Nick Thorburn of alt-band Islands is releasing a new single “Hold (Song for Aaron Bushnell).” 100% of the proceeds from this song will go to Glia, the life-saving medical support initiative on the ground in Gaza.
Glia is committed to a solidarity model of support, providing essential medical services without the constraints of the traditional charity model *. The organization is dedicated to creating systemic change by recognizing the agency of all involved. Glia not only 3D prints medical equipment but also operates a field clinic and dispatches medical delegations to the region, ensuring that vital care reaches those in need.
Nick Thorburn says, “I’ve seen the ‘charity model’ described as vertical. It goes from the top to the bottom, whereas the “solidarity model” is horizontal. A ‘solidarity model’ focuses on creating systemic change by recognizing the agency and shared power of all involved parties, while a ‘charity model’ operates on a top-down approach where one group provides aid to another, often creating a power imbalance and reinforcing the idea of a ‘giver’ and ‘receiver’ with less agency for the recipient.”
On the song, he reflects:
On February 25th, the 25 year-old active US serviceman Aaron Bushnell took his own life in an extreme act of protest. 250 days later, on the eve of a presidential election, I’m still haunted by Aaron’s decision. He’s been largely forgotten in the public consciousness, but I can’t seem to shake what he did. Was he trying to show us that his life was his and his alone, and by extension, his to take? Was he highlighting the stark, dark contrast between the extremely grim privilege of taking one’s own life while the Palestinian people have theirs taken from them on a daily basis?
You either see what is going on or you choose not to. It becomes clear that this is the greatest moral failure of my lifetime. Unfathomably, the situation has only worsened in the six months since Aaron Bushnell chose to set himself on fire outside the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C. There is an immense pain in understanding that, without our consent, we are collectively complicit in a genocide. I think that pain was too much for Aaron to bear. With this song, I wanted in some small way to hold that pain for him.
What do you think of Nick Thorburn’s powerful gesture with “Hold (Song for Aaron Bushnell).”
