Sumeet Sharma December 2,
2009
Speech: Rhetoric of Reggae Final Paper
Nuclear Weapons and Reggae:
A Clash of Rhetoric
October
19th 1937 would prove to be a sad day for nuclear physics. After all, the father of atomic energy,
Ernest Rutherford, just passed
while lying on a hospital bed in Cambridge, England. By being the first to split an atom [i],
RutherfordÕs research set in motion developments that would lead to the advent
of nuclear technology, weaponry and eventually war. Seven years later, on the same date; a small family would
rejoice to celebrate the birth of new member of their clan, Winston Hubert
McIntosh. This child would grow to
become reggae musicÕs leading emissary of his era, popularly known by the name
of Peter Tosh. By releasing his
album ÒNo Nuclear War,Ó Tosh crystallized a global movement that called for the
eradication of nuclear weapons and nuclear technology with the eventual goal of
eliminating the prospect of nuclear war.
At first glance, these two men have little in common aside from the
date. One died on the date October
19th and the other was born on the same day seven years later.[ii] However the true irony of this incident
cannot be truly appreciated without understanding the rhetorical implications of
the movements that these two men participated in. The social movement that is reggae music is fundamentally
based on resisting the same power structure that nuclear weapons uphold. Nuclear weapons came with a philosophy
that justified their existence, nuclearism. Perhaps it was destined that those events on that date seven
years apart would come to perfectly characterize the relationship between
nuclear weapons and reggae: the death signifying the end of a hopeful ideology
that promised the fulfillment of new expectations for the world, the birth
alluding to the start of a new era of disappointment and struggle for the
Jamaican people, the years in between serving as a testament to the distance
between the two ideologies and the date acting as a reminder that everything
including nuclear war and reggae are linked.
The
links between nuclear war and reggae music are endless. There are allusions and direct
references to nuclear war, weaponry, energy and technology in many reggae
songs. Peter ToshÕs song No
Nuclear War is a clear example of the effect that the threat of war has had
on reggae music. The song titles
his grammy award winning album also called No Nuclear War. His message is clear in the first verse
of the song:
ÒWe
don't want no nuclear war
With
nuclear war we won't get far
I
said that We don't want no nuclear war
With
nuclear war we won't get farÓ[iii]
However while considering that Peter Tosh
was born, raised and lived on the small island nation of Jamaica for almost all
of his life, one has to wonder why Tosh was so concerned with the topic of
nuclear war. There are the obvious
reasons: that nukes and their fallout threatened to kill everybody or even that
the album was made to appeal to western audiences.[iv] Yet reggae music strains to read deeper
into as to what nuclear weapons mean in the prism of jamaican as well as human
history. There are correlations
between the themes of reggae music and the rhetoric of nuclear war. Reggae music understands nuclear war as
simply another vehicle to exploit oppressed societies, often with a racist
mindset, and continue the cycle of promise, expectation and disappointment that
is the plight of oppressed peoples.
Nuclear war is just the next slavery, colonialism or Òdemocracy.Ó Still there is another view,
resistance, often found in the music.
Reggae
music is built on the themes of rebellion and resistance. The music was born of African roots,
vocal tradition and social commentary.[v] The character of reggae developed even
more along with the course of Jamaican history. The four basic themes of reggae are an embodiment of
Jamaican history: exploitation, racism,
expectation and disappointment, and resistance.v The exploitation of Jamaican people
began with the founding of Jamaica as a slave colony in the 1600s. Slavery went hand in hand with racial
prejudice and racism would prove to be a dominating force through the course of
Jamaican history. After slavery,
former slaves still had no property, freedom or rights. Even today in Jamaica; whites make twice
as much as browns, and thirteen times as much as blacks.v Dark skinned people have been
continually oppressed in Jamaica, since the nations founding.
These
same people have also been filled with promise and expectation that their
fortunes would change only to be disappointed in the long run. First, there was the promise of freedom
from slavery; an act that ended in the same oppression. Then there was the promise of freedom
through democracy, but corrupt governments with white leaders did nothing to
change the status quo. During
these events, reggae served as a medium to express people's feelings and
comment on their environment. When
asked to develop the process by which he creates a song, reggae artist Capleton
captures the essence of Reggae music in his response:
ÒNo, it just come naturally. Capleton is not a youth
that has to puzzle to write a tune, cause
like how
me and you a reason right now, I could
just come
up with a tune. Just from out of the wind and
the breeze. It's just a natural mystic. My tunes
just come natural, and when something out
fi
go down, me always find a tune before it
happen.
A just dem levels. A just Rastafari still, the truth
is the truth, and the only conqueror for
the truth, is
the truth.Ó[vi]
Reggae musicians simply sing about what
is around them, in the 60s, 70s and 80s, it was the threat of nuclear war.
Twenty
years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, it is hard to understand to what
degree the prospect of nuclear war enveloped the world during the latter half
of the twentieth century. Events
such as the development of nuclear weapons by China and
India, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the installation of medium range ballistic
missiles across Europe all pointed to an inevitable global nuclear war in the
foreseeable future.
A nuclear reality found its way into the core of human culture. Books like Watermelons Not War
were published to help with Òparenting in the nuclear age.Ó The title came complete with with
directions explaining the proper way to talk to your child about nuclear
radiation and cancer or recommendations on how to respond when your child
expresses to you that they do not aspire have children because the possibility
of a gentle death for the next generation is unfathomable.[vii] Scientists at the University of Chicago
constructed a Doomsday clock, intended to count down the minutes until the
catastrophic destruction of the human race based on the current threat of
global nuclear war. Terms like
game theory, acceptable failure rate, minimum deterrence, maximum retaliation
and window of vulnerability were tossed around in reference to national defense
and became household phrases. This
rhetoric conceded that the Cold War was in fact a game being played with people's
lives.[viii]
Similarly,
nuclear war crept its way into Reggae music. There are songs by Bob Marley, Steel Pulse, Jimmy Cliff,
Burning Spear, Mutabaruka, Capleton, Aswad, Herbs, Prince Allah, Ricky Tuffy, Devon Clarke, Luciano, and Soldiers of Jah Army,, that all address
nuclear war in some way.[ix] [x]
[xi]
[xii]
[xiii]
[xiv]
[xv]
[xvi]
[xvii]
[xviii]
[xix]
[xx]
[xxi]
[xxii]
[xxiii]
[xxiv]. There are even album covers dedicated
to nuclear war and the political climate that surrounds the weapons by artists
like Peter Tosh, Herbs and Steel Pulse.
These songs capture feelings of fear,
hopelessness, insignificance, indifference, false security and timelessness all
at the same time. Steel Pulse
describes the era in their song No More Weapons:
ÒThis has got to be the final conflict
Bestowed
upon humanity
So
much for a global coalition
A false sense of securityÓxi
But the band challenges more than the
realistic nuclear threat in next line of their song. Steel Pulse draws upon the tradition of resistance in reggae
music to confront the underlying rhetorical threat that comes with the mere
possession of nuclear weapons:
ÒWe are just pawns in the scheme of things
No
matter what our race or creed
Survivors
of this holocaust
We international refugeesÓxi
The rhetorical nuclear threat posed an equal or even larger danger to
the Jamaican people than
nuclear war. The rhetoric of
nuclear war resembled the same discourse that came with slavery, colonialism
and the promise of Òdemocracy. The
same talk that meant more subjugation, exploitation, slavery and
disappointment.
The
main purpose of a nuclear weapon is to suppress dissent. Along with that, nation states that
hold nuclear arms often use their superior position to exploit lesser states.[xxv] The first use of a nuclear bomb aimed
to push Japan into submission during World War II. The destruction of two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, was more than enough to both amaze and disgust the world st the same
time. People were in awe of the
weapon's awesome power. Yet, they were
disgusted by its horrible consequences.
The resulting reaction to these attitudes resulted in a nuclear taboo. [xxvi]
Nuclear weapons would never be used again, but even in their non-use, the
weapons projected terrible power.
Ironically, the power behind the traditional non-use of nuclear weapons
served to preserve peace and the spread of nuclear weapons. [xxvii] The successful application of this
power granted Òlegitimacy to the major powers' monopoly over nuclear weapons.Ó
(tradition of non use) Nuclear
powers essentially recognized themselves and each other as the only responsible
stewards of nuclear power.[xxviii] The logic behind that reality was
that the danger of a nuclear bomb lies not in the weapon, but in the people
that possess it.[xxix]
A
Multi Atomic Energy Treaty signed between the United States, Canada and Jamaica
in 1984 helps to illustrate this double standard. The treaty was a fulfillment of a request by the Jamaican government to obtain a low
power critical experiment reactor, known as Slowpoke II, for research purposes.[xxx] Although the United States and Canada
were willingly transferring nuclear technology to Jamaica, the oversight and
rights to the material still remained with the United States and Canada. The Supply and Project agreement gave
the United States the right to review, maintain, access, inspect, install and
reclaim the nuclear reactor or any nuclear fuel..[xxxi] It was evident that, in the eyes
of the superpowers, Jamaicans did not have the qualities necessary to
responsibly control nuclear technology.
Nuclear
weapons would also set the standard in determining what level of foreign
intervention a country can expect from a major superpower. The Korean War, Vietnam War, Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan, American invasion of Grenada, Falklands War, Israeli
wars, and war in Iraq are all examples of the type of intervention non-nuclear
states can expect if nuclear states disagree with their policies.[xxxii] Although nuclear weapons were not
used in any of those conflicts, the underlying message was clear: a large
escalation of the conflict will result in destructive force. After all, with the exception of China
(with their no-first use policy), no nuclear state has committed to the non use
of nuclear weapons against nonnuclear states.[xxxiii] This policy of deterrence has
been beneficial to the nuclear states.
No nuclear armed state has faced a foreign invasion or military
intervention of any kind after acquiring nuclear weapons. Once again Steel Pulse touches on the
topic in their song Earth Crisis:
ÒSuperpowers have a plan
Undermining Third World man
Suck their lands of minerals
Creating famine and pestilence
You hear what I say hear what I sayÓ[xxxiv]
Reggae
music also recognizes that the rhetorical nuclear threat has an underlying
racist and classist element to it.
The Multi Atomic Energy Treaty signed between the United States, Canada
and Jamaica already puts on display the double standard between the have and
have nots of the nuclear club. A
close examination of global nuclear policy show even more correlations between
the way a nation is treated in the nuclear era and the dominant race of that
nation. Of the states that either
possess or have come close to possessing nuclear capability, India, Pakistan,
South Africa, North Korea and Iran have all had to deal with the actual
imposition or threat of sanctions for pursuing the development of nuclear
weapons. These countries have a
common trait in that they are all nonwhite nations. On the other hand, the development of nuclear weapons by
Israel went unnoticed and under the silent approval of nuclear armed
states.
The
racist and classist discourse that comes with nuclearism can also be
illustrated by the practice of nuclear testing. When nuclear weapons are used, they have historically been
used on what nuclear states perceive to be an inferior race. This practice began with the intentional
nuclear attack on Japan. However,
while testing, nuclear states sought to detonate bombs in areas far from their
homelands, often in areas with indigenous populations that had no means of
resistance. The United States
tested on the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific, home to indigenous
Micronesians. The Soviet Union
tested in southern Soviet Social Republic, Kazakhstan. The United Kingdom tested on Aboriginal
land in South Australia as well as on Christmas Island in the Pacific. France tested in Algeria. China tested in the autonomous Xinjiang
province, home to ethnic Uighur muslims.
And the recent nuclear tests by India, Pakistan and North Korea have all
been underground to limit nuclear fallout. The line of reasoning behind testing in an isolated region
was to limit he effects of nuclear fallout on the populations of nuclear armed
states. The limited nuclear tests
in Nevada during 1953 & 1954 resulted in a large area of the United States
being exposed to nuclear fallout.
In the same way, far away areas around the testing sites used by
nuclear states were contaminated by nuclear fallout from testing. The most compelling example of
devastation caused by nuclear testing comes from the Marshall Islands. The test contaminated food supplies,
polluted water, and changed global weather patterns. (the bomb) The Micronesian
people of the Marshall Islands were forced to endure tragedies for a
generation. Miscarriages, cancer
and birth defects became common on these Pacific Islands and the memory of
nuclear testing lingers to this day.
If the Micronesian people from the Marshall Islands suffered such a fate
from nuclear technology, it makes sense that the Jamaican people saw a similar
future written for themselves. Bob
Marley understood the racial implications of war. He suggested a type of
discourse that would vanquish the institution in his song War:
ÒUntil 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 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.
That until that day
The dream of lasting peace,
World citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion to be pursued,
But never attained -
Now everywhere is war
– war.Ó
Marley understood that war, racism and classism went hand in hand.
In
the beginning, the rhetoric of nuclearism promised a bright future filled with
high expectations for the world.
Nuclear energy was supposed to be clean, affordable and safe. Nuclear research was held to be the
next frontier of science. The
technological advancements of atomic energy were expected to yield great
developments in medicine, astronomy and even food preparation. Nuclear weapons also promised a sense
of security. Mutually Assured Destruction
ensured that no country would commit nuclear suicide and thus prevented nuclear
war. Deterrence ensured the
continuous peace and stability of the globe. Nuclearism did successfully reach many of these goals. Still, reggae artists pondered the cost
of these benefits. Instead of
reaping the rewards of nuclear technology, poorer nations faced disappointment
from the effects of nuclear proliferation. As the third world was struggling with poverty, disease and
hunger; the first world was obsessed with military defense. Peter Tosh's song No Nuclear War expresses the
sentiment:
ÒWe can't take no more
Unemployment
I said the rate is high
So much sick people
I'm sure they
gonna die
So much mad people
Gettin' ready to explode
'Fore
somebody
Come help them carry this loadÓ (tosh youtube)
In Earth Crisis, Steel Pulse agrees:
ÒThey carry the symbol
Of the eagle and the bear
Across the globe
Far east to far west
High tax and cutbacks for military
defenseÓ (earth crisis youtube)
The expectations that nuclear technology promised never materialized
in the developing world and Jamaica.
Once again, Jamaicans were left disappointed.
The
realistic and rhetorical threat of nuclear war was handled by Jamaicans in
typical fashion: resistance through music. Reggae music took the role of to resist the oppression
caused by nuclear weapons and their rhetoric through the entire cold war. Yet despite the fear and oppression,
people would live on and resist.
Reggae legend Bob Marley put it best when he said in his song Redemption
Song:
ÒHave no
fear for atomic energy,
'Cause
none of them can stop the time.Ó