Wed 8 Nov 2006
chicago musician martyers himself for peace
file under announcements |
Chicago Indymedia has learned that last Friday local music and art afficianado and peace advocate Malachi Ritscher burned himself to death on the side of the Kennedy Expressway near downtown Chicago during the morning rush hour. Near Malachi’s remains, police found a camcorder with videotape inside and a homemade sign that read “Thou Shalt Not Kill.”
Besides the note and videotape at the scene, Malachi also left a longer letter explaining his actions and his motivations. “What is one more life thrown away in this sad and useless national tragedy?” he wrote. “If one death can atone for anything, in any small way, to say to the world: I apologize for what we have done to you, I am ashamed for the mayhem and turmoil caused by my country.”
Malachi was among more than seven hundred peace protesters who were illegally arrested on March 20, 2003, when thousands turned out to protest the beginning of the U.S. war on Iraq. His death, to date has received very little news coverage — and outlets that did report his death treated it as a simple suicide and the cause for slower-than-usual traffic that morning. The contents of the videotape he left have not been made public.
full story: http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/74806/index.php
malachi’s websites: savagesound | myspace
November 10th, 2006 at 9:03 am
what are your thoughts on it??
November 10th, 2006 at 9:07 am
it’s sad he died in the name of our country’s horrible deeds, war and imperialism. and it’s even more sad that the fucking mainstream media can’t actually explain why he killed himself, but rather cover it up with a lie.
but i guess it doesn’t surprise me. so many people in denial…
November 10th, 2006 at 9:09 am
but that’s the thing…i don’t feel like you can say he died in the name of our country b/c he committed suicide. Was it that he was so depressed over the state of this country that he felt like he couldn’t live anymore? Or was he just trying to make a point? He sounds a little disturbed to me.
November 10th, 2006 at 9:13 am
but what does it mean to be “disturbed?” you’re sentiment may be simply because you don’t have the same perspective as he did. you see him as “disturbed” because you weren’t in a similar position as he was… the only answer to that would be for you to try to understand his position instead of writting it off as “disturbed.”
study the buddhist monks who did the same during the veitnam war. Malachi didn’t die “for our country,” as you say; rather, he died in the name of the horrible things that our country has done and is doing. the hand-made sign that was near him when he burned said, “thou shall not kill.”
people always have differing opinions on martyers, but the point, or perhaps the situation, is that the person becomes so *completely* distraught with the state of affairs (in this case: war, police brutality/hostility and corruption, etc.) that the only answer become to make a political statement through graphic public suicide. there’s no more avenues because everything else that has been tried (protest, lawsuits, letters to the editor, whatever) seem useless. it’s like the mainstream just accepts the war, the police injustice, the corruption, and anyone who opposes such things is an outsider and ignored. a drastic, fatal step must be taken. same thing with suicide bombers - sometimes terrorists when they kill others - but in most cases they need to be understood as making a statement against some injustice. we need to pay attention to the injustice(s) that caused the person to martyer themselves. it is then that we will prevent more people from killing themselves in the name of whatever cause.
it’s like a call to action.
November 10th, 2006 at 11:14 am
no i get his actions, i just don’t understand “martyrs” Maybe I’m just jaded, or don’t care enough about the craziness that is polluting our world, but I feel like more people will just shake their heads at him and ask why instead of seeing it as a cause to action. I feel like the percentage of people who will see this as will see this as a political statement vs. the mainstream who see this as a crazy guy who burned himself to death, is just very small
I guess we should be happy that he only made this lone act and didn’t try to burn down a bus full of people with him.
November 19th, 2006 at 8:53 am
hey I did not hear a peep about this, thanks for posting it.
being out of the country just enforces me having to read all the commercial internet news.
I miss you and I hope all is well!