Bob Marley’s One Love Concert Was Historic – But Didn’t Cement Peace

It was meant to be the handshake felt across Jamaica, as Bob Marley stood on a concert stage with both Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley and his political rival, Edward Seaga, in the early morning hours of April 23, 1978.

Marley—giving his first performance in Jamaica since a failed assassination attempt on his life and that of his wife, Rita, in December 1976—addressed the crowd during his performance of “Jamming” at the historic One Love Peace Concert at Kingston’s National Stadium. “I just want to shake hands and show the people that we’re gonna make it right, we’re gonna unite, we’re gonna make it right, we’ve got to unite,” Marley said, taking aim at the political violence that had gripped his home country.

Marley’s belief that his music could be a unifying force for good is at the heart of Bob Marley: One Love, the new biopic about the reggae icon in theaters today. Starring British actor Kingsley Ben-Adir as Marley and Lashana Lynch as Rita, the movie focuses on the later stage of the singer’s life and the events leading up to his memorable appearance at the One Love festival.

Drawing more than 30,000 people and featuring some of the most popular reggae artists of the time, organizers hoped the event, with Marley as the headliner, would ease tensions among supporters of the ruling People’s National Party and the Jamaica Labour Party. But while the “Third World Woodstock” offered a brief moment of hope and marked a personal triumph for Marley, the peace he envisioned for Jamaica was still far away.

Jamaica was rife with political violence

By the mid-1970s, Jamaica was gripped with gang activity and street violence due to the divisions between the PNP and JLP.

Michael Manley, the figurehead of the PNP, was elected prime minister in 1972. He had gained popularity following the “Rodney Riots” four years earlier, in which Kingstonians acted out after the JLP-led government banned Walter Rodney, a popular Guyanese lecturer and socialist figure, from returning to the country. The Black Power and Rastafarian movements had also begun to take hold during the late ’60s, and Manley won the support of many youthful Jamaicans disillusioned by joblessness and poverty as he promised to “make better come” to the country.

But around the time Manley’s government fully committed itself to democratic socialism in 1974, Edward Seaga, who helped redevelop the Tivoli Gardens area of Kingston into a thriving community, had emerged as a rival representing the more conservative, free market–oriented JLP. Divisions between the parties fermented, and street gangs in support of both sides began committing acts of violence in the poorer communities of Kingston and other cities. According to scholar Brian Meeks, indiscriminate shootings and the burning of whole city blocks were among the worst atrocities.

By the time of the country’s December 1976 elections, more than 160 serious crimes were being committed per week. As a result, Manley declared a state of emergency, stoking even more anger within the JLP who felt it was done for political reasons, not public safety. The government tried to bring the two sides together just before the election but unknowingly put the country’s biggest celebrity at risk.

Marley was nearly assassinated in 1976

Bob Marley and his band, the Wailers, were globally known by this time, having toured Britain and the United States and even performing as an opening act for Bruce Springsteen. This was largely thanks to Chris Blackwell (portrayed in the movie by James Norton), who founded the Island Records label and helped Marley and other reggae artists achieve mainstream popularity.

With his influence within Jamaica well-established, Marley became the target of what appeared to be a politically-motivated attempt on his life in 1976. The singer and his band were preparing for a performance at Smile Jamaica, a free concert organized by the PNP-led government in an effort to diffuse tensions. On December 3, gunmen attacked Bob, wife Rita, and the band at the singer’s home. Bob was struck in the sternum and bicep and Rita in the head. Miraculously, neither suffered significant injuries, and Bob performed at Smile Jamaica two days later.

According to Meeks, it’s extremely likely the JLP targeted the reggae star ahead of the election occurring only days later. “Marley was invited to present a concert by the minister of culture at the time, so it was seen as a PNP concert even though it was a government concert,” Meeks told Jacobin magazine. “Marley was shot shortly before the concert, and it’s now pretty much certain that he was shot by a JLP gunman who wanted to stop him from bringing his significant presence to bear on an event that would redound to the interests of the PNP.”

Understandably, Marley fled the country right after the concert and went into self-imposed exile in London and the Bahamas. He didn’t return until two unexpected sources proposed the One Love Peace Concert two years later.

Two gang leaders helped organize One Love
While in exile, Marley and the Wailers recorded their Exodus album in London and released it in 1977. With its popular songs like “Jamming,” “Three Little Birds,” and the title track, Exodus was an immediate hit and has since received widespread acclaim. Rolling Stone ranks the project No. 48 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

A year later in 1978, gang leaders Claudius Massop, who supported the JLP, and Aston “Bucky” Marshall, backing the PNP, had called an uneasy truce and declared they would begin a peace movement in an effort to raise money to improve conditions in Kingston’s inner-city neighborhoods. The headlining event would be the One Love Peace Concert featuring a homecoming performance from Marley, whose immense popularity following Exodus made him crucial to the cause.

Exhausted by the violence that had gripped their cities in recent years, Jamaicans embraced the music festival on April 22, 1978. Marley received a hero’s welcome. “I was 10. It was a big crowd at the airport,” recalled Bob’s son Ziggy Marley, “and it was so crowded and hectic, they had to pull me through the car window to get me into the car. It was a very exciting time. It was like… like Jamaica was about to change.”

Nearly 35,000 people attended the concert— including Manley, who had been reelected in 1976, and Seaga. Security measures were strict, with The Guardian later reporting that even the sale of oranges was banned inside the stadium for fear the fruit could be used as a weapon. The audience was seated in three sections titled Togetherness, Love, and Peace.