Burning Through Time: A Historical Exploration of Self-Immolation
What were you taught from a young age to do when you are on fire? Stop, drop, and roll. That is because fire is the most painful and damaging experience to the human body. Mere seconds of exposure to flames can fry off nerve endings, melt tissue, char bone, and cause irreparable destruction. So why have over 150 people self-immolated since the early 1960s? What would compel these individuals from across the globe to engage in this drastic form of self-torture. There is only one answer: protest of atrocities from war to persecution and genocide. Such a drastic gesture used to spark the rightful outrage and shock befitting such horrifying actions, but now this same measure is dismissed as a mental health issue or blamed on alleged substance abuse. Somewhere on the timeline of public protest from the war in Vietnam to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, public sympathy shifted away from these individuals brave enough to stand for a cause they believed in by paying the ultimate price, their life.
In 1963 the war in Vietnam was in full force, with a recorded 122 American soldiers and 5,665 Vietnamese citizens dying in combat that year. While this chaos was gripping the world, and all eyes were on the countless anti-war protests held across American cities, one man decided to take things to a level that would shock the world. Thich Quang Duc, a Vietnamese monk, took to a crowded Saigon intersection and after dousing himself in gasoline, lit himself on fire. Photos of the event shook the world. At a time when Americans thought of the war against South Vietnam as a fight for democracy to prevail against the evils of communism, to see a peaceful monk pictured ablaze in a silent fight against the harm of the American-backed government was jarring. The act, while drastic and terrifying, caused American citizens across the country to follow suit out of sympathy and solidarity. One man, Norman Morrison, self-immolated in front of the Pentagon before the eyes of his child. Still the world exhibited compassion, showed concern for the plight of Vietnamese citizens, and sought an end to the war.
The Vietnam War was not the only conflict or cause for which people have sacrificed themselves. In 2020, a Russian journalist writing under the name of Irina Slavina self-immolated after posting to her Facebook: “I ask you to blame the Russian Federation for my death.” Outrage stemmed from her death, with many individuals praising her sacrifice in the name of her long-standing fight for democracy. Across the globe there was an outpouring of support for Slavina and other Russian journalists on the crusade for fair elections and democracy. From social media to most headlines of western newspapers, Slavina’s actions, though gruesome, yielded a large amount of positive attention, with countless people flocking to learn more about the injustice she sought to fight. In 2022, Wynn Allen Bruce sacrificed himself as a call to action in the name of the climate crisis before the Supreme Court. Subsequently, there was a rise in media attention to the climate crisis and climate legislation being passed.
In a world where most people are not moved by the sheer number of civilian casualties, do we not need to be shocked into action?
On Sunday, February 25th of this year, United States Airman Aaron Bushnell self-immolated in front of the Israeli embassy in the District of Columbia. Bushnell live- streamed his act of protest in the name of stopping the ongoing genocide in Gaza. His last words were, “free Palestine,” and as he stood there ablaze, the world was shocked. Then came the undermining questions. Was he inebriated? Was he sane? Yes, such an act is grotesque, terrifying and desperate. However, for decades it has been considered the highest form of protest and sacrifice in the name of a cause. In fact, instances of self-immolation attract news coverage and have been proven by University of Oxford sociologist Michael Biggs to be effective in raising the public awareness of various causes. When Thich Quang Duc died in the name of the nearly 6,000 murdered South Vietnamese, his cause was seen as valid. So why was Bushnell’s self-sacrifice in the name of the nearly 30,000 men, women, and children dead in Gaza since October questioned more than past instances on the basis of substance dependance and radicalization? However, self-immolation is a tragic and extreme act that many people believe to be a manifestation of mental health issues and not the ultimate act of self-sacrifice. While this is not an endorsement of Bushnell’s actions against himself, it is vital to any discourse surrounding his actions to note that he engaged publicly in one of the most painful forms of self-sacrifice imaginable, all in the hopes that the world would turn its gaze and compassion to the countless unnecessary deaths in Gaza. In a world where most people are not moved by the sheer number of civilian casualties, do we not need to be shocked into action?
Noor Huda ‘27 studies in the College of Arts & SciencesShe can be reached at h.noor@wustl.edu