To start off this episode I wanted to talk a little bit about Wynn Bruce. Wynn Alan Bruce was a photographer and Buddist who set himself on fire on April 22, 2022. On this Earth Day Bruce went to the Supreme Court Building in Washington, DC in the United States and set himself on fire. It is presumed and people who knew him have said that he did this as a protest against the climate crisis.
Bruce has been an outspoken voice on climate and the inaction by the US government for years and it seems like he telegraphed his intent to self immolate as far back as April of 2021 with further confirmations in April of this year.
In January he posted a photo of the monk and activist Thích Nhất Hạnh who wrote in 1965 "to burn oneself by fire is to prove that what one is saying is of the utmost importance" and he later added to the post another quote by Hanh, “The most important thing, in response to climate change, is to be willing to hear the sound of the earth’s tears through our own bodies.”
I’m not really doing a news item so I would direct you to the wikipedia page for Wynn Bruce if you want to know the details of the incident but it was reported by witnesses that he didn’t cry out or scream at all for around 60 seconds while he was on fire and only expressed pain once the fire was put out. He was airlifted to a hospital and died the following day.
I mentioned earlier that it is presumed that he did it as a protest against the climate crisis and that is backed up by a number of people including friends and family. The Buddist temple that he attended said that they did not know what he was planning and that self immolation was never discussed at the temple but that they understood why someone might resort to self immolation “given the dire state of the planet and the worsening climate crisis” I’d have to agree with that and after the recent IPCC report on climate change that basically said we have to take action now or we never will I find myself admiring the sacrifice Wynn Bruce made. The commitment he held for the cause of climate action and the vision he had that his self immolation might have some impact.
It is a concern for me that it won’t and that nothing will. In the face of global capital and the refrain of economy over planet I’m reminded that for many people nothing can challenge the status quo and anyone who does is either disregarded as a crank or imprisoned as a terrorist
With that I’m going to send you over to this interview with Brently that I did a couple of months ago now. I apologize to Brently for the lateness of this release as I had other stuff that got placed in front of him in order. Make sure to check out his Twitch channel and the Unapologetix podcast.
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