Gangster Bob Marley?

By Gary Spaulding

If the late reggae icon Bob Marley were alive today, indications are that he would be banished behind bars for the very same reason for which we have showered accolades.

For make no bones about it, Bob, the social com-mentator, sounded quite contentious in many of his lyrics as he took on the 'system' through music.

Yet, he was accorded Jamaica's third-highest honour - that of Order of Merit (OM).

How would the proposed Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organisations) Act 2013 treat the man who many believe should be accorded the highest honour - that of National Hero?

In the context of the bill before Parliament, how are we to treat the Bob Marley's rebel lyrics, "I feel like bombing a church, now that I know the preacher is lying."

Was the king of reggae perpetrating violence through his music?

Would he be stripped of all his accolades?

Mutabaruka believes that the desire to internationalise music has prodded Jamaican artistes and producers to compromise too much, but wouldn't this bill go further in emasculating the genre's protest flavour?

There is Marley's big hit, I Shot the Sheriff.

I shot the sheriff

But I didn't shoot no deputy, oh, no! Oh!

I shot the sheriff

But I didn't shoot no deputy, ooh, ooh, oo-ooh.)

Yeah! All around in my hometown,

They're tryin' to track me down;

They say they want to bring me in guilty

For the killing of a deputy,

For the life of a deputy.

But I say:

Oh, now, now. Oh!

(I shot the sheriff) - the sheriff.

(But I swear it was in self-defence.)

Oh, no! (Ooh, ooh, oo-oh) Yeah!

I say: I shot the sheriff - oh, Lord! -

(And they say it is a capital offence.)

Yeah! (Ooh, ooh, oo-oh) Yeah!

Sheriff John Brown always hated me,

For what, I don't know:

Every time I plant a seed,

He said kill it before it grow -

He said kill them before they grow.

And so:

Freedom came my way one day

And I started out of town, yeah!

All of a sudden I saw sheriff John Brown

Aiming to shoot me down,

So I shot - I shot - I shot him down and I say:

If I am guilty I will pay.

A portion of the lyrics of Marley song Talkin' Blue goes like this:

So who's gonna stay at home

When, when the freedom fighters are fighting

Talkin' blues, talkin' blues

They say your feet is just too big for your shoes, whoa

Talkin' blues, keep on, talkin' blues

They say, you hear what they say, didn't you hear?

Cold ground was my bed last night

Rock stone, rock stone, rock stone was my pillow

Cold ground was my bed last night

And rock was my pillow too.

Then there is War, the lyrics of which are almost literally derived from a speech made by Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I before the United Nations General Assembly in 1963. Did this constitute threat of organised criminality?

Until the philosophy which hold one race superior

And another

Inferior

Is finally

And permanently

Discredited

And abandoned -

Everywhere is war -

Me say war.

That until there is no longer

First-class and second-class citizens of any nation

Until the colour of a man's skin

Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes -

Me say war.

That until the basic human rights

Are equally guaranteed to all,

Without regard to race -

Dis a war ... .

War in the east,

War in the west,

War up north,

War down south -

War - war -

Of good over evil -

Good over evil, yeah!

Good over evil -

I am struggling to put Marley's song 'Ganja Gun' in the context of this bill:

I'm gonna smoke'a de ganja until I go blind.

You know I smoke'a de ganja all a de time.

Smoke'a de ganja when I'm with friends.

We gonna smoke'a de ganja until the very end.

Whoo-oo, ganja ganja

Whoo-oo, ganja gun

Whoo-oo, ganja ganja

Whoo-oo, ganja gun

Should Marley's body be exhumed for his lyrics in life and the great man brought to book for 'terrorism' in accordance with the declaration of the late talk-show host 'Motty' Perkins?

Given the nature of his response to concerns raised on RJR's 'Beyond the Headlines' last week, Bunting was anything but convincing.

He claims that the contents of the draft bill were examined by legal minds in Government, who had no issue.

The minister merely repeated the Memorandum of Objects and Reasons of the Bill seeking justification, but failed to elaborate. Certainly, Peter Bunting is no K.D. Knight or Peter Phillips, but as minister, more substance would have been expected in his response to the concerns.

Gary Spaulding is a political affairs journalist and winner of the 2012 Morris Cargill Award for Opinion Journalism. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and gary.spaulding@gleanerjm.com.