Kabaka Pyramid Stands With Palestinian People Amid Ongoing Conflict

Kabaka Pyramid has called for freedom for the people of Palestine, who have been displaced after coming under siege from the Israeli military.

Quoting from Peter Tosh’s 1977 iconic song Equal Rights, in which the Reggae legend named Palestinians as among the world’s oppressed nations and Nelson Mandela’s International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people speech in Pretoria, South Africa, on December 1997, Kabaka expressed distaste at the going-ons in Palestine, whose latest Israeli-led siege began a month ago, and was triggered by a surprise attack by Hamas, the Palestinian militant group which rules the Gaza Strip, and which has as its mission, the destruction of the State of Israel.

“I stand will all peoples who are unable to live freely without persecution and limitations imposed on by an oppressor, and that includes the #Palestinian people!” the 2023 Best Reggae Album Grammy winner stated on Instagram.

“I denounce any peoples that try to implement racial or religious superiority and apartheid systems of government on anyone!  Any government that makes it illegal to say #FreePalestine is an enemy of world stability,” he added.

The current bombarding of Palestine is the latest in seven decades of conflict with Israel, which have, according to experts, drawn in outside powers and destabilised the wider Middle East.  Decades ago, it evoked criticisms from Peter Tosh and Mandela, which Kabaka pointed out in the opening sentences of his post, noting:

“‘We don’t want no peace, we need equal rights and justice’ – Peter Tosh” and then ‘Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians’ – Nelson Mandela.”

The Campion College old boy also opined that elements in mainstream media have not been honest with their reporting of the facts surrounding the conflict taking place on the Gaza strip, the smaller of two Palestinian territories.

“War is always preceded by an economic interest, at the expense of innocent lives. Follow the money, oil, natural gas, trade routes, pipelines, monetary systems and you will see the causes for what is happening today,” the Kontraband artist declared.

“Thank you for all the warriors risking their reputations, occupations, and even their lives to present information that the mainstream media has deliberately chosen not to present. We know who controls the media and who controls the governments in the western world. We know who benefits financially from warfare. But the world is wide awake. This monopoly on human life won’t last forever,” he added.

Describing himself as a free thinker, the Well Done artist urged his followers to refrain from believing that problems merely begin with terrorist acts, but be more discerning in how they view the current conflict in the Gaza.

“Terrorism is NEVER a root cause. It is not in anyone’s nature to be a terrorist. It is always a tool for a reaction to change an underlying situation. It is used by both the oppressor and the oppressed. Terrorist acts have led to major changes to the landscape of our lives. Think about who benefits from these changes, then you will see who is at the source,” he said.

“Stop thinking that problems originate with terrorist acts. Open your eyes, think for yourselves.   Anyone who finds my words offensive please feel free to block/unfollow me but don’t dm me saying I’m insensitive and I need to do more research and I’m supporting terrorism and I’m a disappointment. Take your emotions elsewhere please and thanks.

Added Kabaka: “Whatever I think is based on a process of assessment and discernment, my views can change at any point with new information, I am not bound to any group think or in servitude to any entity in perpetuity. I think FREELY”.

Peter Tosh’s Equal Rights song, from which Kabaka quoted, was the title track of his second studio album, which was released in 1977.  That song is regarded as a rare statement in Reggae, about the Palestinian issue in a line which came towards the end, where Peter first names Palestine as among the places which were struggling for equal rights and justice at the time.

Peter Tosh’s stance went way beyond the song, and the Glass House singer, at the No-nukes concert at Madison Square Garden in New York, appeared on stage wearing a traditional Palestinian garment on September 22, 1978 an Israeli holiday.   Peter supported a Palestinian state and, based on this, refused to perform in Israel, which he regarded as an Apartheid state.

As for the current conflict, Amnesty International, in a recent report, says as Israeli forces continue to intensify their cataclysmic assault on the occupied Gaza Strip it has “documented unlawful Israeli attacks, including indiscriminate attacks, which caused mass civilian casualties and must be investigated as war crimes”.

According to Amnesty, accounts from survivors and eyewitnesses, analysis of satellite imagery, and verified photos and videos to investigate air bombardments carried out by Israeli forces between 7 and 12 October, verify that these attacks “caused horrific destruction, and in some cases wiped out entire families”. 

The upcoming November 29 date will mark 45 years since UNESCO began observing the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

According to UNESCO, this date, which was chosen because of its meaning and significance to the Palestinian people, is based on the call by the United Nations General Assembly for an annual observance of the resolution on the partition of Palestine: “what has become known as the Partition Plan or the Resolution 181 (II), which was intended to establish an Arab State and a Jewish State, and was adopted on 29 November 1947”.

“The International Day of Solidarity traditionally provides an opportunity for the international community to focus its attention on the fact that the question of Palestine remains unresolved and that the Palestinian people have yet to attain their inalienable rights as defined by the General Assembly, namely, the right to self-determination without external interference, the right to national independence and sovereignty, and the right to return to their homes and property, from which they have been displaced,” UNESCO said.