Scant mention of Matt Nelson's protest in corporate media and this misleading headline by NBC10 was corrected before being shared on social media.
In a statement remarkably similar to that of Aaron Bushnell, a Boston Globe employee explained why he self-immolated across from the Israeli consulate in that city.
Why across the street? Perhaps he wanted to avoid having an Israeli consulate guard pointing a lethal weapon at him as he burned, an event now memorialized many, many times over.
In the video he recorded in advance a calm tone prevails in marked contrast to the horrifying act he is about to perform.
My name is Matt Nelson and I'm about to engage in an extreme act of protest.
We are all culpable in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
We are slaves to capitalism and the military-industrial complex. Most of us are too apathetic to care.
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 indictment of 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. Take the power back.
Free Palestine.
Other similarities between Bushnell and Nelson: both are relatively young white men who cite conscience as the catalyst for self-immolation.
But what a contrast in terms of their career paths. Bushnell was an active duty U.S. Air Force airman while Nelson worked for a major newspaper and had a string of professional accomplishments in his career in audio production.
I've seen Nelson referred to as both the third self-immolation over Gaza and the fifth. I'm only aware of one person besides Bushnell, a woman who reportedly acted in Atlanta but whose name and medical condition remain a mystery.
Perhaps the other two were outside the U.S.?
Matt Nelson's condition is unknown at this time after he was rushed to a hospital with severe burns. We are holding him and the Gazans he stood up for in our hearts.
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