| Bob Marley and the Wailers – Redemption Song Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I think there have been some good comments on here, but I would like to center on two lines of the song I believe to be improperly treated and, in fact, related in an interesting way. The lines are: "emancipate yourselves from mental slavery..." "we've got to fulfill the book" Here Bob is engaged in what's called reification critique. That is, he's challenging people to think critically about their surroundings and stop taking as "natural" or "inevitable" events or situations that are products of human agency. Why would people make such a mistake? Well, according to (some interpretations of) Marx, the working class, or proletariat, suffers from "false consciousness." This false consciousness causes them to see capitalist expropriation as an inevitable outgrowth of material conditions, and even to identify with their oppressors in one way or another. The proletariat is much stronger than the bourgeoisie, but, because of this false consciousness, the proletariat fails to realize its revolutionary potential. In other words, in order to achieve political emancipation, the proletariat must first achieve mental emancipation. And only they can do that. I believe that Bob is referring to Christian eschatology in the second part. The book he is referring to is The Bible, specifically Revelation. There are those that would remain defeated when their leaders are murdered - or might even praise it in a strange way. This is because Revelation predicts things must get much worse before they get better - ie. Jesus returns. Thus, any attempt to better one's position is to go against God's will. One should welcome persecution, because that means The End - and Christian redemption - is nigh. Bob clearly does not like this attitude. So, there it is, in both of these lines, he's addressing arguments against a revolution of the proletariat. Get Up, Stand up! |
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