(flyer art by Malachi Ritscher, taken from Savage Sound.com)
Though I’ve already noted elsewhere the recent suicide by self-immolation of Chicago free jazz archivist / musician Malachi Ritscher (properly covered by the Chicago Reader’s Peter Margasak), James Cardis calls our attention to a memorial gathering for Ritscher, planned for tomorrow evening.
Ever the sentimentalist, the Chicago Sun-Times’ Richard Roeper describes Ritscher’s protest thusly,
If he thought setting himself on fire and ending his life in Chicago would change anyone’s mind about the war in Iraq, his last gesture on this planet was his saddest and his most futile.
I’ll not argue that Ritscher’s desperate act was that of a deeply troubled person. But while I think his life was entirely too high a price to pay, there’s nothing futile in his reminding other taxpayers they’ve got blood on their hands. I’d like to think that task could’ve been accomplished without his death, but as extreme, dramatic statements go, it was certainly more provocative than anything I’ve read in the Sun-Times.
Ritscher (whom I did not have the pleasure of knowing) was by some accounts, a troubled individual. But if you’re not troubled by what this country is doing in Iraq, I humbly suggest that you’ve got a problem, too.
I’m reminded of a letter from “Fear and Loathing in America”:
To the editor Aspen News and Times:
December 14 1969
Woody Creek, Colorado
Dear Editor,
My reason for writing this letter is unfortunate, but I can no longer live in Aspen without doing something about the absence of feeling about the war in Vietnam. I am not the only one who feels this way.
Accordingly, I want to explain our action before we do it, because I realize a lot of people won’t understand. On Xmas eve we are going to burn a dog with napalm (or jellied gasoline made to the formula of napalm) on a street where many people will see it. If possible, we will burn several dogs, depending on how many we find on that day. We will burn these dogs wherever we can have the most public impact.
Anybody who hates the idea of burning dogs with napalm should remember that the American army is burning human beings with napalm every day in Vietnam. If you think it is wrong to burn a dog in Aspen, what do you think about burning people in Asia?
We think this will make the point, once people see what napalm does. It hurts humans much worse than it hurts dogs. And if anybody doubts this, they can volunteer to take the place of whatever dogs we have. Anybody who wants to try it should be standing in front of the Mountain Shop about four o’clock on Xmas eve, and he should be wearing a sign that says, ‘Napalm Dog.’ If this happens, we will put the jellied gasoline on the person, instead of the animal. Frankly, I’d rather burn a human war-monger than a dog, but I doubt if any of these will show up.
Sincerely,
‘Adolph’
(for obvious reasons I can’t state my real name).
Obviously, in 1969, threatening to burn a live dog was enough to make a statement. In 2006, it would appear that it has become necessary to actually burn one’s self alive to make an anti-war splash.
The Doctor would no doubt say that these are strange times.
thanks.
there were, of course, persons in who resorted to self-immolation (instead of canine immolation) during vietnam.
The Buddhist monks that burned themselves alive in Vietnam were in protest of an occupying force and puppet government (draw your own conclusions).
people who think he did not make a difference are wrong. we’re here talking about it, what and why. his death was not in vain and was an act of supreme courage and commitment.
THEATRE 5.2.1, a Chicago non-profit-pending theatre company, is producing their 3rd play, a new script called The Silence of Malachi Ritscher, for only ten performances. Kevin Kilroy’s The Silence of Malachi Ritscher explores the compelling true story of Malachi Ritscher, an activist and Renaissance man that self-immolated at the Flame of the Millennium statue on the Dan Ryan feeder ramp on November 3rd of this past year in protest of the war in Iraq and the government that perpetuates it. It is a VERY limited ten-performance run at Theatre Building Chicago at 1225 W. Belmont on March 23rd 2007 and will play Friday and Saturday nights at 11pm through April 21st. Admission is $5.00. Once the run is finished, the script will be burned and the play will never be seen again.
“This is a very special piece for us at Theatre 5.2.1. A man gave up his life to wake a sleeping nation. He made the ultimate sacrifice in the hopes that his message might be heard. The time has come for each and every American to understand that we are members of a democratic nation and as such, we are responsible for the death and destruction this nation has wrought. Malachi understood this and we will be sure his sacrifice was not made in vain.â€