Robert Nesta Marley died on 11 May 1981. He was only 36. Incredibly, by the time of his demise he had created an oeuvre of music that is timeless, conscious and eternally relevant. Marley chose a Jamaican genre of music that was born out of the oppression of black people and the desire for freedom – political, social and economic. Reggae has also stood for black pride.
With our world now shaken to the core by the rise of fascists who hate us, it is time to dig into Bob Marley’s messages and remind ourselves of who we are and where we stand in the struggle to defend our countries, our continent and our people across the Diaspora.
A tree and its roots – when memory is a weapon
South Africa is undergoing an interesting phase. At one level, folks who thought they were not part of Africa are realising that the Master actually takes care of the pale skins only. Where the chant “NO DNA JUST RSA” seemed like some jingoistic patriotic chant, our black brethren are realising that the folks they defended within the laager of a national identity are more aligned with the white folks across the Atlantic. There is a deep sense of betrayal. But it is all impotent anger. When 30 years of freedom have not empowered you, it is difficult to fight back.
When you do not put value on your own history, someone else will tell your history, and when they do, be assured it will be heavily edited. Afrikaners now claim that black people in South Africa came from the Congo after 1652 and that the Dutch folk came into an empty land. “Go back to the Congo” is as ironic as any statement. Making such a statement means someone has been emboldened – akatsika dombo. Their white son-brother is now the prime minister of one of the two superpowers in the world. He is also armed with a platform called X. Shielded by the privilege of his skin, he declares that he is an American and adds: “without a hyphen”.
In Zimbabwe, the Rhodesians used to produce tourism and history books that claimed that a white race or the “Phoenicians” built the Great Zimbabwe. This race just came in, built this magnificent architectural masterpiece, and then vanished. Where did they go? “Well, we do not know”, said Robbie the Rhodesian. Denying the black person agency and the ability to tame nature and make history was a much-needed ploy. To maim or kill someone, you first need to strip them of their humanity. That is what racism does.
On the song Babylon System, off the 1979 Survival album, Bob Marley sings:
Tell the children the truth
Tell the children the truth
Tell the children the truth right now!
And so you may ask why it is so important to tell the children the truth? Well, because the system (schools, universities, media etc) mask the truth:
Me say de Babylon system is the vampire, falling empire,
Suckin’ the blood of the sufferers, yeah!
Building church and university, wooh, yeah!
Deceiving the people continually, yeah!
The Survival album carries a Marcus Garvey quote that goes: “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots.”
My own father, right until his departure, would always warn us: “Those who forget their history are bound to live it.” If you have no memory of who you are there is no way you can fight any war. Identity is central to your defence at both individual and societal level.
Give them an inch, they take a mile
In many ways, the Afrikaners have reminded us of Southern Africa’s colonial settler problem and how any attempt to resolve the land question in a fair and equitable manner is bound to be punished by kith and kin in the Global North. Namibia is warned.
I am reading an extraordinary book titled Govan Mbeki: Learning from Robben Island. In one section, Govan Mbeki traces the rise of Afrikaner capitalism and how it is actively fostered by the Nationalist Party, the government, universities (Stellenbosch, Free State), Dutch Reformed Church, associations and unions (precursors to AfriForum and Solidarity) and state enterprises. If the younger ones on Tik Tok were reading this they could simply put up excerpts of the book or talk about it to counter the noises around black economic empowerment, affirmative action and social grants.
What this moment shows is that settler community is never willing to give up its privileges. Bob Marley warned in Real Situation off the 1981 Uprising album:
Give them an inch, they take a yard
Give them a yard, they take a mile (ooh)
Once a man and twice a child
And everything is just for a while
It seems like, total destruction the only solution
He might also have been speaking of Israel and the annexing of Palestinian land but that is a matter for another article.
And now to Mars to colonise again
Having destroyed the only habitable planet we know, the billionaires from the Global North led by the son of settlers has set his dreams on finding another colony. You can be assured no black folk will be on any of the ships bound for Mars which is a mere 155 million – yes, million – kilometres away. In the song So Much Trouble, Marley sings:
You see men sailing on their ego trips
Blast off on their spaceships
Million miles from reality
No care for you, no care for me
What is the value of an African’s life? You can abruptly cut foreign aid and impact health services. You can lie about an African’s investment policies and terminate trade agreements. You can also channel your government’s resources to your vanity project probing the galaxy whilst cutting down social security which will affect black folk the most.
Black man, you are on your own
Whilst businesspeople and diplomats will caution and appeal for engagement, the politics of appeasing our masters in the Global North is no longer tenable. Transactional politics such as Felix Tshisekedi’s shameless use of his country’s mineral resources to gain security and protection from the United States of America is also not the solution to the challenges of the Africa. Africans are waking up to the realisation that they are on their won – without leaders and without global solidarity. We now can only summon the fighting spirit Bob Marley articulates in Ride Natty Ride, that heavy tune in which Carlton Barrett’s drums imitate the sound of the feet of horses charging in battle:
Dready got a job to do
And he’s got to fulfill that mission
To see his hurt is their greatest ambition
But we will survive in this world of competition
Because no matter what they do
Natty keep on coming through
And no matter what they say
Natty do them every day
Natty Dread rides again
We give thanks for the consciousness to the son of Sidilla Editha “Cedella” Malcolm of Nine Mile, Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica.
