Bob Marley: one world, one love - Music rebels: dissident music then and now - Brief Article

New Internationalist, August, 2003

While many are familiar with his posthumously over commercialized pop hits, Bob Marley's political works remain as fresh and relevant today as they did 30 years ago. Back then songs like 'Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)', 'Slave Driver', and 'War' defined his unique brand of 'rebel music' and fuelled the political aspirations of millions in Africa and the Americas. A religious Rastafarian, Marley infused his songs with a 'positive vibration' and evoked a utopian 'one world, one love'. As the Majority World was shaking off the yoke of colonialism, such hopeful yet steadfast songs energized many.

In the violent run-up to the Jamaican elections, Marley organized the 'One Love Peace Concert'. Days before the show, six assailants tried to kill the reggae artist, his wife and his managers. Marley took the stage, arm in a sling, to play one of the most emotionally charged shows of his career. A few years later, in 1978, he held another peace concert and brought together on stage arch-enemies Prime Minister Michael Manley and opposition leader Edward Seaga. The historic concert ended Jamaica's most violent political rivalry and Marley received the UN Medal of Peace. Aged just 36, Bob Marley died of cancer in 1981.