Saturday, November 3, 2007 marks the one-year anniversary of the death of a Chicago musician and antiwar protester who killed himself in protest of the U.S. War in Iraq. A memorial and silent demonstration will be held in downtown Chicago to commemorate the anniversary.

Malachi Ritscher doused himself with gasoline and burned himself to death near the Millennium Flame on Chicago's Kennedy Expressway on Friday, November 3, 2006, in protest against the U.S. war in Iraq.

An anniversary memorial is being organized by members of a citizen-based campaign called "I Heard You Malachi." On November 3, 2007, at 1 p.m., participants will gather at Brando's on 343 S. Dearborn in Chicago and proceed nearby to Federal Plaza at 1:30pm for a memorial where Ritcher's mission statement and an invocation will be read. Participants will then disperse in pairs via the CTA Blue Line, to stand silently holding signs in view of motorists, until 5 p.m.

An announcement on the iheardyoumalachi.org website announcing the anniversary reads in part: "One year ago, a man took the most powerful action he knew of to help end this war. He put his money where his mouth was, and next Saturday a group of us will do the same by reaching out to our fellow citizens.."

Despite a paucity of coverage of Ritscher's death in its immediate aftermath, "I Heard You Malachi" was successful in spreading the word of Ritscher's death in the weeks and months afterwards. The citizen-based campaign ultimately gained coverage in a variety of news outlets, including the New York Times, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Guardian of London, and on CNN.

To learn more about the "I Heard You Malachi" campaign, go online to www.iheardyoumalachi.org