Protest by self-immolation is powerful in terms of messaging the strength of purpose and self-determination. To chose to send a message with a conscious choice for the last few minutes of your life to be excruciatingly painful is one that has to penetrate the emotions of all but the least empathetic among us.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
1-800-273-8255
This past Saturday, David Buckel’s body was found in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. Buckel was explicit about why he took the step to kill himself with fossil fuels in an email to The New York Times.
Pollution ravages our planet, oozing inhabitability via air, soil, water and weather.
Most humans on the planet now breathe air made unhealthy by fossil fuels, and many die early deaths as a result — my early death by fossil fuel reflects what we are doing to ourselves.
According to The Daily News, Buckel’s suicide note expressed his hope that his death “might serve others” and was quite explicit that “I just killed myself by fire as a protest suicide.”
Buckel made clear that this was a choice while he was still in ‘good health’ — the choice to use his own life’s ending to make a political statement about climate change.
Is Buckel the first? Is his suicide a sign of things to come?
Self-immolation protest isn’t new.
TV screens around the world saw Vietnamese Buddhists burn themselves in protest over repression during the Vietnam War. Five US citizens committed suicide by self-immolation in protest over the War. A key spark to the Arab Spring was a self-immolation. “Since March 2009, more than 140 people are known to have set themselves on fire inside Tibet to protest against the repressive Chinese occupation.” And … Self-immolation protests are not brand new. And there are 10,000s of suicides that might be linked to climate change, in India alone. Yet, Buckel’s might be first one as a call to the world to #ActOnClimate.
Regretfully, the world’s efforts to address climate change are falling short (and being worsened by science denying, pollution enablers like Donald Trump who hold too many positions of power) and the imperative for drastic action to reduce climate catastrophe risks and impacts will only will only strengthen. That suggests the external environment in which Buckel made his choice will only strengthen the case for such action.
And, there are indications that there at least some around the world considering this as a viable step to take to help spark drastic action. From Wen Stephenson, author of What we’re fight for now is each other: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Climate Justice, in an email exchange earlier today about Buckel’s suicide:
Some of the more radical young folks I got to know when I was writing my book spoke openly of killing themselves in protest. It darkened my perspective considerably. I don’t think it’s ever recovered. God forbid that this should ever be the direction we take.
Is the world paying attention?
Even while being too aware of climate risks (and, well, still likely in self-denial over many ...), it is very difficult for me (for many) to fathom the depths that it takes for a suicide protest and, past that, for the self-immolation suicide -- which guarantees an incredibly painful last moments of life. That, it would seem, provides the image an power of such moves. Yet, even so, these are suicides (such as Tibet) that are passing much of the world by.
And, to a certain extent, this is the case with Buckel’s suicide and reporting on it. Take a look at reporting on Buckel’s action. Take a look at the headlines below, as an indicator of the overall reporting. ‘Mainstream’ media was, at best, mixed in terms of linking this suicide with climate change while conservative outlets almost universally mentioned Buckel's reason for self-immolation in the headline.
- “Mainstream” examples
- New York Times: Prominent Lawyer in Fight for Gay Rights Dies After Setting Himself on Fire in Prospect Park
- New York Magazine: Shock and Grief After Gay-Rights Lawyer Lights Himself on Fire in Brooklyn
- The Hill: Top LGBT rights lawyer sets himself on fire at Brooklyn park in protest suicide
- NPR: PROMINENT GAY RIGHTS LAWYER DIES AFTER SETTING HIMSELF ON FIRE IN NEW YORK PARK
- Note: as of writing this diary, a reference to that NPR report — with zero mention of climate as reason for protest — was only item re Buckel at Daily Kos.
- AP: David Buckel, prominent New York LGBT lawyer, dies after setting himself on fire
- BuzzFeed: A Famous LGBT Rights Lawyer Self-Immolated In A Park To Protest Fossil Fuels
- New York Times: Prominent Lawyer in Fight for Gay Rights Dies After Setting Himself on Fire in Prospect Park
- New York Magazine: Shock and Grief After Gay-Rights Lawyer Lights Himself on Fire in Brooklyn
- The Hill: Top LGBT rights lawyer sets himself on fire at Brooklyn park in protest suicide
- New York Daily News: Famed gay rights lawyer sets himself on fire at Prospect Park in protest suicide against fossil fuels
- The Week: Advocacy lawyer self-immolates to protest fossil fuels
- Washington Post: He fought for same-sex marriage for years — and set himself on fire to protest global pollution.
- BBC: David Buckel: US lawyer sets himself on fire in climate protest
- People: Prominent Lawyer David Buckel Dies After Setting Himself on Fire to Protest Environmental Destruction
- Newsweek: New York Lawyer Burns Himself to Death to Protest Fossil Fuels
- Compare with conservative media - only one doesn't mention reason
- New York Post: Activist lawyer burned himself to death to protest global warming
- Legal Insurrection: NYC: Lawyer Sets Himself On Fire In Suicide Protest Of Fossil Fuels
- Daily Caller: Gay Activist Lights Himself On Fire And Dies To Protest Global Warming
- The Blaze: David Buckel, ‘green’ activist and LGBT rights attorney, commits suicide by setting himself on fire
- BizPacReview: Well-known gay rights lawyer, environmentalist burns himself alive to protest global warming
- Breitbart: Delingpole: Killing Yourself for Gaia Is an Act of Insanity
- Townhall: Environmentalist Burns Himself to Death to Protest Fossil Fuels
- The Right Scoop: Gay rights lawyer LIGHTS HIMSELF ON FIRE in SUICIDE protest against fossil fuel!!
- RedState: Prominent LGBT Activist Attorney Sets Himself Ablaze In Brooklyn Park
- Fox News: David Buckel, prominent gay rights lawyer, burns himself to death in New York to protest global warming
For the climate-science denial world, this is a chance to highlight reckless extremism of environmental activists in messaging that “killing yourself for Gaia is an act of insanity”. For many ‘mainstream’ media outlets, that there was purpose in Buckel’s action is something secondary and not worth emphasis.
A restrained perspective
Again, reaching the point of seeing self-immolation as the right path forward is almost beyond my personal comprehension. And, that — likely shared by most of us — is what can make it such a powerful tool of messaging about desperation and seriousness of purpose.
With that in mind, no matter of what I think of the state of the climate crisis and the desperate need for massive global action to mitigate and adapt to climate change to provide any hope for a vibrant and prosperous global society and human civilization, I certainly am not at the point of endorsing Buckel’s action.
I am, however, strongly of the opinion that Buckel’s choice merits respect in terms of acknowledging and understanding his reasons for acting.
David Buckel made the choice to burn himself to death with fossil fuels to call our attention to the damage that burning fossil fuels is creating for humanity and for the world’s ecosystems.
As we consider Buckel’s action, think too of those who are killed every day by climate polluters without notice. Those who died of fossil-fuel related cancers or asthma, those dying due to damage to their local environment / climate, those dying in (at least partially) climate-driven conflicts (like Syria), and those dying in fossil-fueled catastrophes (like the US the 2000 people, overwhelmingly poor and black, killed by Katrina, and the uncounted thousands killed by Maria in Puerto Rico). There are few, even within the environmental / climate movement, who are doing a sufficient job to recognize and honor those people's (not chosen) sacrifice.
May we heed Buckel’s death with attention and action to reduce those damaged and dying due to climate disruption and, in doing so, so that we might successfully dissuade others from following his course.
NOTE: A bit about the man ...
David Buckel “was the lead attorney in a lawsuit regarding Brandon Teena, a transgender man who was murdered in Nebraska. Hilary Swank won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Teena in the 1999 film Boys Don’t Cry.” As our favorite news source, “Fox News called Buckel "a pioneering lawyer for gay and transgender rights." He was, for a long time, a leading player in Lambda Legal.
Susan Sommer, a former Lambda Legal lawyer who is now the general counsel for the mayor’s office of criminal justice in New York, told the Times Buckel “was all about justice, but he was also all about what it means to be human”.
Sommer added: “He was a very smart and methodical lawyer. He knew his craft and his trade and was strategic in how to build the blocks toward a sweeping victory.”
In more recent years, he moved toward environmental issues and engagement — from local composting to concerns about climate change.