Also implicit in this song is a rebuke to Tosh’s former bandmate Bob Marley. Marley’s message of everyone getting together and feeling all right is the polar opposite of what Tosh expresses here. The singer was unsparing in his criticism of Marley after the two split ways:

I never left [The Wailers] myself, mon. It was belittling my integrity. I taught Bob Marley. How can you compare the teacher with the taught? I and I and the devil are at war. The devil make Marley leader of the band. I had no desire follow the path of destruction

Despite gaining independence in 1962, by the late 1970’s, Jamaica was lagging economically, facing rising foreign debts and severe political infighting, culminating in a spate of assassinations in 1980

Rhodesia was an unrecognized state in Africa that existed from 1965-79. White settlers unilaterally declared independence and went to war to defend their illegal state, despite being outnumbered 22 to 1 and being so blatantly racist that even apartheid South Africa denied them support

At this point, Zimbabwe was coming to the end of a 15-year period where they were dominated by white minority rule. This period lasted until 1979

Botswana gained its independence from the British commonwealth in 1966 and the following year was finally allowed to move its government into its own territory (it had previously been located in South Africa).

At the time this song was released, Angola had been independent for only about two years, and foreign troops had only left the country a year after that

This song was recorded in 1977, and Palestine is today still fighting for equal rights and justice