During the my year in Cambridge doing my PGCE I did many things other than teaching. One of those was to collect all the Bob Marley albums on CD. I'd never had a CD player before then-I couldn't afford one. But during the years of my madness Marley's music played an important background for me. I have never been to the streets of Kingston Jamaica, least of all during the political carnage of the 1970s. But if one is mad, judged, rejected and stigmatised as the mentally ill are it is easy to feel opprssed in one's life. We were the dispossessed, rejected by a more modern society.
The greatness of Bob Marley is still debated 30 years after his untimely death. Some ignorant people blame the cancer that killed him on the copious amounts of cannabis he smoked. In fact he died from a skin cancer virtually unknown in African Caribbean people courtesy of this white Scottish father. To many the iconic album is "Catch a Fire". But my tastes differ great though that album is. The one I like is "Burnin'". That eery title song, the music of the oppressed.
As I watched the carnage unfold in London last night and the streets burning I could not help but think of that song.
I don't know what the fall out will be of the last few days. Undoubtedly many people suffer a great deal in these difficult financial times. But are we, in 21st century Britain really that oppressed? Would it be different with a different government? Somehow I doubt it. Who have we become of people can unleash such ferocity on London's streets? Many I know who live there are now living in fear. I am glad I live in peaceful Hertfordshire. Let's hope we stay immune here.
Bit sombre that I know but felt I had to comment. More soon.
I Heard a Voice.
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