“It’s important to note Aaron Bushnell’s self-immolation was not just an act of resistance to genocide and a statement of non-complicity; it also came from the pain and distress caused by the great and wide wreckage of this war and all wars.

The moral injury Aaron was enduring by being part of a military whose purposes were not the interests of the American people but rather the political, economic and financial interests of the American Empire, and the great harm and suffering that those interests bring to so many millions of people, is a pain and distress felt by generations of American veterans. The guilt, shame and regret that compose moral injury are a leading cause of veteran suicides, particularly among combat veterans.

Aaron realized he was not wearing a white hat but a black one. The distress and guilt caused by that realization, coupled with his desire to stand resistant to the genocide in Gaza, led to his act of self-immolation. We have to be careful not to celebrate his death, for this act of self-immolation is an extension and agent of the wicked violence of this war in Gaza, and his loss, like the tens of thousands killed in the war, is an act of permanent destruction and moral desecration. We should honor his act of sacrifice, while recognizing the moral injury he was suffering, and utilize his memory to sustain our resistance to genocide, war and occupation.”