I'm not talking about a 'reading' of "no justice, no peace" in written, analytical form.
I'm talking about it chanted by a large group on the move with a grievance. Context, volume, and tone matter.
The chant is occasionally extended to "no justice, no peace, fuck the police" [1] and the phrase is celebrated even without that extension for its association with "fighting back" [2]. The phrase is also used euphemistically to predict riots are due [3].
In the protest-chant context, everyone knows it has two meanings -- both the cryptic threat, and the more cerebral koan -- at the same time. Indeed, that's part of its charm -- people who aren't quite ready to throw rocks and break things can chant emphatically along with those who are ready, and get a little vicarious thrill that some serious shit might go down... "even though we didn't really mean things to get out of hand".
I'm talking about it chanted by a large group on the move with a grievance. Context, volume, and tone matter.
The chant is occasionally extended to "no justice, no peace, fuck the police" [1] and the phrase is celebrated even without that extension for its association with "fighting back" [2]. The phrase is also used euphemistically to predict riots are due [3].
In the protest-chant context, everyone knows it has two meanings -- both the cryptic threat, and the more cerebral koan -- at the same time. Indeed, that's part of its charm -- people who aren't quite ready to throw rocks and break things can chant emphatically along with those who are ready, and get a little vicarious thrill that some serious shit might go down... "even though we didn't really mean things to get out of hand".
[1] Many examples via http://www.google.com/search?q=%22no+justice+no+peace+fuck%2... and a nice graffiti example http://uriohau.blogspot.com/2007/08/steven-wallace-coroners-...
[2] as in this poster http://www.flickr.com/photos/seven_resist/3115883713/
[3] as in this blog entry, http://www.danteross.com/blogs/dante/2009/01/08/oscar-grantt... , where "...like I predicted it’s gonna get hot in the Bay….No Justice No Peace" is used to introduce a news clipping titled "Rioting in Oakland"