Malachi Ritscher

Malachi Ritscher (Mark David Ritscher; January 13, 1954 – November 3, 2006) was a musician, recording engineer, human rights activist, and anti-war protester. He came into the national spotlight through his self-immolation, an act of protest against the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Biography

Mark David Ritscher was born in Dickinson, North Dakota on January 13, 1954. Ritscher and his family moved around the United States until 1969, when they moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he attended high school. Ritscher married at age 17, had a son named Malachi, and after almost ten years, divorced.

In 1981 Ritscher moved to Chicago and adopted the name Malachi for himself.

He played bass on a 1988 EP by Arsenal, a recording project of Big Black guitarist Santiago Durango. (The credit on the EP reads "Malachi Richter".)

In the 1990s he became a fixture on Chicago's jazz and experimental music scenes, attending and recording many performances. Ritscher, after recording a live concert, would offer his high-quality recording to the musicians at little or no cost. Many of these recordings have seen official release.^[1]

Near the end of his life Ritscher traveled extensively. He also developed a strong commitment to anti-war issues; Chicago police arrested him twice at anti-war protests.

Suicide

Ritscher's self-immolation took place on the side of the Kennedy Expressway near downtown Chicago during the morning rush hour of Friday November 3, 2006. In a suicide letter published on his website, he described at length his political convictions as to the Iraq War and his choice to take his own life, writing, "if I am required to pay for your barbaric war, I choose not to live in your world."^[2]

Reaction to death

Ritscher's self-immolation went unremarked by the media for nearly a week.^[3] It was condemned by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper, who thought that his suicide was a pointless act. "With all great respect, 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."^[4]

Ritscher's son described his father as a recovering alcoholic who fought with depression. Other members of Ritscher's family instead believed that Ritscher killed himself to shock an apathetic public into action against the war and world oppression.^[5]

Ritscher himself gave detailed reasons for his suicide: "My position is that I only get one death, I want it to be a good one. Wouldn't it be better to stand for something or make a statement, rather than a fiery collision with some drunk driver? Are not smokers choosing death by lung cancer? Where is the dignity there? Are not the people who disregard the environment killing themselves and future generations?" In his self-penned obituary he confessed to feeling guilty for not killing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld when he had the chance.^[6]

Ska-punk band Less Than Jake wrote a song about Ritscher's fiery end which is titled "Malachi Richter's Liquor's Quicker" for their 2008 album GNV FLA. Ritscher's name was intentionally misspelled as Richter in reference to his credit on the 1988 Arsenal EP he'd played bass on which his name had been similarly misspelled. The opening of the song includes the reading of an excerpt from his suicide note with Morse code underneath that says "We may lose hope but there’s always hope."^[7]

Brent Kado, a Chicago writer did a partial reading of Ritscher's Mission Statement at the 2007 Around The Coyote Festival in Chicago. It was recorded by Fall of Autumn.^[8]

David Lester, guitarist in Mecca Normal, designed a poster of Malachi as one of his Inspired Agitator series in 2008. Mecca Normal recorded a song in 2010 called "Malachi" for a 7" on K Records. The song was engineered by Calvin Johnson.

Mission Statement

He left the following message:

"My actions should be self-explanatory, and since in our self-obsessed culture words seldom match the deed, writing a mission statement would seem questionable. So judge me by my actions. Maybe some will be scared enough to wake from their walking dream state - am I therefore a martyr or terrorist? I would prefer to be thought of as a 'spiritual warrior'. Our so-called leaders are the real terrorists in the world today, responsible for more deaths than Osama bin Laden.

I have had a wonderful life, both full and full of wonder. I have experienced love and the joy and heartache of raising a child. I have jumped out of an airplane, and escaped a burning building. I have spent the night in jail, and dropped acid during the sixties. I have been privileged to have met many supremely talented musicians and writers, most of whom were extremely generous and gracious. Even during the hard times, I felt charmed. Even the difficult lessons have been like blessed gifts. When I hear about our young men and women who are sent off to war in the name of God and Country, and who give up their lives for no rational cause at all, my heart is crushed. What has happened to my country? we have become worse than the imagined enemy - killing civilians and calling it 'collateral damage', torturing and trampling human rights inside and outside our own borders, violating our own Constitution whenever it seems convenient, lying and stealing right and left, more concerned with sports on television and ring-tones on cell-phones than the future of the world.... half the population is taking medication because they cannot face the daily stress of living in the richest nation in the world.

I too love God and Country, and feel called upon to serve. I can only hope my sacrifice is worth more than those brave lives thrown away when we attacked an Arab nation under the deception of 'Weapons of Mass Destruction'. Our interference completely destroyed that country, and destabilized the entire region. Everyone who pays taxes has blood on their hands.

I have had one previous opportunity to serve my country in a meaningful way - at 8:05 one morning in 2002 I passed Donald Rumsfeld on Delaware Avenue and I was acutely aware that slashing his throat would spare the lives of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of innocent people. I had a knife clenched in my hand, and there were no bodyguards visible; to my deep shame I hesitated, and the moment was past.

The violent turmoil initiated by the United States military invasion of Iraq will beget future centuries of slaughter, if the human race lasts that long. First we spit on the United Nations, then we expect them to clean up our mess. Our elected representatives are supposed to find diplomatic and benevolent solutions to these situations. Anyone can lash out and retaliate, that is not leadership or vision. Where is the wisdom and honor of the people we delegate our trust to?

To the rest of the world we are cowards - demanding Iraq to disarm, and after they comply, we attack with remote-control high-tech video-game weapons. And then lie about our reasons for invading. We the people bear complete responsibility for all that will follow, and it won't be pretty.

It is strange that most if not all of this destruction is instigated by people who claim to believe in God, or Allah. Many sane people turn away from religion, faced with the insanity of the 'true believers'. There is a lot of confusion: many people think that God is like Santa Claus, rewarding good little girls with presents and punishing bad little boys with lumps of coal; actually God functions more like the Easter Bunny, hiding surprises in plain sight. God does not choose the Lottery numbers, God does not make the weather, God does not endorse military actions by the self-righteous, God does not sit on a cloud listening to your prayers for prosperity. God does not smite anybody. If God watches the sparrow fall, you notice that it continues to drop, even to its death. Face the truth folks, God doesn't care, that's not what God is or does. If the human race drives itself to extinction, God will be there for another couple million years, 'watching' as a new species rises and falls to replace us. It is time to let go of primitive and magical beliefs, and enter the age of personal responsibility. Not telling others what is right for them, but making our own choices, and accepting consequences.

"Who would Jesus bomb?" This question is primarily addressing a Christian audience, but the same issues face the Muslims and the Jews: God's message is tolerance and love, not self-righteousness and hatred. Please consider "Thou shalt not kill" and "As ye sow, so shall ye reap". Not a lot of ambiguity there.

What is God? God is the force of life - the spark of creation. We each carry it within us, we share it with each other. Whether we are conscious of the life-force is a choice we make, every minute of every day. If you choose to ignore it, nothing will happen - you are just 'less conscious'. Maybe you are less happy (maybe not). Maybe you grow able to tap into the universal force, and increase the creativity in the universe. Love is anti-entropy. Please notice that 'conscious' and 'conscience' are related concepts.

Why God - what is the value? Whether committee consensus of a benevolent power that works through humans, or giant fungus under Oregon, the value of opening up to the concept of God is in coming to the realization that we are not alone, establishing a connection to the universe, the experience of finding completion. As individuals we may exist alone, but we are all alone together as a people. Faith is the answer to fear. Fear opposes love. To manipulate through fear is a betrayal of trust.

What does God want? No big mystery - simply that we try to help each other. We decide to make God-like decisions, rescuing falling sparrows, or putting the poor things out of their misery. Tolerance, giving, acceptance, forgiveness.

If this sounds a lot like pop psychology, that is my exact goal. Never underestimate the value of a pep-talk and a pat on the ass. That is basically all we give to our brave soldiers heading over to Iraq, and more than they receive when they return. I want to state these ideas in their simplest form, reducing all complexity, because each of us has to find our own answers anyway. Start from here...

I am amazed how many people think they know me, even people who I have never talked with. Many people will think that I should not be able to choose the time and manner of my own death. My position is that I only get one death, I want it to be a good one. Wouldn't it be better to stand for something or make a statement, rather than a fiery collision with some drunk driver? Are not smokers choosing death by lung cancer? Where is the dignity there? Are not the people who disregard the environment killing themselves and future generations? Here is the statement I want to make: if I am required to pay for your barbaric war, I choose not to live in your world. I refuse to finance the mass murder of innocent civilians, who did nothing to threaten our country. I will not participate in your charade - my conscience will not allow me to be a part of your crusade. There might be some who say "it's a coward's way out" - that opinion is so idiotic that it requires no response. From my point of view, I am opening a new door.

What is one more life thrown away in this sad and useless national tragedy? 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. I was alive when John F. Kennedy instilled hope into a generation, and I was a sorry witness to the final crushing of hope by Dick Cheney's puppet, himself a pawn of the real rulers, the financial plunderers and looters who profit from every calamity; following the template of Reagan's idiocracy.

The upcoming elections are not a solution - our two party system is a failure of democracy. Our government has lost its way since our founders tried to build a structure which allowed people to practice their own beliefs, as far as it did not negatively affect others. In this regard, the separation of church and state needs to be reviewed. This is a large part of the way that the world has gone wrong, the endless defining and dividing of things, micro-sub-categorization, sectarianism. The direction we need is a process of unification, integrating all people into a world body, respecting each individual. Business and industry have more power than ever before, and individuals have less. Clearly, the function of government is to protect the individual, from hardship and disease, from zealots, from the exploitation, from monopoly, even from itself. Our leaders are not wise persons with integrity and vision - they are actors reading from teleprompters, whose highest goal is to stir up the mob. Our country slaughters Arabs, abandons New Orleaneans, and ignores the dying environment. Our economy is a house of cards, as hollow and fragile as our reputation around the world. We as a nation face the abyss of our own design.

A coalition system which includes a Green Party would be an obvious better approach than our winner-take-all system. Direct electronic debate and balloting would be an improvement over our non-representative congress. Consider that the French people actually have a voice, because they are willing to riot when the government doesn't listen to them.

"Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government... " - Abraham Lincoln

With regard to those few who crossed my path carrying the extreme and unnecessary weight of animosity: they seemed by their efforts to be punishing themselves. As they acted out the misery of their lives it is now difficult to feel anything other than pity for them.

Without fear I go now to God - your future is what you will choose today."

See also

• Self-immolations in protest to the Vietnam War

References

1. ^ Malachi Ritscher allmusic.com
2. ^ mission statement
3. ^ War Protestor's Public Suicide in Chicago Went Unnoticed by Media
4. ^ "Act by 'martyr' to protest war in Iraq a futile gesture", Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times, published November 9, 2006, accessed November 9, 2006.
5. ^ ""Activist's Fiery Death Prompts Questions", Ashley M. Heher, Associated Press, published November 26, 2006, accessed January 17, 2011.
6. ^ Gallery99
7. ^ "Interviews: Vinnie Fiorello (Less Than Jake)." Punknews.org. August 25, 2008.
8. ^ [1]

External links

• Obituary - self-written
• Mission statement
• Malachi Ritscher's apparent suicide from the Chicago Reader; with hundreds of comments from friends, family, and others
• Remembrance Action Video Chicago anti-war protesters remember Malachi at the site of his immolation
• Chicago anti-war musician burns himself to death in rush hour traffic from Indymedia
• Malachi Ritscher: A Martyr For Peace from the Chicago Independent Media Center
• Malachi, the Song video of a tribute song by Canadian indie rock duo Mecca Normal
• "A letter, a will and a friend left coping with suicide" from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; includes quotes from Bruno Johnson
• Malachi Ritscher music credits from Allmusic
• Malachi Ritscher 1954-2006 Pitchfork Media Feature
• Obscured: The Self-Immolation of Malachi Ritscher An editorial featured in the University of Illinois at Chicago Chicago Flame newspaper
• War protester's suicide prompts question Ashley M. Herer, Associated Press, Nov. 26, 2006
• The quiet death of Mr Ritscher, The Guardian, Nov. 28, 2006
• Anti-war protester burns himself to death in vain- Police told that a statue was on fire
• Public Radio's Weekend America covered the story, A Protest Delayed, December 2, 2006
• War protester's fiery suicide probed - U.S. Life - MSNBC.com
• "I heard you, Malachi" - Song About Malachi Ritscher

Persondata
Name	Ritscher, Malachi
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	January 13, 1954
Place of birth
Date of death	November 3, 2006
Place of death