"Inna Landan tiddey". 'Decolonising' London in Linton Kwesi Johnson’s dub poetry

One of the basic assumptions of Decolonialism is that the "coloniality of power" does not end with Colonialism and that the Modern capitalist World-system imposes a racial/ethnic classification of people around the world as a basis of its power structures. Linton Kwesi Johnson’s dub poetry stands as a space of resistance to these very structures; mixing Caribbean dialect and the rhythms of reggae it speaks to the heart of the British experience of inner-city (Brixton based) black youth. In such poems as ‘Inglan is a Bitch’(1980), ‘Mekin Histri’(1984)and ‘New Craas Massakah’(1984)London is portrayed as a site of conflict between those who perform and those who try to resist discrimination. Johnson’s is an artistic/critical languageovercoming theory (and prefixes), a poetryto be performed and not just read, which asks its readers/listeners to perform themselves the resistance required to preserve and assert their own difference.Keywords: Linton Kwesi Johnson, dub poetry,London, bass, decolonialismOne of the basic assumptions of Decolonialism is that the “coloniality of power”1does not end with colonialism and that the capitalist world order implies a ‘racial’ classification of persons around the globe as a basis of its power structures. In this sense, if on the one side the effort of decolonial thinkers, such as Walter Mignolo, is to help people understand how “the colonial matrix of power (CMP) was constituted, managed, and transformed from its historical foundation in the sixteenth centurytothe present”, on the other, they help us grasp how the very idea of “decoloniality undoes, disobeys, and delinks from this matrix; constructing paths and praxis toward an otherwise of thinking, sensing, believing, doing, and living”2. In our view Linton Kwesi Johnson’s dub poetrystands as an embodiment of this “otherwise”, counterpointing modernity and its power structures. Johnson’s poetry stands as a space of resistance –as a critical “interruption”3–in relation to these very structures; mixing different forms of Jamaican and English creole with the rhythms of reggae and dub, it speaks to the heart of the British experience of inner-city (Brixton based) black youth. In his poemsthe metropolis is portrayed as a site of conflict between those who enact and those who try to resist4discrimination; in this perspective, the whole body of his work stands as an attempt to ‘de-colonise’5London and give voice to its black communities. In a pioneering 1986 study Christian Habekost, defines dub poetry “a social, revolutionary art form where a radical voice shouts of the struggle of the oppressed all around the world”.6In this sense, Dub 1AníbalQuijano, “Coloniality of Power, Eurocentrism, and Latin America”, Nepantla: Views from South,1.3(2000), 533-580. 2Walter Mignoloand Catherine Walsh, On Decoloniality: Concepts, Analytics, Praxis (London and Durham: Duke U.P.,2018), 4. 3Iain Chambers, Postcolonial Interruptions: Unauthorised Modernities (London and New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2017).4For Duncombe, cultural resistanceprovides afree spacefor developing ideas and practices: “Freed from the limits and constraints of the dominant culture, you can experiment with new ways of seeing and being and develop tools and resources for resistance.And as culture is usually something shared, it becomesa focal point around which to build a community”. Johnson’s poetry offers in this sense a new way of seeing and (listening to) the city which he will share with a whole community. Stephen Duncombe, “Introduction”, in Stephen Duncombe, ed., The Cultural Resistance Reader (London: Verso, 2002), 5-6.5As we will see Johnson’s pioneering efforts and committed art project towards more recent cultural practices. A few years ago, a London-based network called Decoloniality London was created. As we read in theirsite the network is “committed to replacing the modern/colonial world system with justice; creating both physical and intellectual spaces to facilitate the production, collation, dissemination and application of decolonial thought and praxis” (https://www.decolonialitylondon.org, accessed 22 May 2020).6Christian Habekost, Dub Poetry: 19 Poets from England and Jamaica(Neustadt: Publishers Michael Swinn, 1986), 17. See also Christian Habekost, Verbal Riddim:The Politics and Aesthetics of African-Caribbean Dub Poetry(Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi, 1993)