lilly-anarkitty

[lilly-anarkitty]

Aaron Bushnell's final social media post before his self-immolation.

[lilly-anarkitty]

February 28, 2024 - American military veterans burn their uniforms calling for a free Palestine, at a vigil for Aaron Bushnell in Portland, Oregon. [source]

[lilly-anarkitty]

[lilly-anarkitty]

Sacrifice or Suicide?

I don’t see Lilly’s self-immolation as an act of suicide but moreso as sacrificial and symbolic.

Bushnell didn’t show any signs of suicidality - if so she would’ve been discharged out of the military held in a VA psych ward. Especially with a security clearance as high as hers.

Lilly was incredibly methodical about her self-immolation it was to symbolize and force the globe to see what’s happening in Palestine.

Bushnell wouldn’t have wanted copycats and I do not condone anyone to self-immolate whatsoever.

Yet, I still think it is important to understand and remember these people for who they were based on their own accounts rather than mainstream media accounts which already hate anarchists like us.

PSA: If you or anyone you know are feeling suicidal, please reach out for help!

Call 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline

Text HOME to 741741 for the Crisis Text Line

Call, text, or chat with The Trevor Project https://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-help/

[lilly-anarkitty]

I've updated Redemptio memoriae, the full writeup of the rationale for identifying the Washington, D.C., martyr of 25 February as Lilly Bushnell (she/her, he/him). Version 2 is a thoroughgoing revision with more data and more, and clearer, explanation.

I expect to publish 1 additional version, incorporating 2 additional pieces of data: one which is already public and cleared for disclosure, one which is awaiting clearance to disclose.

After that, while I will continue to follow the story, I have no immediate expectations of publishing anything else. Bushnell is dead, and there is no reason to believe she left any direction behind on how she might have liked to be remembered.

But someone has to remember.

[lilly-anarkitty]

#lillyanarkitty #lilly bushnell #aaron bushnell #free palestine #bushnell #palestine #free gaza #gaza #gaza strip #friends of Bushnell #friends #comrades

[lilly-anarkitty]

Lilly did explore her gender identity & sexuality.

View on X/Twitter

#lillyanarkitty #lilly bushnell #aaron bushnell #bushnell #palestine #free palestine #alihartwrites #lilly-anarkitty #gender #gender identity #queer #trans #sexuality

[lilly-anarkitty]

US veterans have burned their uniforms in solidarity with Aaron Bushnell Portland, Oregon February 28, 2024

{source}

#video #vigil #memorial #protest #uniform burning #military #former military #vets #lillyanarkitty #lilly bushnell #aaron bushnell #Bushnell

[lilly-anarkitty]

Ode to Aaron Bushnell.

When I get to Heaven

And god comes walking down,

I’m gonna push past his welcome,

And go find John Brown.

We’ll be stars up in Heaven,

And we’ll be looking kindly down,

On all who die for liberation,

Our blood mixed into the ground.

#poem #remembrance #ode to Bushnell #Bushnell #lillyanarkitty #lilly bushnell #aaron bushnell

[lilly-anarkitty]

idk I think if you're a trans person you oughta be able to understand wanting to be viewed as different genders in different contexts. like, press wrangling about Bushnell's death was already difficult, but Aaron clearly wanted to present a specific image to the press that was different from what Lilly expressed in semi-private discord groups. every single transfem I've talked to about it instantly understood that if Bushnell had been open about being trans during the act & communication around it, it would have become more about her gender than about Palestine in the coverage, and that in the eyes of centrists and conservatives a "male" service member self-immolating carries rhetorical weight that would be counteracted by transmisogynist dehumanization. really, it's not that different from someone being closeted to family or church while out at school or work.

trans anarchists (especially those who knew lilly) can talk about her as trans without it being "outing" because we were an in-group she trusted with her gender in life. Recognizing Lilly as our own during our discussions about it doesn't detract from Aaron's decision to present a specific way to the public to maximize the impact of his final act. and like, as someone who uses he/her pronouns (if from a likely-different perspective), I think the most respectful thing is to be able to understand and acknowledge the multitudes she contained and speak honestly about the ways he navigated gender as an active, intentional choice. Honoring his life means seeing her whole self.

#aaron bushnell #lilly bushnell #reflection #lillyanarkitty #remembrance #similarity #community #palestine #trans #transgender #transfem #non-binary #queer

[lilly-anarkitty]

x

He listened to and enjoyed Potawatomi Nation teachings and died saying Free Palestine. He will be in indigenous history and prayers a long time.

Please read/listen to Braiding Sweetgrass. It's a wonderfully poetic read and additionally an amazing book to add to your decolonial reading list.

#braiding sweetgrass #lillyanarkitty #lilly bushnell #Bushnell #book #books #reading #veganism #indigenous

[lilly-anarkitty]

people who claim that acknowledging the fact that bushnell went by Lilly and used she/her pronouns is "distracting from her message and protest/making it about trans women instead" have such a significant lack of human compassion and societal understanding. (even putting aside the fact that we should probably consider which name we remember trans women by.) do you not understand that her dying as a "man" was part of her sacrifice and martyrdom? that she wore her uniform, streamed it live, shouted for palestine, and died as a white "male" trooper to gain as much attention from the media as possible to redirect towards the call for a free palestine? you say that to consider her gender identity would be to negate from her message but how? how would remembering her by the name she died with attached to her live stream negate from her message? how would acknowledging that portraying herself as a cis man was a political sacrifice for palestine same as her death was? do you really think she'd have made the news as she did if she told journalists to remember her by Lilly? she knew how to make the biggest impact. it's why she died in a uniform she hated. it's why she streamed it. every part of her was sacrificed for the political cause to free palestine and to ignore that and claim its irrelevant is politically insensitive at best and downright politically idiotic and intentionally transmisogynistic at worst.

the most we can do for her is remember her by the name she (frankly, publicly, as her twitch handle & discord username) went by. she could have made a different twitch account if she really didn't want /anyone/ to know of her identity in death. why does it make you so mad to remember her as who she was?

[lilly-anarkitty]

Aaron Bushnell may have been a transgender woman. Not only did she sacrifice her life, she sacrificed it knowing that she would be preserved by a name that was not hers.

The more I hear about Aaron/Lily's story the more it makes me cry. She was so selfless and so fucking kind, and she saw genocide and she chose to do something about it.

We lost one of our own. And I think this also speaks to the amount of queer Palestinians dying as well, the amount of unnamed bodies beneath rubble with identities and sexualities and lovers and friends. We'll never know their names, and they'll be preserved as anonymous peoples, but we know Lily Bushnell.

Rest in Power.

#rest in power lily bushnell #lilyanarkitty #aaron bushnell #lilly bushnell #lillyanarkitty #Lilly-anarkitty #free palestine

[lilly-anarkitty]

California

[lilly-anarkitty]

[lilly-anarkitty]

Respectfully, I think it's super disrespectful for you as a trans masc to take this url. Lilly was our sister, but that doesn't mean it's cool to claim to memorialize her by outright taking her name for your Tumblr blog.

I’m more nonbinary than masculine, I add masc as an additional label as to further explain my gender expression - as I am also intersex but was incorrectly identified as AFAB. I also use they/them pronouns.

As a queer person, I feel it is appropriate to use a variation of Lilly’s original username to remember her by, as she was my sister as well. Her two tumblr accounts were @acebush1 & @lillyanarkitty.

I have a main blog for my own personal discourse and interests, this blog @lilly-anarkitty is for memorializing Lilly and sharing information about causes she cared about.

#Lilly-anarkitty asks #anon ask #lillyanarkitty #lilly bushnell #aaron bushnell #free palestine #bushnell #queer #trans #nonbinary #intersex #they/them #alihartwrites response

[lilly-anarkitty]

Thank you for this blog, and for existing. 💖

Absolutely! I’m so glad I can offer a welcoming space for the queer community to collectively discuss, grieve, share, and celebrate Lilly’s life and sacrifice.

I am nonbinary transmasc myself, so when I heard the news I immediately felt like I had lost a sister.

Thank you for seeing Lilly, our beloved sister and comrade. 🏳️‍⚧️❤️

I’d also like to leave you with this inspiring quote from Lilly. (16 March 2023)

“It’s not too late for you or anyone. We can have the world of our dreams tomorrow, but we have to be willing to fight today.” - Lilly Bushnell

#ask about lilly #ask #ask me anything #lillyanarkitty #lilly bushnell #bushnell #dreams #free palestine #solidarity #comrades #alihartwrites #alihartwrites response #aaron bushnell