Everyone knows the cult song "One Love" (also known as "One Love/People Get Ready") by Jamaican reggae singer and songwriter Bob Marley, who died in May 1981. Since the scandal surrounding the colorful bandage bearing the same name at the Soccer World Cup in Qatar, the song and its message have once again been at the center of public discussion. The lyrics preach love and unity among the people of the world. The central message is to put aside our differences and come together in harmony and unity. Bob Marley wrote this song in the midst of the turmoil of the Jamaican elections in December 1976, at a time when the Caribbean island was deeply divided politically and at times experiencing civil war-like riots. Wherever he could, Marley called for peace and reconciliation. Unforgotten is his appearance in 1978 at the One Love Peace Concert in Kingston, where Bob Marley invited Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley and his political opponent onto the stage for a high-profile handshake. Supporters of both parties then largely stopped the violent clashes.


That one of Bob Marley's songs and its associated message of peace is currently at the center of social and cultural debate is more than paradoxical. "A symbol of peace, unity and inclusion that divides. A piece of cloth that is tearing apart the federations and teams taking part in the 2022 World Cup," the French newspaper Le Monde aptly writes. Moreover, this at a sports event that is supposed to unite and overcome borders. A world event that should show that everyone in soccer has at least one thing in common: their love of the game. Bob Marley himself was a big soccer fan all his life. Countless photos demonstrate his passion for the round leather, showing him as a young man dribbling on the street and playing with friends. More than once, he had considered giving up his career as a reggae musician and becoming a professional soccer player instead. Even this background and the fact, that the bandage shows explicitly not the rainbow colors of the LGBTQ+ movement but a more neutral version, could not stop the scandal and the political disputes.