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Jamaican musician Bob Marley is recognized for using his music to address oppression and injustice worldwide. Before his death in 1981, Marley created songs that highlighted the struggles he observed, joining a tradition of artists who use their work to confront societal issues and inspire resistance.
Marley’s song “War,” released in 1976, draws its lyrics directly from a speech delivered by Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia at the United Nations on October 4, 1963. In this speech, Selassie called for world peace and condemned racism as a root cause of conflict. He had previously addressed the League of Nations in 1936 regarding the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, describing the devastating effects of chemical weapons used against Ethiopians: “The object was to scatter fear and death over a great part of the Ethiopian territory. These fearful tactics succeeded. Men and animals succumbed. The deadly rain that fell from the aircraft made all those whom it touched fly shrieking with pain. All those who drank the poisoned water or ate the infected food also succumbed in dreadful suffering. In tens of thousands, the victims of the Italian mustard gas fell. It is in order to denounce to the civilized world the tortures inflicted upon the Ethiopian people that I resolved to come to Geneva.”
The press release points out that acts such as weaponizing food, torture, and dehumanization persist today just as they did during past conflicts.
“Everywhere is war” seems a bit excessive, a focal point which distracts from the identification of racism and supremacy as root causes of war, and from the need for the permanent dismantling and destruction of the philosophies and structures that perpetuate the dehumanization of people. In these days in which we live, when the cries coming from systems of oppression seem to be everywhere, Marley’s words are no longer an exaggeration; the manifestation of aggression is all around us. War is the armed conflict between nations, it is the conflict or hostility between people groups, it is the struggle or competition between forces toward a particular end. Locally and globally, war is being waged in degrees of suffering and degradation, violence perpetuated against the people.
Definitions provided emphasize both armed conflict between states or groups within states—often resulting in atrocities—and broader forms such as competition or hostility among communities.
The statement notes ongoing global crises where violence has escalated beyond conventional warfare into acts described as genocide: “Rules of war” is an oxymoron, there is no politeness in war, only hate and fear, dehumanization and suffering, and possible escalation resulting in crimes against humanity. Genocide is a spawn of war and conflict, the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group. The conflicts in Gaza and Sudan have moved beyond the rules of war to genocide among us. There are too many cases of acknowledged and yet to be acknowledged places where genocidal actions are documented.
Attention also turns toward domestic policies affecting marginalized groups within countries like mass deportations targeting immigrants—including permanent residents—as well as rhetoric blaming national problems on immigration policy.
Recent measures include plans for National Guard deployment in Washington D.C., described by officials as crime reduction despite reports indicating historically low crime rates (https://mpdc.dc.gov/page/crime-statistics-citywide). New executive orders have targeted homeless populations with threats including arrest if they do not vacate certain areas (https://mayor.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-signs-executive-order-end-crime-and-disorder).
The release concludes by calling attention both locally and globally for justice—highlighting countries such as Palestine, Sudan, Myanmar, China, Ukraine,and Congo—and urging recognition for displaced persons whose rights remain threatened:
27.…that until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned…until then…everywhere is war and the fight for justice continues.
