Ziggy Marley has expressed his support for the environmental campaign group Extinction Rebellion.
The reggae singer feels that politicians and business are ignoring the public’s concerns about climate change and pollution.
“I feel things like Extinction Rebellion are necessary”, he told the BBC after headlining the Womad world music festival last week. “We have to be more willing than those who are in a place of power”, he added.
Extinction Rebellion had a stand at the Wiltshire festival, and potted trees were planted by organisers on each side of the main stage in a nod to the group’s pop-up gardens on London’s Waterloo Bridge.
A 300ft crop circle featuring the Extinction Rebellion logo had been carved in a field near the festival site to highlight “food security issues, within the context of climate and ecological collapse”, the group said in a statement.
The movement began in the UK in 2018 after the release of a report on global warming by The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Their ten-day protest caused chaos in central London this April, blocking traffic at Marble Arch, Waterloo Bridge, Parliament Square and Oxford Circus.
“The politicians and the industrial complex of financial institutions and big billionaires who profit from the destruction of the planet see no urgency in making an effort to make a change because of the bottom line”, Marley said.
“They are making a profit. They don’t want to jeopardise that. We have to be more willing than those who are in a place of power, who want to see a continuation. The politicians are not on our side. The religious leaders aren’t on our side. Only we, the people, are on our side”.
The singer recently asked his tour management to replace disposable water bottles with reusable ones after finding out about the damage caused to sea life by plastic waste.
“Now it’s time for action really”, he said. “But we have to find a really mass movement. We have to find a way. I know we can do it. We just need a push. That’s what the album is about, it’s a push”.
At the festival, Marley played songs from his 2018 album Rebellion Rising and his own back catalogue.
He also played some of his father’s music, including “Jamming” and “One Love”, which were a bit hit with the crowd.
Bob Marley was known for his outspoken views on issues on poverty and human rights and his son has followed in his father’s footsteps with songs such as “See Dem Fake Leaders”.
“I feel good that we keep it alive. His music is a part of us and a part of the world and the message still needs to be there“, said Marley, who was just 12 when his father died of cancer.
#Peace.Love.ZiggyMarley
