In 1979, Robert Mugabe was a candidate for the position of Prime Minister of Rhodesia (colonial Zimbabwe) and was in favor of the country's independence from the white minority. For Mugabe to achieve his goal, a lot of support would be needed. Eventually the country had the support of an individual who was influential and popular at the time. Given that many of his lyrics dealt with topics such as world peace, equality and freedom, it is no surprise that this man ended up being Bob Marley. By 1976, Marley was an international superstar recognized as a global political voice. Songs like “War” and “Zimbabwe” advocated decolonization, black liberation and universal peace. Marley was an activist and used music as a tool to raise awareness of the problems faced by the poor and oppressed. That is why the purpose of this essay is to argue that Bob Marley was an inspirational and symbolic aspect of Rhodesia gaining independence and becoming known as Zimbabwe through his calls for pan-Africanism and liberation. We will talk about the state of Rhodesia (colonial Zimbabwe) that led to their independence, why Bob Marley was an influential figure within the country at the time, what specifically led him to come and perform at the independence ceremony, and the 'effect that his performance had. on the people present. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay To make sense of the many factors that contributed to Zimbabwe gaining independence, it is important to know why Zimbabwe was fighting for independence in the first place and why the country was experiencing oppression from the white minority until the 1980 elections. In 1965, the Prime Minister of Rhodesia, Ian Smith's Rhodesian Front (RF) government, had signed the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI). The UDI was a minority white settler government that aimed to rebel against the British crown. The British Crown wanted to establish black majority rule in Rhodesia and the UDI wanted to block this plan. British Prime Minister Harold Wilson refused to use military force to stop this and this forced African nationalist parties, such as the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) and the Zimbabwe African People's Union ( Zapu), to conduct guerrilla attacks against Rhodesian settlers to achieve black majority rule. Much of the British government failed in its attempts to resolve the conflict which became known as "the Rhodesia problem". In 1971 Harold Wilson's successor, the then Edward Heath, brought forward the Anglo-Rhodesian agreement which provided for the possibility of independence for Rhodesia. Black Africans had not taken part in the negotiations on the Anglo-Rhodesian Agreement and therefore had nothing to say about it when they were asked to provide an opinion or argument to the 1972 Pierce Commission. This ultimately caused the fight against the colonial rule of Rhodesia was renewed. In 1977, British Foreign Secretary David Owen created a new Anglo-American initiative to solve the problem that was occurring in Rhodesia. The initiative ultimately failed, but it laid valuable foundations that consisted of an independence constitution, a ceasefire of all fighting, and an election. The ceasefire in particular, successful thanks to the British Foreign Secretary Peter Carrington and the Foreign and Common Wealth Office, caused the end of the civil war then underway in Rhodesia between the ZANLA, RSF and ZIPRA forces. In 1979, “Britain assumed direct rule of its errant colony andsent Christopher Soames, a member of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, to Rhodesia as governor." Chris Soames' job was to overlook Rhodesia's transition to independence, which would be completed once national elections were held in 1980. Zimbabwe had experienced severe civil war, oppression, racism, segregation and supremacy white. Much of the civil war that took place in the 1970s stemmed from the oppression that black Africans felt they were experiencing at the hands of the white majority. In 1978 a man named Joshua Nikomo wrote an article to a political committee to discuss the struggle of black Africans against white minority rule that had taken place in colonial Zimbabwe. Nikomo clarified that: “We are fighting for fundamental change. The war is not against whites, but against a system of racism that keeps Africans in a state of slavery." He mentions more heinous acts committed by the white majority, such as the detention of thousands of Zimbabweans, the secret hanging of people, and legalized torture simply to maintain power. Segregation was also a problem plaguing many black Africans in colonial Zimbabwe. For Mugabe, prime minister of Zimbabwe, the end of segregated life, the freedom for his children to attend any school and the possibility of growing professionally based on merit and not on skin color was what he had imagined for the country after the independence. Contributing factors to the independence of colonial Zimbabwe, black Africans suffering from the white minority had drawn significant inspiration to fight for independence and change from Bob Marley and his music. Until the 1980 election, Bob Marley had spent the last decade writing songs that championed the very things colonial Zimbabwe hoped to achieve through independence. A good example of this is his 1976 song “War”. The song's lyrics were based on a speech given to the United Nations in 1968 by the emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie. The lyrics highlighted the causes of physical violence and ongoing war in Africa and referenced racism, classism, dehumanization and colonialism. A good example of this from the lyrics of the song is: “Until the philosophy that holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned. That is, until there are no more first- and second-class citizens of any nation. Until the color of a man's skin matters more than the color of his eyes. Until fundamental human rights are equally guaranteed to all, without distinction of race." Marley believed that black populations suffered from violence from colonial societies and his songs reflected this and framed him as a Pan-Africanist who wanted to see unity among African nations. Marley was drawn to Selassie's speech at the United Nations because it "demonstrated that the emperor was a pan-Africanist who saw the movement toward independence in the rest of Africa as a necessary part of the movement toward freedom in Ethiopia." The “war” is as much about the liberation of the black population as it is about peace and decolonization. The song expressed the feelings of the oppressed people of Zimbabwe and the fact that a popular international figure sang a song that expressed the values ​​and benefits that would be gained when a country was not under colonial rule instilled in black Zimbabweans the inspiration that l Independence was achievable. Marley's 1978 album "Survival" was a symbolic call to arms and Marley's attempt to gain credibility 26 (2015), 937-956.