Everyone,
I've just read that a Chicago Activist/Musician, Malachi Ritscher set himself on fire as a suicide statement in protest of the war underneath the Millennium Flame along the Kennedy Expressway at 7am Friday Nov 3rd. 41 years and a day, from when Norman Morrison self-immolated in protest of the Vietnam war in front of Sec of Defense, Robert McNamara's Pentagon Office in Washington DC. Two others died in 1965 also of self-immolation in protest of the war. Only their deaths brought headlines and made news. The well-known jazz musician Malachi, with a politically-charged "Mission Statement" on his website and a video camera on a tripod to record the event, ten feet in front of his body.... didn't make the news!
If you think we are not living under fascist rules,
you may want to lookup the definition.
For what disparity it gives the oppressed,
and for the message it tells the rest!
Below is a linked statement he wrote, and below that is the first news article of his death. This is a major moment, in my opinion, in the chapter of what living under encroaching fascism can do to the soul,
and how the determination to stop it is deeply imbedded within the daily lives of so many of us at this time in American history.
I am shocked not just by this news, but by the lack of word anywhere about this other than the Chicago jazz+improv community. This was an act of protest via suicide, not simply an act of despondence.
There is a local twist that may shed more light on the story. Malachi mailed a package to a local Milwaukee club owner and friend... in it were his house keys, a will, his mission statement and additional instructions. Hopefully the police and media will be compelled to produce the tape, and report the event for what it really was, the ultimate personal statement against against a wrongful war.
( I may not agree with his action, but I acknowledge his intent.)
http://www.savagesound.com/gallery99.htm
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/123692,CST-NWS-bodyfire04.article
No comments:
Post a Comment