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This is Renegade Files Episode 91, Reggae, Rastas, and the CIA: Cultural Espionage in Jamaica.

In this episode we travel to the heart of the Caribbean, to a nation whose palm-lined beaches and sweet reggae rhythms often ebb and flow on tides of political unrest.

We’ll examine how the Jamaican two-party system became entangled with Cold War posturing, how the CIA played its hidden hand in shaping the course of Jamaican democracy, and how reggae music, and the figures who defined it, emerged as both cultural icons and political activists, either by choice or by force.

Finally, we’ll look at how figures like Bob Marley and Peter Tosh became folk heroes in this geopolitical storm, and how a single concert, the “One Love Peace Concert”, attempted to bandage a wounded nation back together.

“Rasta don’t work for no, CIA,” - Peter Tosh

And through it all, we’ll find that the Jamaican experience isn’t just a story from the past. The echoes of CIA interference, of politics fused with celebrity, of cultural figures caught in the crossfire of ideology, those echoes ring out today in other lands, not the least of which being, the USA.

So follow me now, deep into the rocksteady rhythm, as we stroll down a humid side-street in 1970s Kingston, where reggae sways the dancehalls, while superpowers pull the strings.

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Theme Song: “Steve’s Djembe” by Vani, FMA, licensed: Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 License.

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