Man Self-Immolates in Front of Israeli Consulate in Boston
"It is done to wake us up"
A man in Boston self-immolated outside the Israeli consulate around 8:15 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 11.
Little further information is available.
Two other people are known to have immolated themselves to protest Israel’s carnage since October in the US. There was also a self-immolation in Jordan in June.
The Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh said of self-immolation: "I think we must try to understand those who have sacrificed themselves. ... It is done to wake us up." See my piece after the death of Aaron Bushnell in February: “Ignoring Immolators Lulls the Society to Sleep: Aaron Bushnell at the Israeli Embassy: ‘FREE PALESTINE!’” As I noted then: “But much is done to lull us back to sleep. Big media covered this in a limited capacity and some of it reflected the view that the immolator may have been a danger to others.”
The media “news” headline about the immolation in Boston pathetically only mentions the nearby Four Seasons hotel:
Also, "news" media elect not to show the video of the actual immolation because the public must not see reality:
Many media similarly blurred out the image of Bushnell burning alive.
Before Aaron Bushnell, on Dec. 1, someone immolated themself with a Palestinian flag outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta. See my piece from February: "‘Jane Doe’ Who Immolated Herself at Israeli Consulate in Atlanta Last Year Is Still Alive.”
In June, the rapper and activist Lowkey reported: “A man set himself on fire outside of the Hashemite Palace in Jordan in protest against Jordan's pro-Israel position. The guards opened fire on him as he burned.” Though Lowkey would note that his motives could not be confirmed; there’s been so little reporting on that case. The video Lowkey posted is no longer available and the account he cites has been suspended. But I did find this:
As I noted at the time, Bushnell got some minimally decent amount of coverage because he livestreamed it and clearly stated his motives.
“It is done to wake us up.” As people try to normalize a genocide. It’s done to wake us up — and institutions are there to deceive and put us back to sleep.
See my piece from 2011 during the Arab uprisings:
Thank you Sam for the reference to your previous blog discussing other immolations. In particular, your quotations from Father Daniel Berrigan and Thich Nhat Hant that make a good response to those who slight self-immolation as, in a word, a waste.
Thich: "I think we must try to understand those who have sacrificed themselves. We do not intend to say that self-immolation is good, or that it is bad. ... When you say something is good, you say that you should do that. But nobody can urge another to do such a thing. ... It is done to wake us up."
Berrigan: "Jesus' death, I think, in a very deep sense can be called a self-immolation. I mean that He went consciously to death, choosing that death for the sake of others, reasonably and thoughtfully."
And you put it succinctly: "In some ways, self immolation is an attempt at a life of service all at once. We are all oxidizing slowly, they chose it all at once."
I can't restack this
Can with other posts elsewhere...not this though