The Catholic Church needs married priests now

At the Last Supper, Jesus said, 'Do this in memory of me.' He did not say, 'Be celibate.' 

(Photo by Lennon Caranzo/Unsplash/Creative Commons)

February 26, 2024
By Thomas Reese

(RNS) — Without the Eucharist, it seems obvious: There is no Catholic Church. It feeds us as a community of believers and transforms us into the body of Christ active in the world today. But according to Catholic theology, we cannot have the Eucharist without priests.

Sadly, in many parts of the world there is a Eucharistic famine, precisely because there are no priests to celebrate the Eucharist. This problem has been going on for decades and is only getting worse.

Last year, the Vatican reported that while the number of Catholics worldwide increased by 16.2 million in 2021, the number of priests decreased by 2,347. As a result, on average there were 3,373 Catholics for every priest in the world (including retired priests), a rise of 59 people per priest.

The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate reports that in 1965 there were 59,426 priests in the United States. In 2022, there were only 34,344 . Over much the same period, the number of Catholics has increased to 72.5 million in 2022, from 54 million in 1970.

Priests are also getting older. In 2012, a CARA study found that the average age of priests rose to 63 in 2009, from 35 in 1970. When a Jesuit provincial, the regional director of the order, told Jesuits at a retirement home not long ago that there was a waiting list to get in, a resident wag responded, “We are dying as fast as we can.”


Archbishop Gregory Aymond conducts the procession to lead a livestreamed Easter Mass in St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, April 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

In many rural areas of the United States, priests no longer staff parishes but simply visit parishes once a month or less frequently. In 1965, there were only 530 parishes without priests. By 2022, there were 3,215 according to CARA.

All of these numbers are only going to get worse.

RELATED: The Synod on Synodality called for better liturgy. Will anyone listen?

In the early 1980s, the archbishop of Portland came to a rural parish to tell them they would no longer have a priest and that most Sundays they would have a Scripture service, not a Mass.

A parishioner responded, “Before the Second Vatican Council, you told us that if we did not go to Mass on Sunday, we would go to hell. After the council, you told us that the Eucharist was central to the life of the church. Now you are telling us that we will be just like every other Bible church in our valley.”

Many American bishops have tried to deal with the shortage by importing foreign priests to staff parishes, but Vatican statistics show that the number of priests worldwide is also decreasing. New U.S. immigration rules are also going to make it more difficult to employ foreign priests in the United States.

The Catholic hierarchy has simply ignored the obvious solution to this problem for decades. Under Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, the discussion of married priests was forbidden. Leaders in the hierarchy tended to live in large cities where the shortage had less of an impact than in rural areas.

Even Pope Francis, who expressed his respect for married clergy in Eastern Catholic churches, did not respond positively when the bishops meeting at the Synod for the Pan-Amazon Region voted 128-41 to allow married deacons to become priests. At the recent meeting of the Synod on Synodality, the issue of married priests was hardly mentioned.

RELATED: Synod on Synodality report is disappointing but not surprising

The decline in the number of vocations has many explanations depending on whom you ask. Conservatives blame the reforms coming out of the Second Vatican Council.

Certainly, the council did emphasize the holiness of marriage and the vocation of the laity. Priests seemed less special after the council. Prior to the council, only a priest could touch the consecrated host. Today, lay ministers of Communion do so at nearly every Mass.

However, sociologists note that vocations decline when families have fewer children and when children have greater educational and employment opportunities.

Thus, in a family with only one or two children, the parents prefer grandchildren to a son who is a priest. And, in the past, priests were the most educated person in the community and therefore had great status. Today, parishes can have many lawyers, doctors and other professionals, and becoming a priest does not confer the status it used to.

Catholic priests participate in a thanksgiving Mass for the elevation of Archbishop of Hyderabad Anthony Poola to cardinal, at St. Mary’s high school in Hyderabad, India, Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022. ( AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Those who point to the continued increases in vocations in Africa and Asia need to listen to the sociologists. Already, there are fewer vocations in urban areas of India where families have fewer children and more opportunities for education are available. Africa and Asia are not the future of the church. They are simply slower in catching up with modernity.

Anticlericalism has also impacted vocations, first in Europe and now in America. Priests are no longer universally respected. They are often treated with ridicule and contempt. Being a priest is countercultural.

Despite this, there are still many Catholics who are willing to take up this vocation. People are being called to priesthood, but the hierarchy is saying no because those who feel called are married, gay or women.

A 2006 survey by Dean Hoge found that nearly half of the young men involved in Catholic campus ministry had “seriously considered” ministry as a priest, but most also want to be married and raise a family.

Having a married clergy will not solve all the church’s problems, as we can see in Protestant churches. Married ministers are involved in sex abuse, have addictions and can have the same clerical affectations as any celibate priest. But every employer will tell you that if you increase the number of candidates for a job, the quality of the hire goes up.

Nor is allowing priests to marry simply about making them happier. For the Catholic Church it is a question of whether we are going to have the Eucharist or not. At the Last Supper, Jesus said, “Do this in memory of me.” He did not say, “Be celibate.”

Anti-immigrant pastors may be drawing attention – but faith leaders, including some evangelicals, are central to the movement to protect migrant rights

Religious beliefs can provide motivation, hope and endurance in the long and often discouraging task of mobilizing people for social change.

February 26, 2024
By Brad Christerson, Rev. Dr. Alexia Salvatierra, Robert Chao Romero
(The Conversation) 

 A convoy of far-right Christian nationalists calling themselves “God’s Army” have been staging rallies on the southern U.S. border against migrants.

Under the banner “Take Our Border Back,” rally participants are using dehumanizing language about an “invasion” and citing the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which claims that a cabal of Western elites and Jews are promoting migration in order to replace white people and their political power with nonwhite immigrants.

Several prominent figures in the Christian right have offered faith-based justifications for anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies. The Christian right has asserted the need to protect the American culture and families from the alleged dangerous influence of Islam and from the supposed wave of hardened criminals crossing the southern border. Indeed, opinion surveys consistently show that white Christians, especially evangelicals, are among the most likely groups in the U.S. to hold anti-immigrant sentiments.

Yet our work with faith-based, pro-immigration advocacy groups points toward a different reality. As we argue in our new book, co-authored with sociologist Nancy Wang Yuen, “God’s Resistance: Mobilizing Faith to Defend Immigrants,” faith leaders, including some evangelicals, are central to the current movement to protect immigrant rights, and they have been for over a hundred years.
Faith-based movements for immigrant rights

Historically, Latinx Christian leaders have been at the forefront of immigrant rights in the U.S.. For example, Mexican-American Catholic leaders of the Jim Crow era such as Alonso Perales and Cleofas Calleros applied Catholic social teaching, such as the inherent equality of all human beings, to civil rights struggles.

They founded leading organizations like the League of United Latin American Citizens and the National Catholic Welfare Conference, which played key roles in landmark civil rights cases, such as Mendez v. Westminster and Hernandez v. Texas.

Mendez v. Westminster ruled in 1947 that segregation of Mexican-American children in schools is unconstitutional, which paved the way for the 1954 historic Brown v. Board of Education anti-segregation ruling. Hernandez v. Texas ruled in 1954 that Mexican Americans and all other racial groups in the United States had equal protection under the 14th Amendment.

Many people also don’t realize the centrality of Christian spirituality in the immigrant-led farmworkers movement in the 1960s. Key labor leaders such as Cesar Chavez and Delores Huerta incorporated Catholic social teaching as well as religious symbols and practices in their successful unionization of farmworkers. For example, Chavez led a 25-day “peregrinación” – a pilgrimage – in California from Delano to Sacramento, under the banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a star of David, and a cross, which ended on Easter Sunday. This pilgrimage was a key turning point in the success of the movement.

In the 1980s, faith leaders in the U.S. and Central America joined together in the Sanctuary Movement to effectively challenge the Reagan administration’s asylum policies toward those fleeing the civil wars in central America. The movement ultimately led to changes in asylum law; those fleeing the wars were eventually allowed to apply for asylum. It also was partially responsible for the termination of U.S. military funding for wars in El Salvador and Guatemala.

Some of the largest and most influential immigrant rights organizations that exist today, like the Southern California-based Central American Resource Center, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, and National Day Laborers Organizing Network, were founded by Latinx people of faith during this era.

Our book documents this history and also analyzes the key role of faith-based organizations in challenging the Trump administration’s crackdown in immigration enforcement, which led to record-high levels of immigrant detention and family separations.

We conducted case studies of six faith-based immigrant advocacy organizations in Southern California from 2018 to 2020, two of which are multi-faith, two evangelical, one Catholic and one mainline Protestant. We found that faith groups possess unique advantages, which when working in coordination with secular organizations, add significant power to the movement for immigrant rights.
Religious language about justice

Christian scriptures, symbols and rituals can vividly express ideals of the “Kingdom of God” or “Beloved Community” in which all people are equally valued and have the right to thrive and be safe from violence.

We saw how this religiously inspired vision can provide motivation, clarity, hope and endurance in the long and often discouraging task of mobilizing for social change. Religious or spiritual practices provide strength in particular to marginalized communities, which an emerging group of scholars is calling “spiritual capital.” Lindsay Perez-Huber, a professor of education and counseling, in her study of undocumented Chicana students, defines spiritual capital as “a set of resources and skills rooted in a spiritual connection to a reality greater than oneself.” In other words, religious beliefs and spirituality can be a source of resilience when people need to persevere and resist in the face of injustice.

In pleas to officials, and during speeches at trainings, rallies and protests, we consistently heard references to sacred scriptures. We heard the biblical command in the book of Leviticus that “the foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born.” Advocates passionately recounted the experience of Jesus’ family as refugees fleeing state violence to Egypt, and references to Jesus’ statement in the book of Matthew that “I was an immigrant and you welcomed me.”

We also saw religious rituals combined with nonviolent direct action in fasts and hunger strikes, prayer vigils and worship songs at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities and offices, calling on the power of God to set the captives free. For these participants, they were not only engaging in an act of political protest, but personally connecting with God’s spirit for justice in the world.

Faith as a bridge across social groups

A church member hands out food to migrants on May 10, 2023, in Brownsville, Texas.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Our book also shows that faith-based groups bring immigrants into contact with non-immigrants, church attenders in contact with activists, and activists in contact with politicians who have faith commitments. These connections are crucial for building a broad movement for change.

Among the things we documented were church volunteers becoming personally connected to asylum seekers, detainees and their families as they helped provide access to housing, basic needs, jobs, transportation and legal support.

We witnessed faith leaders connecting undocumented young people with public officials who influence the policies that affect their lives, telling their personal stories to those decision-makers.

Faith leaders also had ongoing “ministerial” and “discipleship” relationships with fellow Christian believers who are ICE officials, members of congress, and city council members. These relationships influenced these officials at different times in key policy decisions.

In summary, our research shows that despite media attention to anti-immigration Christian groups, faith leaders and faith-based organizations have also played a central role in past and current movements for immigrant rights. Faith-rooted organizing has unique strengths that add significant power to movements for social change.

Rev. Dr. Alexia Salvatierra has received funding from the Louisville Institute to conduct this research. She is on the Board of Matthew 25/Mateo 25. She worked for CLUE from 2000-2011. Matthew 25/Mateo 25 and CLUE are organizations analyzed in the book.

Robert Chao Romero received funding from the Louisville Institute for this research.

(Brad Christerson, Professor of Sociology, Biola University. Alexia Salvatierra, Academic Dean, Centro Latino & Associate Professor of Mission and Global Transformation, Fuller Theological Seminary. Robert Chao Romero, Associate Professor of Chicana/o and Central American Studies, University of California, Los Angeles. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

Alabama IVF decision is bad law with religious filigree

Being a religious conservative doesn't necessarily make you a theocrat.

 Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker speaks on the steps of the state judicial building on April 5, 2006, in Montgomery, Ala. When the court ruled that frozen embryos are children, its Chief Justice Parker made explicit use of Christian theology to justify the court's decision in his concurrence, where his language echoed the broader anti-abortion movement. (AP Photo/Jamie Martin, File)

February 26, 2024
By Mark Silk

(RNS) — After the Alabama Supreme Court decided last week that an embryo is a person, GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley told CNN’s Jake Tapper, “I think that the court was doing it based on the law, and I think Alabama needs to go back and look at the law.”

But the decision was not actually based on the law — at least not according to the (as the originalists say) “public meaning” of the word “based.” As the dissent by Justice Greg Cook makes abundantly clear, it ignored existing law and the court’s long-standing rules of interpretation to achieve a desired result.

At issue is the state’s 1872 Wrongful Death Act, which sets the terms for filing a civil suit when a person dies — in this case, the accidental destruction of a number of frozen embryos in a cryogenic facility in Mobile. Seven of the nine Alabama justices took the position that an embryo is a child person from the moment of conception and is therefore covered by the act.

Cook, saying he believes in originalism, notes that the dictionary decision from the mid-1800s meant “child” to apply only to “infants from their birth.” He points out that earlier Alabama caselaw, which was simply ignored in the case’s main opinion, specifically disallows civil cases to be brought for the death of an embryo or fetus.

The dissenting justice likewise shows that the main opinion (signed by three of the justices) abandons the court’s practice of aligning the state’s definition of personhood in civil cases with its definition for purposes of criminal prosecution. In 2006, Alabama redefined who could be deemed a victim of a criminal homicide to include an “unborn child in utero” but not a frozen embryo.

“Thus,” writes Cook, “unless and until the Legislature updates Alabama law in such a way that demonstrates that a ‘frozen embryo’ is a ‘minor child,’ this Court remains bound by the original public meaning of that term as it was understood in 1872 when the Legislature passed the Wrongful Death Act.”

Much of the media attention has centered on the concurrent opinion written by Chief Justice Tom Parker, and that opinion is indeed striking for the way it bases itself, well, on Christian doctrine.

In 2018, Alabama voters passed an amendment to the state constitution stating that “it is the public policy of this state to ensure the protection of the rights of the unborn child in all manners and measures lawful and appropriate.” This was incorporated into the constitution as “Section 36.06 Sanctity of unborn life.” Parker focused his concurrence on the meaning of “sanctity.”

After quoting, among other texts, the Bible, St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin, the chief justice writes:

In summary, the theologically based view of the sanctity of life adopted by the People of Alabama encompasses the following: (1) God made every person in His image; (2) each person therefore has a value that far exceeds the ability of human beings to calculate; and (3) human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God, who views the destruction of His image as an affront to Himself. Section 36.06 recognizes that this is true of unborn human life no less than it is of all other human life — that even before birth, all human beings bear the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory.

It’s as if Parker had never heard of the establishment clause.

While it’s tempting to treat his concurrence as an example of saying the quiet part out loud, I’m inclined to see Parker as a judicial outlier. Before joining the court, he was a prominent Christian rights activist and an aide and ally of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was suspended from office in 2016 after ordering state judiciary officials not to provide marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

He is also an open advocate of the Seven Mountain Mandate, which holds that Christian believers should control all aspects of society.

Of the six other justices who agreed that the Wrongful Death Act applies to frozen embryos, none signed on to Parker’s opinion nor signaled that they approved of its faith-based argumentation. Let us note that Cook, the dissenter, is a deacon at his Southern Baptist Convention-affiliated church. Being a religious conservative doesn’t necessarily make you a theocrat.

For the record, let us also note that Parker has himself run afoul of the Decalogue’s injunction against bearing false witness in his zeal to claim that IVF won’t grind to a halt in Alabama — as Cook predicts and as has in fact happened. Arguing that IVF can proceed without creating multiple (and therefore some frozen) embryos, he falsely asserts that in Australia and New Zealand, “prevailing ethical standards dictate that physicians usually make only one embryo at a time.”

The footnote to this assertion refers to a section of those countries’ Code of Practice for Assisted Reproductive Technology Units that has to do not with making but with transferring one embryo at a time. As with IVF elsewhere, they create multiple embryos when they can Down Under.

Be all this as it may, there’s no question that Alabama has laid the groundwork for restoring, let’s call them, traditional family values

Yes, support for IVF in the citizenry may soon lead the legislature to exempt frozen embryos from the purview of the Wrongful Death Act. But if it doesn’t, the state supreme court could align its civil and criminal definitions of personhood by letting a prosecutor bring homicide charges against someone who willfully destroys a frozen embryo.

Meanwhile, there’s same-sex marriage, which the state of Tennessee will now permit officials to refuse to perform should the U.S. Supreme Court reverse its 2015 Obergefell decision. In 2006, Alabama voters approved a constitutional amendment declaring a marriage between two persons of the same sex to have “no legal force or effect in this state.”

You can find this enshrined in the constitution under the heading: Section 36.03. Sanctity of Marriage.

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2024/02/global-perspectives-on-alabama-ruling.html

 

Oh, What a Tangled Web We Weave, When First We Practice to Conceive

by Vern Loomis / February 26th, 2024

Is it, or isn’t it? If it is, there is absolutely no room to equivocate. If an embryo is truly a human child, pontificating and political posturing must be put aside; drastic and immediate intervention is called for. The lives of real children are at stake.

In Alabama, it’s been decided: embryos are children; there’s nothing left to debate. Those in the know are absolutely certain that at the moment of conception, when sperm and egg unite to become an embryo, a human being is immediately formed. Those in the know are absolutely certain that every embryo is a child, and each child is a gift from God.

Justice Tom Parker is a man in the know. His Alabama Supreme Court recently ruled that embryos are human children. Embryos are not going to become children; they are already indisputably children and must be recognized as such. Surely recognizing the existence of a child requires some follow-through; the children can’t just be left to languish in the hands of their captors. So, what’s to be done with them? What’s to be done with all the children imprisoned in cryogenic freezers throughout the country? If they are truly children, if they are a gift from God, isn’t it mandatory that they be rescued from frozen purgatory and allowed to resume their human lives as quickly as possible (like right now)?

It’s not just a few; there may be hundreds of thousands of embryos (children) held captive in cryopreservation. When couples go to fertility clinics to consider in vitro fertilization (IVF) they are often advised to have from two to four embryos frozen for each child that might be planned. Every embryo not immediately used is cryogenically stored for years or even decades. Given time and thousands of prospective parents, the numbers have added up. Way back in 2002, a RAND-SART survey found 396,526 frozen embryos (children) being held in 430 reproductive technology facilities across the United States. It’s quite possible that there are even more than that today. There could be half a million (or more) embryos (children) stored (imprisoned) in frozen limbo at this very moment. Surely the clinics and laboratories holding them must be forced to release their hostages – they are real children, right?

But they can’t just be released; they have to be saved; and to be saved, they must be biologically nurtured for nine months. How is that to be done? There are thousands upon thousands of embryos (human babies) needing homes, and upon liberation from the freezer, their first and essential home needs to be a warm womb. Will there be enough volunteers for this “coming to Jesus” kind of moment? If you believe as Justice Tom Parker believes, and if you are a woman, won’t this be your time to step forward? Won’t this be an opportunity (or even an obligation) to put the bumper sticker words into action? If you are a Pro-Life evangelist, if you truly believe that an embryo is a human child and a gift from God, then you know that each embryo is calling out to you. Could you even think to turn away?

Yes, it’s both an opportunity to save a child and to serve God, but it will also be a heavy load to bear. Women shouldn’t be expected to bear it alone. Justice Parker and strong men like him who know that embryos are living children and God’s gift to mankind have to step forward and passionately encourage the women in their lives to do what needs to be done. Their wives, their daughters, and even their granddaughters must be lauded in their blessedness, and then supported physically, emotionally, and financially as they step forward to save the life of a child. It’s the right thing to do.

Okay, it’s almost unthinkable, but what if there aren’t enough volunteers? What if, you know, the timing just isn’t quite right for some of the faithful to step forward? What if thousands of frozen children are still left to linger in uncertainty? They can’t just be abandoned and allowed to go unclaimed. How might they be saved?

Well, should it turn out that the knowing faithful are not quite up to walking the walk, there is another possibility for rescue, and it lies right at our doorstep. There are thousands of desperate men and women standing at our border every day awaiting the slightest chance for admittance. What if some of the women standing there were offered citizenship in exchange for birthing a child? Rather than putting all those hapless would-be immigrants on busses and abandoning them in strange faraway cities, governors like Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida could offer free rides to fertility clinics. It would be a win, win, win, type of scenario. The children would be rescued, some merciful women would attain citizenship, and those in the know who had really wanted to save the children, but for whom the timing wasn’t quite right, would be taken off the hook for coming up short.

So, do they, or don’t they? Does the good judge, Tom Parker truly believe in what he decrees? Do Parker, his fellow jurists, Alabama lawmakers, and other Pro-Life adherents really believe that embryos are children? If they do, they should already be doing what needs to be done. If the embryos are children, there’s no time to dither; it’s a real “house afire” emergency. If embryos are children, there are hundreds of thousands of children awaiting rescue right now, thousands of lives that are prone to dissipating every day. Where is the National Guard that should be surrounding each clinic and protecting the babies? Where are the men and women that should already be out on the streets signing up volunteers? And where are all those volunteers; the Pro-Life evangelists who will dutifully carry a gift from God for just nine months in order to save the life of a child? Do all the Pro-Life men and women really believe in what they proclaim, or are “embryos are children” just words for image promotion and meant to be kept comfortably in the abstract?

Aside from the blaring headlines, it’s pretty quiet out there.

InVitroFertilization


Vern Loomis lives in the Detroit area and occasionally likes to comment on news and events that interest him in whatever capacity available. Besides Dissident Voice, his other musings can be found at Transcend Media Service, ZNetwork, CounterPunch, The Humanist, and The Apathetic Agnostic. Read other articles by Vern.

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2024/02/global-perspectives-on-alabama-ruling.html

Republicans Increasingly Reveal They Barely Know Where Babies Come From

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 15: U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) (C), joined by House Intelligence Chairman Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) (L) and House Intelligence Ranking Member Jim Himes (D-CT) speak 

By Nicole Lafond

TPM
February 26, 2024 

The floodgates opened on Friday as every Republican got the memo that they needed to be loud and proud about the party’s recently discovered support for in-vitro fertilization treatment, a common form of reproductive health care that was, apparently, not much thought about by today’s anti-abortion movement — at least until the Dobbs ruling opened a window for the Alabama Supreme Court to declare embryos “babies” earlier this month.

This month’s decision out of Alabama — which found that embryos are children and have the same rights in wrongful death suits — has stoked panic about the future of IVF treatment in Alabama and across the country post-Roe. But it has also unearthed yet another layer of how deeply Republicans do not understand how reproduction and reproductive care work.

Republicans in the House, Senate, on the campaign trail and in governor’s mansions across the U.S. have struggled to both declare support for the underlying fetal personhood ideology at the core of the Alabama ruling — that embryos have “life” and are “babies” — and, also, support for IVF in the past week, just as they’ve struggled since the Dobbs ruling to figure out what to say about its cascading, far-ranging impacts for health care, including for those patients who have had a miscarriage.

Anyone who has gone through standard fertility treatment in the modern era, or knows someone who has, has a passing understanding that when embryos are formed in a lab, some are viable and some are not viable. Further, it is normal for medical professionals to attempt to create more than one viable embryo when going through the IVF process with a patient as the creation of one viable embryo does not always guarantee successful implantation. That means that some unused viable embryos are destroyed or frozen as part of the process. It’s really expensive to freeze embryos for long periods of time and getting the treatments covered by insurance can be a total nightmare.

That’s why the Alabama ruling has already had a chilling effect in the state, as clinics pause IVF patient care until it is more clear how they can proceed without risking prosecution.

The problem is, a bunch of Republicans followed in Nikki Haley’s (mis)footsteps and seized on the rather extreme Alabama court ruling — declaring their vague agreement with the idea that embryos are “babies” — without having a firm grasp on what that means for IVF. Many of them sidestepped questions by saying they hadn’t read the ruling or the “bill” without making the seemingly more honest confession that they didn’t really know what they were talking about, at all. Then the shift began, with a wave of defensive statements about how important it is for families to have access to the treatments for growing “Beautiful Babies,” as Donald Trump put it. By Friday afternoon, Alabama lawmakers announced they’d craft legislation to protect in vitro in the state.

Yet over the weekend, Republicans continued to reveal how little they know about the procedure. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, for example, was completely tripped up by a question from CNN’s Dana Bash, who simply asked: “Are you saying that families in Texas who are using IVF, have extra embryos that are frozen, do not need to worry?”

“Well so you raise fine questions that are complex, that I simply don’t know the answer to. Let me give you a couple examples and that is, uh, I have no idea mathematically the number of frozen embryos,” he stumbled. “Is it one, 10, 100, 1,000? Things like that matter.

“These are very complex issues where, I’m not sure everybody is really thought about what all the potential problems are and as a result, no one really knows what the potential answers are,” he continued, prompting CNN’s Kasie Hunt to make this face in response to the exchange:




The waterfall of Republican statements of support for unrestricted IVF have also triggered a wave of news articles pointing out the GOP’s hypocrisy on the issue, specifically the hypocrisy of House Republicans who sponsored or supported the Life at Conception Act, which was introduced in January 2023.

The bill, which is languishing in the House, is sponsored by 125 House Republicans. It defines a “human being” to “include each member of the species homo sapiens at all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization or cloning, or other moment at which an individual member of the human species comes into being.” It also defines the right to life under the 14th Amendment as being for “each born and preborn human person.” It includes no language or provisions for IVF or other forms of reproductive care.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who released his own statement of unequivocal support for IVF, is among the co-sponsors.


Again, this bill was introduced just 13 months ago! It has 125 co-sponsors — much of the House Republican conference!

Big picture, the Republican squirming is revealing of something we have been reminded of repeatedly since the high court overturned Roe in 2022: the people trying to set policy to curb reproductive rights have a rather limp grasp on the basic mechanics of how babies are made.

Michigan’s Muslim voters mobilize to vote ‘uncommitted’ in Democratic primary

For many, Tuesday's primary is a chance to show the impact of Muslim Americans' dissatisfaction with Biden's support for Israel and his refusal to advocate for a cease-fire in Gaza.

Anti-war activists march to the White House during a pro-Palestinian demonstration demanding a cease-fire in Gaza, at Freedom Plaza in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

February 26, 2024
By  Fiona André

(RNS) — In one of the most watched Democratic primaries this election cycle, Michiganders will head to the polls Tuesday (Feb. 27), where many will encounter volunteers from Listen to Michigan advocating for them to cast an “uncommitted” ballot to signal disapproval of President Biden’s actions so far in the Israel-Hamas war.

In a state where Biden won by only 3 points in 2020, Democratic officials are keeping a close eye on how he performs there in the primary, particularly among the state’s substantial Arab American population, the country’s largest, which was key to his narrow victory over former President Donald Trump four years ago but has since fractured in the wake of the war.

Dozens of local leaders from Dearborn and Hamtramck, which count large Muslim communities, as well as Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat and Palestinian-American, also announced she would vote “uncommitted.”

Over the past few months, Listen to Michigan has worked to mobilize voters through door-to-door campaigns and rallies to show up at the primary and do likewise.

“Michigan voters are sending Biden a clear message in the February 27 Democratic primary that he can count us out. We are filling out the UNCOMMITTED bubble because we strongly reject Biden’s funding war and genocide in Gaza,” wrote the group on their website.

The state’s more than 200,000 Muslim voters — as in Pennsylvania, Minnesota and other swing states — showed up overwhelmingly for Biden in 2020. Nationwide, 64% of Muslims went for Biden in 2020, according to the AP. But, in the months since Hamas’ deadly attack in Israel on Oct. 7, many have felt betrayed by Biden’s support for Israel’s response and his refusal to advocate for a cease-fire, even as the death toll in Gaza approaches 30,000.

Mona Marwari, of Dearborn, calls a voter for the Listen to Michigan uncommitted vote campaign in Detroit, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024. Michigan voters are poised to cast ballots in their respective presidential primaries on Tuesday, but a feeling of voter apathy has swept over the state. Both major parties have said that they must win Michigan to secure the White House this year, but they’re struggling to connect with voters. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

For many, Tuesday’s primary is the first occasion to show the impact of Muslim Americans’ dissatisfaction with Biden’s foreign policy.

The Abandon Biden campaign, a national coalition that pledged to make Biden “a one-term president,” also called on its Michigan supporters to vote “uncommitted” in tomorrow’s election.
Launched in November, the movement now counts more than 100 community leaders nationwide and a local chapter in nine swing states.

“Just alone in Michigan, Arab and Muslim Americans will decide whether Michigan is going to vote for Biden,” said Hassan Abdel Salam, a member of the coalition.

He explained that the movement tries to form partnerships with leaders from Latino and African American communities. On Monday, it launched its Minnesota chapter in front of Minneapolis’ Federal Court House in the presence of members from the activist group Jewish Voice for Peace.

In this image taken from video, Muslim community leaders from several swing states pledge to withdraw support for US President Joe Biden, Dec. 2, 2023, at a conference in Dearborn, Michigan, citing his refusal to call for a cease-fire in Gaza.

 (Video screen grab/#AbandonBiden)

At this stage of the war, the Abandon Biden campaign has pledged not to vote for Biden, even if the president were to now advocate for a cease-fire.

Their rejection of President Biden is mirrored in many Muslim American communities, said Salam, noting the shift from the 2020 presidential election. “That really represents an earthquake,” he said.

Michigan’s chapter of Emgage, an advocacy group working to increase Muslim American involvement in politics, also joined Listen to Michigan in its call to vote “uncommitted.”

In a letter issued on Monday, Hira Khan, the executive director of Emgage Michigan, wrote that the “uncommitted” vote was an opportunity for those who want the Biden administration to stop sending military support to Israel and increase humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

“Our voices matter, and we will ensure they are heard through actions that align with our principles,” she wrote.

In her letter, Khan also reaffirmed the importance of showing up to the polls, regardless of the outcome.


Emgage’s Million Muslim Votes campaign logo. (Image courtesy Emgage)

Emgage, which claims to have mobilized a million Muslim voters in the 2020 election, launched its second edition of the Million Muslim Votes campaign last week.

The campaign’s coordinator, Mohamed Gula, said it was particularly important to show up as a “powerful voting and social bloc” and participate in keeping democracy “strong and vibrant.”

“This effort is especially crucial given the violence in Gaza and elected officials’ apathy towards it: our voices must be heard now more than ever,” he wrote in a statement.

For this election, the Million Muslim Votes campaign plans to partner with more than 70 organizations and launch the campaign in new states, including California, New York, and Arizona.

Since 2020, the Muslim American community’s political influence has significantly increased; the number of Muslim voters went from 1.2 million to 1.8 million, according to data from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Salima Suswell. 

(Photo courtesy Emgage)

Political consulting firm Aristotle collected the figures by analyzing surnames, first names, geographical information and nationalities on voters’ registries.

The research also points out the diversity of the Muslim electorate and estimates that 300,000 Muslim voters are of African American, White and Latin American heritage.

Salima Suswell, the executive director of Emgage’s Pennsylvania chapter, said Black Muslim voters are prioritizing two issues: Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war but also his domestic policies affecting marginalized urban communities.

“We are not a one-issue community. We have to also focus on the domestic policies that are deeply impacting marginalized communities here in America,” said Suswell, who is Black.

Suswell said she will also cast an “uncommitted” ballot when the Pennsylvania Democratic Primary comes in April.

Who was Aaron Bushnell? US Air Force member died setting himself on fire outside Israeli Embassy

Kate Sheehy
Published Feb. 26, 2024, 


Aaron Bushnell — the Air Force engineer who died hours after lighting himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in DC on Sunday — was a 25-year-old IT engineer-in-training who hailed from a tiny Massachusetts town.

Bushnell live-streamed his gruesome final moments — chilling footage that included him calmly walking to his final destination outside the embassy’s gates before dousing himself in a flammable liquid and lighting it, sending him up in flames.

The steely-eyed serviceman, dressed in his camouflage uniform, said in the video, “I will no longer be complicit in genocide [in Gaza].

“I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest,” he added before repeatedly screaming, “Free Palestine!’’ as fire engulfed him and he eventually collapsed.

Air Force engineer Aaron Bushnell, 25, begins to go up in flames after lighting himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in DC on Sunday 

(face blurred by The Post)X/Talia Jane

Here is what we know about Bushnell.

Budding IT engineer with grand future plans

The airman entered basic training in May 2020 and “graduated top of flight and top of class,’’ according to his LinkedIn profile, which said Monday it “has been memorialized as a tribute to Aaron Bushnell’s professional legacy.”

He ended up stationed in San Antonio, Texas — across the country from his family back home in Orleans on Cape Cod.

At the time of his death, Bushnell was working as a DevOps, or software development and operations, engineer, a tech guy who was presumably acting as a go-between for the two areas, his job profile said.

He also had cyber-security training, he said.

“Throughout my time in the military in both leadership and followership roles, as well as prior work experience in a variety of civilian roles, I have thrived in team environments and gained very good communication skills,’’ wrote Bushnell, who was promoted to his last job in March 2023.

“I have been commended by senior leaders for my ability to explain complex technical matters to them. I can bring many such soft skills to the table in any role.”

He described himself as an “aspiring software engineer’’ and said he was “currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering from Western Governor’s University,’’ although the page also said he was actually attending Southern New Hampshire University.

Bushnell came from a classic Cape Cod town in Massachusetts.

Facebook/Aaron Bushnell

“We are deeply saddened by the news of Aaron’s passing and the SNHU community sends its deepest condolences to Aaron’s family and friends,” the school said in a statement to ABC on Monday.

Aaron Bushnell expected to obtain a bachelor’s degree in software engineering in May 2025, he said on LinkedIn.

The Air Force was tight-lipped Monday about Bushnell and his death, only confirming an active-duty service member died in the disturbing incident.

“It certainly is a tragic event,’’ Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters Monday, adding that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “is following the situation.

“We certainly do extend our condolences to the airman’s family,’’ Ryder said.
Religious family with roots in quaint Cape Cod town

The Bushnells appear to be a religious family and fairly well-known in their hometown of Orleans.

Dad David, 57, supervises construction for an architecture firm — sharing links on his Facebook page to sites such as the Church of the Transfiguration and The Community of Jesus — and mom Danielle, also 57, is employed as a “purchaser and contracts administrator’’ for Paraclete Press, a publisher of Christian books and music.

Danielle’s online company bio reads, “Her other passions include teaching American history and government to homeschoolers, playing the bass clarinet, caring for her dog, Jasper, and her cat, Lilac.”

The company declined comment to The Post on Monday.

Aaron Bushnell attended local schools when younger.

The young man played in a local percussion group with his younger brother several years ago.

Nauset Public Schools said Monday it is “heartbroken to learn of the untimely death of one of our former students, Aaron Bushnell.

“Mr. Bushnell was a student in the Nauset Public Schools between 2003-2007 and 2013-2014,” the district told WBZ-TV in a statement. “Our school community is saddened by Mr. Bushnell’s death and we offer our condolences to his family and friends.”

As a teen, Aaron Bushnell worked for two years in IT and web development for Paraclete.

He and his younger brother Sean, 22, also performed when younger in a drum ensemble called Spirit Winter Percussion.

“Spirit WP is over the top awesome!” their proud dad wrote in a 2017 Facebook post. “Words can not express how grateful Danielle and I are for this group and how much it has meant (and continues to mean) in our boys’ lives.’’

Anarchist leanings

Aaron liked two Ohio-based anarchist groups — Burning River Anarchist Collective and Mutual Aid Street Solidarity — on his Facebook page.

He also gave the thumb’s up to an account belonging to the Kent State University chapter of the radical pro-Hamas group Students for Justice in Palestine.

In late December, Burning River touted two books for readers, including one titled, “Nourishing Resistance,’’ on its Facebook page.

On Oct. 17, 10 days after the Palestinian terror group Hamas launched its massacre in Israel, sparking the Gaza war, the anarchist group also linked to an interview by the Black Rose Anarchist Federation titled, “Voices from the Front Line Against the Occupation: Interview with Palestinian Anarchists.’’

The airman walks calmly to his final destination, the gates of the Israeli embassy, on Sunday afternoon.

Facebook/Aaron Bushnell

It interviewed Fauda, “a small group centered in the West Bank that identifies itself as a Palestinian anarchist organization, to get their perspective on the current struggle.

“We hope that this interview will be a step in creating more connections between revolutionaries in the US and the militant youth in Palestine, and more knowledge and understanding of each other,’’ Black Rose said.

The Fauda member interviewed said during the conversation, “I want to tell all our brothers around the world, not just in the United States, to never trust what the global media empire tells you.

“I want you to know something else, which is that the Palestinian Authority and President Mahmoud Abbas do not represent us, the Palestinian people, at all. We reject authority and we reject Abbas and all his ministers.”

Burning River declined comment to The Post on Monday, saying in an e-mail that “none of us knew’’ Aaron Bushnell.

The airman’s final hours

Two hours before he burned himself alive around 1 p.m. Sunday, Aaron Bushnell posted a now-eerie final message on Facebook.

“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,” he wrote.

Cops stand guard Sunday oustide the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, after the airman lit himself on fire.

Anadolu via Getty Images

The message included a link to a Twitch livestream, which he would soon use to broadcast to the world his opposition to the war in Gaza — and his horrific end.

“Hi, my name is Aaron Bushnell, I am an active duty member of the United States Air Force, and I will no longer be complicit in genocide,’’ the young man then says matter-of-factly in the footage as he walks toward his final destination outside the embassy Sunday afternoon.

“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.’’

Mourners create a memorial to Bushnell outside the embassy Monday.

Ron Sachs – CNP

Once in front of the embassy gates, he uses a thermos to douse himself with the flammable liquid, then tries to light his uniform but apparently fails so instead torches the liquid pooling around his feet and goes up in flames.

“Free Palestine!’’ the airman repeatedly screams as he waves his arms and amazingly stays standing for about 45 seconds before crumpling to the ground, his clothes burned and his body charred.

He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition and died Sunday night, authorities and Air Force officials said.

Two people who were claimed to be friends of Bushnell spoke to independent journalist Talia Jane, who posted their words to X on Monday.

“He is one of the most principled comrades I’ve ever known,” said a person called Xylem, who apparently had worked with Bushnell to support San Antonio’s unhoused residents.

Another friend called Errico, who said they had met Bushnell in 2022, added, “Aaron is the kindest, gentlest, silliest little kid in the Air Force.

“He’s always trying to think about how we can actually achieve liberation for all with a smile on his face.’’

What’s next

The Air Force told The Post on Monday it would be releasing more information on the service member by Tuesday, after a 24-hour period involving family notification.

Pentagon spokesman Ryder on Monday declined to comment on any possible ties between Aaron Bushnell and extremist groups.

We Must Resist Any Erasure of Why Aaron Bushnell’s Young Life Came to an End

He cried out for a free Palestine, and yet the US media set out to suppress the meaning and purpose of his sacrifice.

By Kelly Hayes , ORGANIZINGMYTHOUGHTS

February 27, 2024   

People leave notes and flowers during a vigil for U.S. Air Force active-duty airman Aaron Bushnell outside the Israeli Embassy on February 26, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Bushnell died after setting himself on fire while live streaming, according to published reports, in front of the Israeli Embassy in protest over the ongoing genocide in Palestine

.ANNA MONEYMAKER / GETTY IMAGES

Aaron Bushnell died for Palestine. Bushnell, a 25-year-old active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force, set himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington D.C. Sunday afternoon after declaring that he would “no longer be complicit in genocide.” As the flames consumed him, a police officer pointed a gun at Bushnell, who yelled out the words “Free Palestine” in pained screams until his voice fell silent.

Despite the fact that Bushnell died while engaging in what he called “an extreme act of protest,” multiple major news outlets ran headlines that depoliticized his tragic death. A New York Times headline read, “Man Dies After Setting Himself on Fire Outside Israeli Embassy in Washington, Air Force Says.” CNN and Reuters both ran the headline, “US airman sets himself on fire outside Israeli Embassy in Washington.” The Washington Post took a similar approach, opting for the language, “Active-duty airman sets himself on fire outside Israeli Embassy in Washington.” An article about Bushnell published by NPR stated, “As of Monday morning, NPR was not able to independently verify the man’s motives.”

Aaron Bushnell, however, had already verified his motives. Bushnell streamed his self-immolation on the platform Twitch using an account that was apparently created in order to broadcast his death. The original video was swiftly removed from the streaming platform. I watched a censored version, which was posted by journalist Talia Jane. Jane said they had received permission from Bushnell’s loved ones to post a version of the video that was edited to obscure the sight of Bushnell’s burning body. At the beginning of the video, Bushnell introduced himself, saying, “My name is Aaron Bushnell. I am an active-duty member of the United States Air Force, and I will no longer be complicit in genocide.” As he approached the Israeli Embassy, Bushnell stated, “I’m 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.”

Upon reaching the embassy, Bushnell backed away from the camera. In his hand, he held a thermos that was adorned with stickers. He opened the thermos and poured a flammable substance over his head and body before lighting himself on fire. As the flames engulfed him, he repeatedly yelled, “Free Palestine!”

With his dying breaths, Aaron Bushnell cried out for a free Palestine, and yet the U.S. media has set out to suppress the meaning and purpose of his sacrifice. This erasure is not shocking in light of the anti-Palestinian bias that publications like The New York Times have previously demonstrated.

US Airman Self-Immolates in Front of Israeli Embassy, Yelling “Free Palestine”

“This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal,” said Aaron Bushnell, who was 25. By Sharon Zhang , TRUTHOUT  February 26, 2024

Over the weekend, the Times reportedly “cut ties” with freelancer Anat Schwartz, who co-authored an influential and inflammatory piece for the publication, which claimed that Hamas systematically used sexual violence as a weapon of war on October 7. Schwartz faced fierce criticism on social media after another Twitter user discovered that Schwartz clicked “like” on a post that called for Gaza to be turned into a “slaughterhouse.” The piece Schwartz co-authored has been widely criticized for its alleged inconsistencies, misrepresentations, and inadequate fact-checking. Critics of the piece include an Israeli family whose story was central to the article and staff members of the Times.

I will not rehash the allegations of that infamous piece or outline the many concerns that have been raised about it. The pro-Israel bias of the piece is not abnormal for the Times or for the U.S. media in general, and this certainly isn’t the first crisis of legitimacy the Times has faced for biased reporting. Anyone who remembers the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq knows the Times has a rich history of publishing lies that facilitate mass violence – and that they have not been alone in that work. The vague headlines and feigned uncertainty found in coverage of Bushnell’s death are also familiar. Israel’s atrocities, much like police violence in the United States, are usually framed as unsubstantiated allegations by major publications. If the truth incriminates the U.S. or Israel, it is rarely expressed with clarity.

Bushnell’s suicide is the story of a member of the U.S. armed forces who chose death over an affiliation with genocide. That is a narrative that a lot of people would like to bury. By livestreaming his death, Bushnell dared us to witness the kind of horror that the U.S. has facilitated in Gaza, where more than 29,000 Palestinians have been slaughtered by the Israeli military. Bushnell died to divorce himself from that violence and to force us to reckon with it. “This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal,” he said.

The efforts we have seen to erase Bushnell’s motives are unconscionable, which is why I began this piece by stating a truth so undeniable, so heartbreaking, and so unpredictable in its impact that the stenographers of genocidaires and their apologists felt compelled to suppress it: Aaron Bushnell died for Palestine.

Following his death, the mutual aid organization Serve The People Akron released a statement on social media that praised Bushnell’s work supporting unhoused community members, calling him a “valued member of our organization.” Serve The People wrote that Bushnell was dependable and persistent “with the mutual aid work he did in a city that was still new to him.” The group expressed gratitude for Bushnell’s organizing work, stating, “We will be forever grateful for the effort he put in to make Akron a better place.” Serve The People also urged the public to honor Bushnell’s sacrifice. “We are all still devastated to learn of his passing but we do not want his actions to go in vain. Please continue your education, advocacy, and support for the Palestinian people,” they wrote.

Talia Jane posted comments from some of Bushnell’s friends and co-strugglers, including Xylem, who worked with Bushnell to support San Antonio’s unhoused residents. Xylem told Jane, “He is one of the most principled comrades I’ve ever known.”

Another friend of Bushnell’s, whom Jane identified as Errico, said of Bushnell, “He’s always trying to think about how we can actually achieve liberation for all with a smile on his face.”

More than 100 people gathered outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington D.C. Monday night to pay tribute to Bushnell. Mourners also gathered in Los Angeles and Long Beach, California. Vigils will be held in Chicago, Portland, and New York City on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Some people have raised concerns that honoring Bushnell amounts to a glorification of suicide. I do not believe Bushnell was seeking glory any more than I believe that the compassion, grief, and empathy that many people have expressed amount to glorification. However, there is no way to neatly reconcile the horrors of this genocidal moment with our fears or feelings about suicide or death. As I recently told a dear friend, “We weren’t meant to live this way, and they weren’t meant to die this way.” More than 12,300 Palestinian children should not be dead. 7,000 people should not be buried under the rubble. 1.9 million Palestinians should not be displaced. Israeli civilians should not be organizing celebratory blockades to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza. Images of murdered and dismembered children should not fill our social media feeds. More than 29,000 murdered Palestinians should still be alive, and Aaron Bushnell should be working on mutual aid projects with his friends. There is no “right way” to process the unthinkable; we can only hold people in their humanity, honor the dead, and defend the living.

Self-immolation is a tragedy that, in many cases, signals a collective failure so egregious that everything, including our well-reasoned sensibilities, should be upended by it. To withhold our compassion, our understanding, our solidarity, or any other human response to such sacrifices does nothing to sanctify or protect life. We should be consumed by the horror of such acts, just as Bushnell was consumed by the flames he ignited. We should be jarred into action and determined to build a front so powerful that no person of conscience feels desperate enough to view a fiery death as their only recourse.

Bushnell was not the first person in the U.S. to self-immolate in order to protest the genocide Israel is waging in Gaza. In December, an unidentified person set themselves on fire near the Israeli consulate in Atlanta in what police characterized as “likely an extreme act of protest.” The fate of the individual in that case is not publicly known.

Bushnell’s final act of protest was part of a tragic lineage that has unfolded across the course of human history. People have set themselves ablaze to protest religious persecution, warfare, structural oppression, the destruction of the natural world, and many other injustices. A refusal to acknowledge and understand such desperate deaths devalues the humanity of those we have lost and denies their dying plea: that we see, that we feel, that we understand and that we act accordingly. We must hold the truth of Bushnell’s final act in our hearts, and we must resist any erasure of why his young life came to an end. We must remember, and we must tell the truth that enablers of genocide would erase: Aaron Bushnell died for Palestine.

Author’s Note: If you are struggling with depression or despair, please take care of yourself. You are loved and needed. If you need support, these resources from Dandelion Hill might be helpful:

Surviving Depression & Despair (Tips From Lived Experience)

Non-Carceral Resources For Care & Support

 

Aaron Bushnell’s Self-Immolation Indicates ‘Profound Change in Consciousness in US’

Peoples Dispatch | 27 Feb 2024

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People across the world have highlighted the bravery and sacrifice of the US active duty soldier who was protesting the genocide in Gaza.

On Sunday, February 25, Aaron Bushnell became the first active duty US soldier to use self-immolation to protest the actions of the military he was a part of. “I’m about to engage in an extreme act of protest,” he said in a self-recorded livestream outside of the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC. “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.” He then lit himself on fire. He later succumbed to his injuries in a hospital.

Before his final act of protest, Bushnell, who worked in the IT department in the US Air Force, made a post on Facebook, which read, “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.”

Anti-imperialist and Palestine solidarity organizations within the United States have released several statements in honor of Bushnell.

Brian Becker, the Executive Director of the ANSWER Coalition, wrote in a statement released on the morning of February 26, “This was an act of martyrdom by a US service member who was outraged by the actions of a government that speaks in his name.”

Becker continues, “Aaron Bushnell’s action is a reflection, an indicator, a marker, of the profound change in consciousness in the United States. The previously dominant narrative that backed the Israeli apartheid government is dramatically giving way to a narrative based on the truth: that the Palestinian people have been the victims of dispossession, ethnic cleansing, violence of all types and now a genocidal killing spree in Gaza. And people in the United States and around the world are horrified and are mobilizing on multiple fronts in support of Palestine.”

The Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) also released a statement highlighting the message sent by Bushnell’s protest. “In making the most extreme sacrifice a human being can in support of a moral cause — his own life — Aaron sent a message on behalf of the masses of the US and of the world, that people of conscience everywhere will refuse complicity in the unfolding genocide against the Palestinian people until our last breath,” the statement read.

It concludes by saying, “Let Aaron’s words and last act burn brightly in our conscience, let it propel us, let it move us to continue struggling for a Free Palestine, now and until the hour of liberation.”

Iraq war veteran Mike Prysner wrote a tribute to Bushnell, commenting on the crisis of conscience that many US service members face for being part of “an institution of killing”. Prysner writes, “The torment of Israel’s barbarism has been a trying time for all people with a conscience. We have all reeled for months through rage and hopelessness…For Bushnell, that meant also having to put on the uniform of the institution loading the weapons…providing tactical and strategic assistance to the genocide. Not only that, but one also doing the killing: conducting the air strikes on Yemen, Iraq and Syria against people we have no reason or right to kill.”

Prysner emphasized: “Bushnell saw the plain truth: that he was an accomplice to all that. The truth killed him. The Pentagon brass killed him. Joe Biden and Congress killed him.”

However, Prysner also pointed out the crucial role that soldiers and veterans have played historically in organizing against war and called on service members and veterans to take steps to protest US complicity in Israel’s genocide and object to participating.

No Tech for Apartheid, a campaign organized by Google and Amazon workers against the companies’ contract with the Israeli government and military, released a statement highlighting the role of tech workers, like Bushnell, in opposing the genocide. “Armed forces from the US to Israel employ thousands of tech workers as military operations become more and more AI-driven. These operations are also powered by tech companies like Amazon and Google, which are enabling the world’s first AI-powered genocide committed by the Israeli military.” The campaign called on tech workers of conscience to join the movement and refuse to be complicit in genocide.

Pro-Palestine and anti-war groups have organized vigils to honor Bushnell in several cities in the US. In Washington DC, a vigil was held in front of the Israeli embassy where Bushnell carried out his action.

NOW: Palestine solidarity activists hold a vigil outside the Israeli embassy in Washington DC where 25 year-old U.S. airman Aaron Bushnell took his own life by self-immolation to call for an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza pic.twitter.com/MhwDD7lUXe

— BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) February 26, 2024

International response

The weight of Bushnell’s protest, the fact that an active member of the US military carried out such an extreme protest against US support of Israel’s genocide, sent shockwaves around the world with “Washington” “Aaron Bushnell” and his last words, “Free Palestine”, appearing as trending topics on X in countries across the world.

Bushnell’s protest was widely shared throughout Yemen, where the people have been constantly mobilizing and engaging in direct acts of solidarity with Gaza, such as the Ansar Allah movement’s blockade of the Red Sea to ships linked to Israel. One X post from Yemeni doctor Ahmed Ali Alhareb reads, “He refused to be annihilated and did not stand by. Rather, he took a practical stance, ignited himself, and gave his soul to deliver the message of rejection to all corners of the globe. From his position in the American Army, he sent his message to the silent Arab and Islamic armies that the fire of this world is easier for you than the fire of the afterlife, and there is no excuse for everyone before God.”

Leftist Palestinian resistance group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, released a statement following Bushnell’s protest highlighting that it “confirms the state of anger among the American people due to the official American involvement in the zionist genocide war being waged on the Gaza Strip. It also indicates that the status of the Palestinian cause, especially in American circles, is becoming more deeply entrenched in the global conscience, and reveals the truth of the zionist entity as a cheap colonial tool in the hands of savage imperialism.”

Many have also drawn the connection with the Israeli killing of US citizen Rachel Corrie in 2003 in Rafah when she tried to stop a bulldozer from demolishing a Palestinian home.

At the start of Bushnell’s livestream, his first words after introducing himself as an active-duty soldier are “I will no longer be complicit in genocide.” Many in the United States, including those who have been taking to the streets for Palestine since October 7, have come to the same conclusion.

Courtesy: Peoples Dispatch

SEE

‘I will no longer be complicit in genocide’: U.S. soldier dies of self-immolation in protest of war on Gaza