Zimbabwe
I grew up listening to Bob Marley. One of my favourite cds - though not most popular among casual fans - is “Survival.” It’s about Africa, a continent I loved long before i lived here. The song “Zimbabwe” has been on my mind a lot recently. Bob wrote that song in 1979 or so when Robert Mugabe was overthrowing the colonial powers to establish a new, independent, African state. Here are the lyrics:
Every man gotta right
To decide his own destiny
And in this judgment
There is no partiality
So arm in arms: with arms
We will fight this little struggle
Cause that’s the only way
We can overcome our little struggle
Brother you’re right, you’re right
You’re right, you’re right, you’re so right
We gonna fight, we’ll have to fight
We gonna fight, fight for our rights
Natty dread it ina Zimbabwe
Set it up ina Zimbabwe
Mash it up ina Zimbabwe
Africans a liberate Zimabwe
No more internal power struggle
We come together to overcome
The little trouble
Soon we’ll find out
Who is the real revolutionary
Cause I don’t want my people
To be contrary
Brother you’re right, you’re right
You’re right, you’re right, you’re so right
We’ll have to fight, we gonna fight
We’ll have to fight, fight for our rights
Mash it up ina Zimbabwe
Natty trash it ina Zimbabwe
Africans a liberate Zimbabwe
I an I a liberate Zimbabwe
To divide and rule
Could only tear us a part
In everyman’s chest
There beats a heart
So soon we’ll find out
Who is the real revolutionaries
And I don’t want my people
To be trained by mercenaries
repeats chorus
I wish Bob Marley was alive today. What would he say now? Mugabe has ruined Zimbabwe. He turned his back on the people long ago, and now he continues to torture and oppress the very people who have voted him out of power. Church leaders and rights groups have warned that this could reach genocidal proportions quickly.