Benny Wenda, West Papuan musician and spokesman for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, has joined forces with former members of legendary reggae artist Lucky Dube’s band to record a song for the people of West Papua. Recorded at a studio in Johannesburg, South Africa, Free West Papua was written and produced by Thuthukani Cele, now of The One People Band, with Sister Phumi Maduna on vocals. The song carries a message from Wenda to his people, drawing on the spirit of South Africa’s own freedom struggle.
The connection between Lucky Dube and West Papua runs deep. Dube is revered across the territory — his music heard from loudspeakers at pro-independence demonstrations in the capital Jayapura, on the cellphones of independence fighters in the mountains, and on tape players in villages from the highlands to the islands. Pro-independence marches are often led by a vehicle carrying speakers playing Dube’s Prisoner. When Dube was shot and killed in Johannesburg in 2007, the streets of Jayapura filled with mourners. It was, for the West Papuan independence movement, a national day of grief.
The reason for that connection is not hard to understand. Dube’s music spoke directly to the experience of living under apartheid — and West Papua, as Wenda has said repeatedly, is a form of apartheid. “West Papua is very similar to how South Africa was. It is a mini apartheid.” People who don’t speak a word of English feel the spirit of Dube’s music because they know the history of South Africa, and they recognise their own struggle in it.
For Wenda, music is not incidental to the independence movement — it is part of it. Under Indonesian colonial rule, West Papuans have been told to speak Malay, to sing in Indonesian, to adopt Indonesian culture and history. The suppression of language and song is part of the suppression of identity. Free West Papua is an act of resistance in that tradition.
Thuthukani Cele echoed the sentiment: music has the power to fight inequality, fight racism, and send a message globally. She called on artists around the world to follow where Pacific musicians and now Dube’s former bandmates have led. Wenda agreed. For him, this song is part of history in the making — and the people of West Papua, he said, will not stop struggling until they have freedom, justice, democracy and independence.
