The self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi on Dec. 17, 2010, who was a street vendor selling fruit in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, in response to a municipal worker confiscating his products, catalyzed what is known as the Arab Spring.
Bouazizi's protest, a reaction to the corruption and human rights abuses in his country, ignited widespread demonstrations across the region, resulting in government changes in some nations while others faced repression. Although the act of self-immolation cannot be deemed acceptable, given the sanctity of each human life, Bouazizi became a symbol of change and was hailed as a hero.
Since then, with regional instability showing no signs of abating, Israel has reignited the decadeslong tensions in the Middle East by committing acts categorized as genocide against Palestinian civilians in Gaza since Oct. 7.
The international community has raised its voice against Israel's unchecked crimes, with protests echoing across the world, often louder than the politicians' actions – or lack thereof – against Tel Aviv. Many Western countries, spearheaded by the United States, are supporting Israel's actions with military and political backing. Notably, Western media outlets, alongside social media platforms, have faced criticism for creating filters that seem to downplay Israel's impact on civilians and infrastructure through indiscriminate bombing.
The Western media outlets, as well as social media platforms, have created filters to block exposing Israel's killing of civilians at all levels and destroying the infrastructure with indiscriminate bombing. These filters were indeed at work when the 25-year-old Aaron Bushnell, a U.S. Air Force service member, self-immolated outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington on Sunday.
"I will no longer be complicit in genocide," Bushnell protested horrifically.
"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."
As Bushnell lit himself on fire, he was screaming, "Free Palestine."
An officer on duty is heard on the video "Get on the ground," while the second officer responds to the first: "I don't need guns; I need fire extinguishers."
Bushnell was pronounced dead at a local hospital on Sunday after suffering from the burns.
The Western media, which has failed so far to portray the tragedy of Gaza and remained complicit, either ignored Bushnell's story or did not mention the reasons Bushnell stated in his act of protest. Bushnell was an American. A white man. All attempts have been made to declare him a person suffering from mental distress.
Bushnell's self-immolation was the second of a kind in protest to Israel. In December last year, another protester carried out the same act, which should not be condoned.
In storytelling, the context matters. There is a story behind Bushnell's action, a force behind boycotts against Israeli corporations' goods and a tragedy that compels people to the streets daily worldwide.
Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian territories, dispossession and killing of Palestinians and the violence even against their heritage through destroying their olive trees is not new. The occupation ideology has been at work for decades and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war Cabinet is a byproduct of this savage ideology.
In 2024, reality cannot be hidden and ignored: Israel is indiscriminately causing harm in Gaza, killing infants and destroying everything in its path.
There is an ongoing fire in Gaza.
Israel has not only lit Gazan civilians ablaze, but its forces are also scorching everything they come across.
The fire in Gaza is burning humanity's consciousness, reducing moral norms to ashes.
There is a fire in Gaza.
Now, more than ever, a unified stance by the people of humanity must stand firm as it "needs extinguishers" to put out the flames of its own self-immolation instead of remaining idle against violence.
There is a fire in Gaza.
This fire must be extinguished, and history and justice must hold those responsible and complicit in these acts of genocide accountable.
