One year later: Remembering Aaron Bushnell’s self-immolation protest against genocide

One year ago, on Feb. 25, 2024, 25-year-old Aaron Bushnell, an active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force, self-immolated in front of the Zionist Embassy in Washington, D.C., to protest against the genocide of tens of thousands of Palestinians. He said that he refused to be “complicit in genocide,” and as his body burned in flames, he cried out six times, “Free Palestine.”

In Los Angeles, Palestine solidarity activists gathered in front of the Zionist consulate to honor Bushnell. Organizers from the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice, Code Pink, Justice 4 Palestine, and many individuals worked together to organize the action.