In an incident all but completely ignored by the U.S. corporate media, a man identified as Matt Nelson set himself alight near the Israeli Consulate in Boston at around 8:15 pm local time on Wednesday, September 11.
“We are slaves to capitalism and the military-industrial complex. Most of us are too apathetic to care,” Nelson continued. “The protest I’m about to engage in is a call to our government to stop supplying Israel with the money and weapons it uses to imprison and murder innocent Palestinians, to pressure Israel to end the genocide in Gaza, and to support the [International Criminal Court] indictment of [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of the Israeli government.”
“A democracy is supposed to serve the will of the people, not the interests of the wealthy,” he added. “Take the power back. Free Palestine.”
NBC Boston and other local media took flak from critics on social media, who noted that the outlets chose to report the incident’s location as “outside the Four Seasons Hotel” instead of by the Israeli Consulate.
To have self-immolation be meaningful, you must share a common cultural foundation with those in the group you wish to impact, and be genuinely stepping across some kind of boundary others view as impossible to cross. The bond between you and them must be strong enough that the meaning cannot be denied.
Otherwise, you’re just another soul setting itself on fire, just literally and physically this time. Isolated? Yup. Isolated and on fire now? Yup.
With what we have now, going up in a blaze is the easy way out, as hard as it must be. But finding a new way of life, finding ways to step in and take the reins without screwing things further - even the attempt at that is something I can respect.