Column: Complacency in the face of genocide is complicity

Content warning: This column contains mention of suicide and violence.

On Feb. 25, Aaron Bushnell, an active duty member of the U.S. Air Force, set up a livestream in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. Wearing his combat uniform, he doused his body in gasoline, placed a camouflage hat over his head and lit himself on fire. As flames engulfed his body and he collapsed, he was surrounded by police officers — one of which held a gun pointed at his burning body throughout the entire video. Bushnell’s last words were “Free Palestine.” He died from his injuries later that day.

In the days following his suicide, Bushnell’s act of protest has been subject to a range of media discourse, with some praising this self-immolation and others finding fault in it. I’m not here to endorse nor critique the way this man chose to end his life; that’s not my, or anybody else’s, place to do.

It is, however, worth discussing what Bushnell died fighting for: Palestinian liberation.

In the past months we have seen nonstop coverage of the genocide Israel is committing. Accord to reporting from The Associated Press,  more than 100 people were killed as the Israeli military opened fire on a group of people racing to receive food from aid trucks last week in Gaza City. Those who have survived months of relentless bombing are facing a famine, further starved by Israel.

In the ongoing debate over Israel’s actions in Gaza, there is a consistent return to the tragic Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that killed more than 1,000 Israelis and foreigners.

The level of the massacre in Gaza cannot be justified in the name of self-defense. This response is an attempt to provide excuses for a genocide we witness each day with our own eyes. Every day on social media, more and more violent videos surface of atrocities occurring in Gaza. 

Around the world, we sit and watch silently as thousands of civilian men, women and children are being decimated by Israel.

More specifically, this campus is watching silently.

I’ve heard peers claim they don’t know enough about what’s going on in Gaza to speak on it — this isn’t their place, they valiantly decide. Our students can’t chisel out enough time from their TikTok doomscroll to read up on anything that doesn’t concern them.

It’s easy for people to justify their silence and chalk this all up to just another form of social media activism. It certainly excuses you from skipping your sacred Frappuccino. Every day, I sit and watch students on this campus parade around with a Starbucks latte. In our economy, your financial support for a company is the strongest power you have. Maintaining the decency of not shopping at companies like Starbucks and McDonald’s, the former of which sued its union after they tweeted in support of Palestine, does actually send a message.

Genocides thrive on silence. They thrive on bystanders who are too occupied to acknowledge the magnitude of what is going on at the moment. In years to come when historians write about this — and finally label it a genocide themselves — the world will pretend to be shocked.

News organizations will finally work up the courage to label the ceaseless slaughter of innocent people as a genocide. They won’t be able to hide behind curtains of media neutrality as an excuse; what many of us already know will be confirmed: This is a genocide.

When your children ask how this happened, how the tragedies they will learn about in school occurred, tell them this: by avoidance, by silence, by people unwilling to inconvenience themselves in the slightest bit. This is how a genocide happens. With near-complete complacency.

I’ve seen countless articles discussing Bushnell's mental health status.

These articles claim that only someone suffering from a mental illness could commit suicide over something like this. Each day we walk around and see videos of the graphic horrors unraveling in Gaza. If you are able to witness this, to watch these atrocities unfold before your eyes and continue to walk into that Starbucks on Franklin Street, to avoid any sort of obligation to encourage change, then I can’t help but wonder if you are the one whose actions should be called into question, not Bushnell’s.

@dthopinion | opinion@dailytarheel.com