Tuning into Tosh
A SYMPOSIUM for firebrand reggae singer Peter Tosh is scheduled for the Multifunctional Room at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus, next Monday.
The theme of the symposium — now in its 12th year — is ‘Peter Tosh — Activist and Pan Africanist — a focus on the Man, the Music, the Message and the Herb’.
The event is free and will begin at 6:00 pm.
Dr Clinton Hutton, one of its panelists and conceptualiser of the symposium, said Tosh’s message is relevant 27 years after his death.
“His message of anti-apartheid and decolonisation of Africa as well as his relentless campaign for the legalisation of ganja and justice is coming full circle,” Hutton told the Jamaica Observer.
“He, himself, suffered by the hands of the police because of ganja. His skull was shattered,” he continued.
Hutton cited the case of Mario Deane, the 31-year-old construction worker who died on August 6, three days after he was severely beaten while in police custody at the Barnett Street police lock-up, as an example of Tosh’s timeless message. Deane had been arrested for a ganja ‘spliff’.
“The Government of Jamaica is now catching up as Peter Tosh was involved in a campaign that was right. That is why he became a global voice for the decrimalisation of ganja. He played a seminal role in this issue,” he said.
Recently, the Jamaican government announced changes which included the removal of criminal records for users of small quantities of marijuana. It also announced plans to decriminalise the plant for medical, scientific and religious purposes.
Last year, Uruguay legalised recreational use of marijuana. The American states of Colorado and Washington have also done so.
In addition to Hutton, panelists include Dr Michael Barnett, attorney-at-law Miguel Lorne, Ras Evah Gordon, and Taitu Herron.
Tosh (given name was Winston Hubert McIntosh) is a founding member of The Wailers, whose core comprised Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer.
He would have celebrated his 70th birthday yesterday.
His 1976 major label album Legalize It (CBS Records), became the soundtrack for proponents worldwide seeking the legalisation of marijuana. His 1976 follow-up Equal Rights (CBS Records) took aim at the South African government’s apartheid system.
Tosh, who co-wrote Get Up, Stand Up with Marley, was awarded a posthumous Order of Merit in 2012 for his seminal contribution to the evolution of Jamaican popular music.
He was killed at his St Andrew home in September 1987. He was 43 years old.