Appeal for Redress Redux
Free from reprisal, G.I.s fall in to tell Congress: "CEASEFIRE! NOW!"
Hours before igniting a liquid accelerant in front of the D.C. Israeli Embassy last February, 25-year old U.S. Airman Aaron Bushnell posted a Twitch link on his Facebook page with the caption:
Many of us like to ask ourselves, “What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?”
The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now.
Like many of us, Aaron was overcome with insurmountable guilt. Overwhelmed by the endless, indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinian innocents in Gaza by Israeli forces. Shortly before 1 p.m. that Sunday, he told us so in his live stream as he walked toward the Israeli embassy, as he fumbled with the bottle of flammable fluid. Aaron’s “extreme act of protest” went viral, within minutes. Unflinchingly, he showed millions on social media, even hoards of dismissive war state enablers.
During Bushnell’s “profound act of sincerity” the national war narrative was fraying. U.S. military and State Department resignations climbed, as the human toll soared unabated.
After resigning in protest, State Department official Stacy Gilbert remarked, “It drives me crazy when people say, ‘You’re so principled for resigning,’” Gilbert said. “You can’t work in the government that long and be completely principled but I’m practical. I understand compromises and that there are trade-offs. But in the end, I know the difference between right and wrong.”
Army Major Harrison Mann only recently went public with his November resignation expressing “incredible shame and guilt” on LinkedIn last month.
“At some point – whatever the justification – you’re either advancing a policy that enables the mass starvation of children, or you’re not.”
“The US support that me and my colleagues were definitely going to be a part of, was going to be unwavering, and essentially unlimited.”
Not only is American support for IDF actions faltering, more active duty personnel, no less conflicted, are going public and sounding off. The appearances of tacit support by our armed forces for U.S. funding of the Israeli government’s genocidal war on the people of Palestine is no longer sustainable.
Aaron Bushnell’s horrific challenge helped to jump start the cease-fire protest movement. Grassroots engagements, campus BDS protests and encampments, transportation blockades from the Golden Gate to Grand Central Station, with no foreseeable letup. Now more US active duty servicemen and women are weighing in…in droves.
This week antiwar veteran organizations Veterans For Peace (VFP) and About Face, and the Center on Conscience and War, under the auspices of the Military Law Task Force, announced the launch of Appeal for Redress V2 . As major players in the veterans peace movement, they hear from many active duty military personnel and their concerns are riveting. Palestinians, women and children mostly, are being killed on an industrial scale, and active duty servicemen and servicewomen want Congress to know exactly how they feel about the blatant genocide our elected representatives continue to fund.
According to VFP Executive Director Will Hopkins,
No service member should be put in the position of having to take part in spreading violence which violates conscience or which violates their own oath to uphold the constitution and the laws that are established.
Or to stand by while innocent children are killed because they are afraid of reprisals for speaking out.
I hope in this moment the people of our country can rally behind the brave service members…willing to put their careers and livelihoods on the line to speak out from a place of conscience.
Inspired by the Vietnam GI Resistance Movement, a 2006 Appeal, co-founded by Navy Petty Officer Jonathan Hutto and a small group of friends, was launched, motivating nearly 3,000 active duty, reserve and Guard personnel in 10 countries to send protected communications to their members of Congress appealing for an end to the war and occupation in Iraq. In Gaza and the West Bank, the killing and maiming is going on in real time, dissent is incessant, and “unwavering” military support of the chain of command, as in Vietnam, is once again no longer a given.
Bravo, Geno!