Born in 1952 in Rae Town, Kingston, Jamaica as Allan Hope, he’s better known by his fans as Mutabaruka. He’s a Jamaican Rastafari dub poet, actor, musician, educator, and talk show host. He developed two of Jamaica’s most highly rated radio shows, “The Cutting Edge” and “Steppin’ Razor.”
He assumed the name Mutabaruka from the Rwandan Kinyarwanda language. It translates as “one who is always victorious.” In his work, Mutabaruka has addressed culture, politics, discrimination, and social oppression, along with Black Liberation, racism, poverty, religion, and sexism. He attended Kingston Technical High School and trained in electronics.

Mutabaruka began performing with his band in 1977 and had a hit record called “Outcry” the following year. He released 14 albums. In 2000 he began lecturing and narrated a documentary about global economic policy. He was also featured in the Jamaican episode of “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservation.”
The poet has two videos to his credit, four books of poetry, and appeared in three films. Mutabaruka’s quotes are just as relevant today as they were
when he made them.

The following are 10 quotes by Mutabaruka that everyone should know.

1. “Slavery is not African history. Slavery interrupted African history.”

2. “Religion was created by insecure men to oppress women. Religion is the basis of all political ideas and it exempts the human being to find the “I” in them.”

3. “Food, clothes and shelter have no politics.”

4. “Every generation blames the generation before them.”

5. “What you see is what you see. What you know is different.”

6. “Thou shat not kill means thou shall not kill period. If you eat live food you don’t kill it, you become one with it.”

7. “People believe that facts bring truth. Facts change with information. Truth transcendental, gone past thousand of years”

8. My journey carry me through doubt. Doubt is one of the greatest asset. Is from there you go search. Most people scared. It bring fatigue.”

9. “We have to make use of the life we have now. I mean if you can’t love when you are alive who you gonna love when you dead?”

10. “Belief is not knowledge. You hope that what you believe is the evidence of what you want it to be. Nothing wrong with belief. Nothing wrong with hope. But when knowledge come…”

Photo – Mutabaruka Facebook