities.

Perhaps Bushnell’s ashes can be tried in military court.

At the bottom of the Time article, readers are charitably given the following instructions: “If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental-health crisis or contemplating suicide, call or text 988” – which naturally implies that Bushnell was simply the victim of a “mental-health crisis” rather than someone making a most cogent and defiant political point in response to an extremely mentally disturbing political reality.

At the end of the day, anyone who is not experiencing a serious “mental-health crisis” over the genocide going down in Gaza with full US backing can be safely filed under the category of psychologically disturbed.

Of course, the US also perpetrated its very own genocide against Native Americans – another bloody phenomenon that has not been deemed worthy of diagnosis as a severe collective mental disturbance or anything of the sort. As per the official narrative, if you think it’s crazy for the US or its Israeli partner in crime to commit genocide, you’re the crazy one.

Coming from a family of US Air Force veterans myself – both of my grandfathers participated in the carnage in Vietnam – I have personally witnessed the psychological fallout that can attend service as empire’s executioners. Aaron Bushnell was meant to be a cog in the killing machine, but his principles cost him his life.

Indeed, according to a former colleague of Bushnell’s who worked with him to support the homeless community in San Antonio, Texas, he was “one of the most principled comrades I’ve ever known”. And while we journalists are supposed to be the ones speaking truth to power, suffice it to say that Bushnell has put Western corporate media to shame.

Rest in power, Aaron Bushnell.

#AaronBushnell #Protest #Gaza #Genocide #Israel #Politics #PeaceNow #SaveGaza #StopIsrael
#USpolitics #Palestine #Media

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benjamin@societas.online
Benjamin
faab64@diasp.org
Farhad A

The damage control to distance from the semi official Mossad Twitter account is all over the internet

The disgusting post of the account that is either run by or very close to Israeli Mossad have caused an uproar among both Americans and antiwar activists on social media

But the posts of others are much worse:

He killed himself for what? Hamas or Palestine? It could be similar to what suicide bombers think when they commit suicide. Aaron Bushnell didn’t kill anyone but himself, so I’m not calling him a suicide bomber, but I am comparing the thought process and anyone who encouraged this to a suicide bomber.

Another poster said:

Someone was involved with this. Who posted it? The video was streamed on Twitch for about one hour. An independent reporter named Talia Jane found it on Twitch before it went down. Did someone tip Talia Jane @Taliaotg off? You can watch the video of Aaron Bushnell walking to the Israeli embassy and then a blurred visual of him burning himself to death on this link.

Followed by:

I don’t see honor in suicide for a cause or most reasons. I am Catholic, and this is considered a mortal sin. It’s not for me to judge. However, no one should praise someone for doing such a terrible thing to himself. It hurts too many people who care about the person. This wasn’t the way to make a statement. This method of protest should be discredited.

Laura Loomer, who is Jewish, wrote on X:

“This is what mental illness looks like. It’s sad to see people are celebrating what this man did when he clearly has severe mental issues.

“I don’t care if he’s a veteran. His behavior is unacceptable and dishonorable. There is no honor in supporting Islamic terrorists. *&$# him.

“He is a traitor to his country who lit himself on fire to support HAMAS. GAZA is controlled by HAMAS, and we need to stop supporting people who whitewash Islamic terrorism.

“If he wanted to end genocide, he should have asked Hamas to stop killing Jews. There is no such thing as Genocide in GAZA. The only people who have been genocided are Jews and Christians. Counter-terrorism isn’t genocide. I know it’s hard for those with Low IQs to understand this. But this “soldier” is very clearly a Hamas sympathizer.”

Her most recent comment to those who say she’ll want to delete what she wrote:

“No. I mean what I said. I am entitled to my own opinion. I don’t care if people are mad at me. What I said is the truth. And I will keep speaking truth. Suicide is dishonorable and so is self immolation for a HAMAS campaign.”

#AaronBushnel #Mossad #Gaza #Genocide #Protest
#SaveGaza #StopIsrael #SaveTheChildren
#palestine #Israel #Occupation #Apartheid #Politics #PeaceNow #StopTheWar #CeasefireNow

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benjamin@societas.online
Benjamin

Back on #Diaspora once again. It was my first introduction to decentralized social networking, and will always hold a special place in my heart.

Here’s to hoping it will evolve and develop interoperability with the broader #Fediverse (somehow)!

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