Township Rebellion is a song featured on the debut album of 90's rock band Rage Against the Machine. The song was never released as a single and is only available on the bands debut album. The lyrics to the song are mainly a reference to Apartheid - a system of ethnic separation in South Africa from 1948 which was eventually dismantled in the early 1990's. In the song, vocalist Zack de la Rocha makes comparisons to the racial issues in Johannesburg to problems happening in South Central Los Angeles by saying "now freedom must be fundamental, in Johannesburg, or South Central". It was around the time the lyrics were written that Los Angeles had just experienced the LA Riots of 1992.
During the chorus of the song De la Rocha repeats the lines "why stand on a silent platform, fight the war, fuck the norm" and goes on to repeat the lines "Shackle their minds when they're bent on the cross, When ignorance reigns, life is lost". This is seen to be a wake up call to people who are aware of what goes on in the world around them, but fail to do anything about it, instead preferring to sit in silence.
During the original recording of the song, De la Rocha let out an unexpected scream of rage after uttering the words "whats it gonna take" to the complete surprise of his bandmates who were not expecting such a performance.
The band have not performed the song in its entirety since their early days of touring as a band. However they frequently incorporate the final breakdown of the song into the end of Freedom.
