““I do not find a way to reach the hearts of men.”
– suicide note, Stefan Lux”
There are some souls on this earth that so love the world, so stand for justice, they forsake the world in the hope that their own death may be an atonement, a sacrifice, a tincture that might provide a resolution to an seemingly insoluble problem.
I lived and taught in a school as a young teacher. It was named Skola Jan Palacha, a magnificent building in the Czech Republic (then still Czechoslovakia), Karlovy Vary. It was there where I became very familiar with the story of the young Jan Palach who set himself ablaze in 1968 in protest against the Soviet suppression and occupation of his country. It’s a sad story but deep set in every Czech’s heart - how he set himself on fire and kept alive the hope for Czech freedom in the years of communist suppression.
I recount this in light of the death of Aaron Bushnell. Like Jan Palach, the mainstream media of the day played down his death. They called it mental illness. Derangement. It wasn’t given much notice and the news passed by word of mouth, the old form of social media. Jan Palach is a national hero in today’s Czech Republic - so I hope will Aaron Bushnell be one day. He died not just for his country but for the highest principles one may live by - to die so others may have hope, might survive.
Aaron said online the following, months prior to his protest and death;
There are many who have self-immolated for a cause. I’d like to talk about a few others than might not get the attention they deserve.
The first is Stefan Lux. Another Czech but of Austrian origin who in 1936 gave his life infront of the League of Nations with a shot to the head. He was a Jew warning against the scourage of Nazism, he saw the future well and wanted to wake others. He wrote before his death, “I must die in order for my sacrifice to bear fruit.” I wrote at length about him here.
Another who equally fought against tyranny with their own life and limb was Irina Slavina, a Russian journalist and editor in chief of Kosa Press. She set herself ablaze to bring light upon the issue of corruption and tyranny of the Putin regime. She could not bear the world’s indifference any longer.
Of course, the press will mention Mohamad Bouazizi of Tunisia and his self-immolation - starting the Arab Spring. And too, that of Thích Quảng Đức, the Buddhist monk who set himself ablaze in Saigon in protest of the American occupation in 1963.
What all these and many others have in common is that they could no longer live in a world where so many were passive to the suffering of their fellow human beings. The protest is less about the horrors of the evil doers and more about the indifference of the rest of the world. Suicide is seen as a way to wake up a world that is asleep. And yes, I believe we are asleep - nobody is doing shit about the terrible Israeli evil that daily gets whitewashed.
You see it right before your eyes every day. And we all just ignore it. Yet, some aren’t able to … insufferable souls they are. They see too far, they feel too deep, they long for justice too much.
I remember as a young man, my time in Ukraine and the death of the journalist Gongadze. Beheaded in a forest on the orders of the then president, Kuchma. How I loathed that man, on tape saying “cut his head off”. I learned Kuchma was to visit the city of Kosice in Slovakia - and off I went to make my own statement. My plan was to buy red paint and throw it all over the man. But alas, I couldn’t find any paint. Best I could do was ketchup at a local store. I stood in line all day, waiting. Alas, change of plans. The scoundrel Kuchma never showed up and I swore I’d have my day. Alas, despite sitting outside his villa on the hill in Kyiv countless nights (and that’s probably finally why I was run out of the country), I never got my chance. I was like a character from one of Hasek’s comic novels, a tragic hero. I’ve written lots about that year in Ukraine on this blog.
I tell this story by way of saying that I do understand what compelled these heroes, who gave the ultimate sacrifice, their lives. The anger, indignation, despair can be too much.
I feel it right now. It’s TOO MUCH, this death machine that keeps chugging on, huffing and puffing and blowing the lights out of good people. And meanwhile as Aaron suggests, the ruling class somehow normalizes it. We live in a world where it seems acceptable for 1,000s of innocent people to perish each week as we change our channels and scroll our social media.
Historians often ask, “What would you do if you had lived in the time of slavery?” Well, we are living it right now. What are YOU going to do? We are living history, it is right before our face and eyes and we’ll be judged by how we respond.
Jesus died on a cross. But there are some who believe his life was a suicide, a way to wake up the world to injustice. A way of beckoning divine intervention and for the cost of his death, we are sent free. Atonement. Forgiving our sins. One can see the deaths of these other heroes in a similar vein. They gave their lives so we may be rescued from the evil world we live in. This is the message of Jesus and liberation theology.
We do not need to live in a world of butchery and dog eat dog. We don’t need to live in a world of moneyed immorality that parades as “civilization”. We need light, labitur lux - justice and an end to the false and violence fueled solutions of the class that pulls the levers and turns on the ovens.
I think of Aaron, what courage it took for him to do what he did. I salute that courage and remain commited to doing what I can to make this world more peaceful, just, humane and of brotherhood not enemyhood.
More poems of justice in the coming weeks. Justice is the only door peace needs to walk through.
Aaron Bushnell