Aaron Bushnell killed himself outside the Israeli embassy in Washington shouting "Free Palestine". He declared he would no longer be "complicit in [the Israeli] genocide [in Gaza]". Here's a brief history of self-immolation as a tool of protest.
The defence of civil freedoms in Tunisia is once again a priority for parties, activists and observers, after it was believed that the issue had been settled as one of the constants in Tunisian politi.
On December 17, 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi, a fruit and vegetable vendor from the small Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid, set himself alight. With that, he lit the fuse that sparked protests across the country, leading to the downfall of the government of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. The force of the demonstrations in Tunisia rippled across the region, inspiring uprisings in other countries in the Middle East and North Africa, including Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria. Ten years after the start of the Arab Spring, photographers who captured the first passionate moments reflect on what they saw and what the events of the time meant to them.
“17 December 2010 would have been a normal day if the local press and people hadn’t been here,” says Ali Bouazizi. “The fact they decided to stop being afraid of the government changed everything.”
It is 9pm and Ali, who is now 48 years old, has just returned home from work in his mini-market in Sidi Bouzid, a small town in the centre of Tunisia.
Ali Bouazizi at his supermarket, Al-Jasmin, in the centre of Sidi Bouzid [Thessa Lageman/Al Jazeera]He used to see his cousin, Mohamed, almost daily, as the 26-year-old often helped out in Ali’s shop.
“I was very fond of him,” he says. “He was a good person. His only problem was that he would get angry quickly and couldn’t see reason anymore.”