On November 3, 2006 an artist and activist named Malachi Ritscher set himself on fire at a public intersection in the city of Chicago in protest of the war in Iraq and America's imperialism and warmongering in general. It is the ultimate act of self-sacrifice. Curiously (or maybe not so curiously) hardly a word about this has been reported. He did this during rush hour in a prominent location in a big city, and yet no one notices. How weird, how sad. Anyway, the good folks at
compiled this set of links about him. This is quite a story, hard to believe.
Malachi RitscherJanuary 13, 1954 - November 3, 2006
- out of time -Malachi Ritscher
mission statementMalachi Ritscher
The quiet death of Malachi Ritscher
After Death, Questions About a Man and His Cause
From Norman Morrison to Malachi RitscherSelf-Immolation as Anti-War Protest:
Joe Deraymond: Coverage of the sacrifice of Malachi Ritscher has been obsessively concerned with his sanity. The AP article on his death includes this conclusion, "Mental health experts say virtually no suicides occur without some kind of a diagnosable mental illness." Our government and its experts expect that rational citizens living rational United States lives understand that the burning of civilians is just part of the scenery, a necessary element of foreign policy. A person who actually takes responsibility for the purposes to which his/her tax monies are being devoted is by definition insane. It is a world turned upside down, in which torture, napalm and white phosphorus are "legal", and peaceful protest criminal. It is no mystery to me that there are human souls who cannot bear the light of truth, and choose to join the victims of our culture's madness.
