L’immolation par le feu comme enjeu symbolique en relations internationales. Cas du soldat américain Aaron Bushnell

“If you don’t have something you’re willing to die for, you’re not fit to live,” said Martin Luther King. Immolation by fire is a purely and highly symbolic act that causes a more or less disturbing commotion and arouses many reactions on the international scene. Although controversial, the act itself is appreciated by its supporters on the one hand, and receives harsh criticism from its detractors for whom, only God is the holder and depositary of the exclusive power to take human life, on the other. For the defenders of self-immolation, the act is a symbol which arouses sufficiently strong support around a given message in order to mobilize both national and international opinion. The act itself brings a group together in the pain of an injustice, the sharing of a humiliation suffered, with a view to national and/or international recognition.