Bob Marley (6th February 1945-11th May 1981) would have been 80 today. In fact he died far too young in 1981 almost two generations ago now. The impact of his music and his politics lives on.
They came together in the form of a racist rant that Eric Clapton made in 1976, even though Clapton had enjoyed success with the Marley song I Shot The Sheriff. That incident sparked the formation of Rock Against Racism and reggae music became part of the celebration of our culture.
Philosophy Football have of course marked the 80th and Mark Perryman has provided a text as relevant now as it was in the 1980s
But this is a moment also to reflect on the meaning of Bob Marley and others like him. The writer and activist David Widgery had a neat way of describing his politics as against miserabilsm:
” There is a real danger of getting too depressed about the apparent triumph of a particularly tawdry and irresponsible sort of finance capitalism and the state of the labour movement and the cowardice and lack of vision of its leadership. But I’m very against miserabilism.”
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