|
|
STAY ROOTS IN THAILAND! Roots Guesethouse Rayong |
Website hosted by RootsHosting.net Web Design by RayongWebDesign.com |
||||||||||
|
Bangkok Rayong Pattaya Ko Samet
London Jamaica |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The content of the present pages will be disapprea shortly
THIS SECTION OF THE WEBSITE (besides the rastafarians introduction below) HAS BEEN MOVED TO OUR SISTER WEBSITE: http://www.rootsreggaeclub.com/culture_reggae_afro/the_rastafarians/the_rastafarians_main.htm
INTRODUCTION TO THE RASTAFARIANS CULTURE AND HISTORY (see RASTAFARIANS FULL VERSION): |
THE RASTAFARIANS:
Chapter 5 / An Ambivalent Routinization
Factors Leading to RoutinizationThe period of 1961 to 1971 might be designated as the period of "ambivalent routinization" for the Rastafarians. The word "routinization is taken from Anthony F.C. Wallace: "Revitalization Movement etc" (1953), suggesting the last stage of the dynamics as a movement attempts to establish itself within society. These years came as a time of high expectation in which the possibility of imminent repatriation and feverish organization took place. As many as twenty groups of Rastafarians were to emerge int he cities of Kingston, Spanish Town, May Pen, and Montego Bay, with satellites in other parts of the island all bearing special names and headded by different leaders. As the hope for imminent repatriation faded, many organizations ceased to exist or merged with others. During these years, a few of these were recorded in the author's notes as : the Ethiopian African Congress and Rastafarian Melchizedek Orthodox Church, led by Prince Edward Emanuel---a movement which has continued to the present; the Rastafarian Movement, African Recruitment Center, 1000 Marcus Garvey Drive, led by Ras Samuel Brown; the Rastafarian Repatriation Association of Jamaica, 26 Adastra Road, operating under the name of "The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari" and led by the three brethren who visited Ethiopia in the government's mission; the Ras Tafari Untied Front, Liberty Hall, 76 King Street, Kingston; and various others which seem to have disappeared from the scene or have changed their names.
Factors Leading to Routinization
This chapter seeks to analyze the decade between 1961 and 1971, and to show
some of the factors leading to the routinization of the movement in Jamaica
society---an event which has contributed greatly to their prestige on the island,
and has contributed enormously to aspects of the island's economic, political,
and social development.
The University Report on themovement and the subsequent visit of some brethren
to Africa made the Rastafarians visible in the island in a very important way;
and, as we have seen, contributed to diffuse the excitement for repatriation.
But, to the author, three incidents which are now scarcely discussed outside
the circle of the brethren might have been the most important factors leading
to the routinization of the movement. They are: the candidacy of Ras Samuel
Brown for political office; the destruction of Back-O-Wall; and the visit of
Haile Selassie to Jamaica. Each of these events have more than historical meaning.
Ras Brown is one of themost complex personaities within the Rastafarian movement.
He combines in his person the attributes of a mystic, poet, orator, saint, painter,
and what a govenment official called "a lovable rascal." In his presence
at one given moment, one feels free and relaxed, and in the next moment tense
and frightened. Since the early beginnings of the movement he has been one of
themost ardent Rastafarians and is today one of its most important poets, if
not the best. Born in the parish of Trelawny in 1925, he attended the local
elementary school and was so brilliant a student that it is reported he won
a scholarship to a prestigious secondary school in Kingston, but failed to accept
the offer because of poverty. After working at various trades he became interested
in printing. By 1965, when the author met him, he was without a job and was
the leader of a group of brethren in Back-O-Wall. He told the author how vividly
he remembered the night he heard Marcus Garvey in Edelweise Park, when he was
only five years of age---a mere tot brought by his mother who was a member of
the Garvey movement.
Three years before my interview with Ras Brown he created a mild sensation in
the island when he entered the 1961 election compaign as an independent candidate
for Western Kinston under the banner of the Black Man's Party. This was the
first time in history that a Rastafarian entered the arena of active politics.
Although receiving less than one hundred votes, his famous "Twenty-One
Points" platform and his boldness to campaign on it not only gave the average
citizen a new insight into the movement's philosophy but, for the first time,
drew the attention of the elite to the potentials of the movement. The famous
Twenty-One Points are known as the Foundation of the Rastafarian Movement, which
for historical reasons will be quoted verbatim from a tattered copy presented
to the author during field research. It states that:
1. Members of the Rastafarian Movement are an inseparable part of the Black
people of Jamaica.
2. As such we cannot and do not proclaim any higher aims than the legitimate
aims and aspirations of the Black people of Jamaica.
3. The Rastafarian Movement consists of the most advanced, determined and uncompromising
fighters against discrimination, ostracism and oppression of Black people in
Jamaica.
4. The Rastafarian Movement stands for freedom in its fullest sense and for
the recovery of the dignity, self-respect and Sovereignty of the Black people
of Jamaica.
5. Many deplore and accuse the Black people of raising the colour question in
this island. But White supremacy was the official policy of this island for
hundreds of years and white supremacists never regarded Black men as good as
the dogs in their yards.
6. To white supremacy has been added Brown-man supremacy and the mongrel children
of the Black woman came to think and behave contemptously of Black people.
7. Time has removed some of the grosser aspects of white and brown man supremacy;
but discrimination, disrespect and abuse of the Black people are still here
in many forms.
8. For instance, in their employment policies, the big guns get generous salaries,
house allowance, travelling expenses and bonuses. The poor Black man working
in the same industry or enterprise cannot get adequate food, money, and has
to accept poor treatment and insults as part of the price of holding the job.
9. In their housing policy, they have houses for the rich, housing for the middle-class
and housing for the under-privileged. "Underprivileged" is only another
name in Jamaica for poor Black people.
10. God did not say "come let us make underprivileged man, middle-class
man, and rich man." He said "come let us make man." The existence
of underprivileged man in Jamaica is a product of white and brown man supremacy.
11. The Rastafarian Movement has as its chief aim the complete destruction of
all vesttiges of white supremacy in Jamaica, thereby putting an end to economic
explotation and the social degradation of the Black people.
12. The Rastafarian Movement stands for Repatriation and power and for the fullest
cooperation and intercourse between the Governments and people of Africa and
a free and independent people of Jamaica.
13. The Rastafarina Movement, for the furtherance of these ends, must have the
backing of its support to , or lead, a political movement of its own.
14. The Rastafarian Movement has the backing of no party. We are subject to
persecution and discrimination.
15. The Rastafarian Movement has lent its support to the two big Parties, this
support has been in vain because no improvement has taken place in our condition.
Neither are we offered or do we see any hope.
16. The Rastafarian Movement therefore has decided to actively join the political
struggle and create a political movement with the aim of taking power and implement
measures for the uplift of the poor and oppressed.
17. Because we have no other aims than the legitimate aims of all Black people
in this island as states in clause 2, this movement is open to all Black people,
irrespective of class, riligion or financial standing.
18. We are not declaring against the political leadership of white men and brown
men because of their colour; but becasue of the wickedness that they represent
and invite them to repentance.
19. Consequently, if a man be as Black as night, his colour is in our estimation
of no avail if he is an oppressor and destroyer of his people.
20. All men therefore are free irrespective of colour to join this political
crusade. The only condition is that he must abandon evil.
21. Suffering Black people of Jamaica, let us unite and set up a righteous Government,
under the slogan of Repatriation and Power.
Sam Brown's entry into politics, at that time, was an innovation contrary to
Rastafarian philosophy and the pronouncements were contrary to Rastafarian beliefs,
but Brown was a realist and, as such, was a man of foresight. His emphasis lay
upon a strong foundation which actually blueprinted the routinization of the
movement which gradually took place. His ideas predated even the Black Power
Movement in America whose philosophy was similar to that of Brown's.
A look at the clauses of this document which appeared in 1961 suggests that
Ras Sam Brown sas the eventual rountinization of the movement within his society.
At that period when most Rastafarians were preparing to repatriate (in clause
1), he was saying that the movement is an " inseparable part of the Black
people in Jamaica." He saw the movement as "not proclaiming any higher
aims than the legitimate aims and aspirations" than those "of the
Black people of Jamaica. "In clause 3 and 4, he advanced some ideas that
were to be taken up by former prime minister of Jamaica in the fight against
discrimination, ostracism, and oppression, towrd the recovery of dignity and
self-respect and sovereignty of the Black people of Jamaica. On the subject
of White and Brown supremacy, he again antedated the former prime minister who,
although a member of an elite family of Jamaica, saw the need to reecho the
entrenched problem of racism which has always menaced Jamaican society. In Jamaica,
the ruling racial philosophy has always been "If you are Black, keep back!
If you are Brown, stick around! If you are White, you are right!" What
Ras Brown boldly attacked in 1961 was the same philosophy Michael Manley sought
to destroy. The salary differential and working conditions referred to in clauses
8 and 9 were now incorporated by the Manley government. In the last budget speech
given by Manley, the language attacking the privileges of the upper class and
the professionals was indentical to that of Sam Brown. In clause 12, Sam Brown
linked repatriation with the word "power," which when really interpreted
means "liberation and power," and which also anticipated the present
stance of the Rastafarians who now see "liberation before repatriation"
as their goal. All this would suggest that the Rastafarians were the forerunners
of the ideology of democratic socialism, the former political philosophy of
the Jamaican government.
After the election, Brown was rejected by the movement as a radical who eventually
split the movement. But he continued his political involvement to this day,
and remains one of themost advanced thinkers of Rastafarianism.
At the time of my first interview with Ras Brown, the summer of 1965, he was
still at his headquarters at 1000 Marcus Garvey Drive. A short review of this
personal encounter and references from my field notes will set the stage for
the second phase of routinization. The residence of Sam Brown was a small house
consisting of two rooms. Just beyond this dwelling was a small yard in which
all activities were centered. The signs about the yard impress themselves on
the visitor in a symbolic way. Examples are:
Be happy about what is saved rather than gloomy about what has been lost.
The growl of a hungry stomach the rich knows not.
One God, One Aim, One Destiny.
Grudge is sin.
Cowards cannot win.
Informer beware.
All Black men are brothers.
On the day the author visited Ras Brown, he entered the yard through an inner
gate within a larger gate. The atmosphere was suspicious until the purpose of
the visit was reiterated and finally believed. There were some objections to
taping the interview, but this was finally permitted upon the presentation of
a few dollars. These preliminaries dispensed with, Ras Brown settled down to
a most polished speech which is quoted verbatim:
It has ever been a mystery to the non-Rastafarians to know the standards of
this faith. The mystery deepens with the knowledge that there is no textbook
or manuscript dating back to actiquity that depicts the cult of the Rastafarians
making any impact on the then-present world order. From the day of the first
slave landing in Jamaica, possessing the knowledge of forcible displacement
from his original habitat Ethiopia, until this day, has caused the slaves to
be resentful and at times revengeful to the cause of their enforced exile and
ultimate privation. While at the same time, in the majority of cases, such resentment
is marked by a mask of abject docility. The resentment of the African to colonialzation
and domination has expressed itself in many violent slave uprisings in this
and other western lands. Quaco, Koffie, Accompong Nanny, Paul Bogle, George
William Gordon, and the great Garvey were truly individual exponents of the
same Rastafarian thoughts existing in their age. Such thoughts are: (1) basically,
unanimity and a common racial heritage; (2) a god as seen through Black men's
eyes discarding the questionable or mythical dogma of a European Jesus crucified;
(3) the aim fro the beginning has been likened to the prodigal son. whom, after
many vicissitudes, realized the place for his recovery was his home, hence our
demand for an African Repatriation; and (4) one destiny exemplified by the obliteration
of tribalism, thereby fostering unity in its entirety.
The Rastafarians are the fulfillers of all these with an additive exclusively
his. Indeed, the Rastafarian is he who will never relinquish the fact that he
is an African. He also never forgets that Britian was chief signator to the
Act of an African return.
It is remarkable what pains the intellingensia will take in an effort to erase
from the minds of the blacks of this country that we are Africans, telling us
that we are Jamaicans and Negroes. Your Bible that was given us as a means of
Christianizing clearly contradicts the ...plans of both local and universal
Christianizers by its declarations: "The leopard cannot change his spot,
neither the Ethiopian his skin" and also for the minds genuinely seeking
a solution to the problem they have caused, to rid their conscience of hypocrisy,
and take a new view of the situation and realize that the only Jamaican is the
one originated here. For example, the extinct Arawak and the immediate mulatto.
Remember there is no Negro from Negroland, neither Jamaicans from Africa. We
have seen planned systems of partial genocide enacted time and again. You cannot
kill a problem; it beggars your solution. The seeming fanaticism of the Rastafarians
in regards to black and white in all aspects, stems from the knowledge of the
past that we were the shackled slaves on the Estates, and even unto this day
it remains a fact that the historians of tomorrow will record us the Blacks,
notwithstanding category, as the slaves of the present day. It is only a matter
of time boosted by extremem pressures of the Europeans and his derivatives,
that all black peoples, especially the under-priviledged ones, will realize
that possessed with the spirit of black emancipation, all the sons of Africa,
notwithstanding shades, are one. In Jamaica we see a planned system of propaganda
based on isolation of the Rastafarians, not only from society, but even among
those blacks who have not yet emerged from the obscurity of themselves. The
Rastafarian does not naturally hate any member of mankind, but determinedly
detested systems which will not allow the true brotherhood of men to blossom
forth in its full richness. We are not bent on the destructionof the figure
of God, which is man, but of confederacies bent on wickedness and suppression
of the poor.
It is greatly scandalized throughout the world that the Rastafarian is a ready
vehicle for communism, a fleshpot who deified ganja. The truth is he deals with
all things with a sense of normality, and on "ism," it is purely an
African Brand.
The Rastafarian is quite aware of the fact that all past and present government
is reluctant to deal with the Rastafarian problem, but instad brands us with
the stigma of ganja as a pretext for continued prepression. Nevertheless, we
of the Rastafarian order know that brutality of punishment is no detriment to
the human will. The willingness of the majority of African States to accept
their exiled offsprings is enough incentive to continue our struggle to a victoriuos
conclusion, and prove to these twentieth-century Pharaohas that power of will
without discretion or self control leads to destruction.
So in concluding, I take this medium of appealing to the Christian-minded people
of Jamaica, to use their unbiased minds and honour the rights of all sections
of the people, thereby proving to the world that independence in Jamaica is
not only a White Hall dictated mockery.
The first interview with Sam Brown was mainly observational. He took the initiative in supplying much information. At the close of the visit he invited the author to a special strategy meeting on Sunday, July 11, 1965, at which most the brethren of his group were present. (The presence of the author was somewhat disconcerting to some of the group.) Since the same distrust of unbearded men prevailed among these brethren as among all others, Ras Brown introduced the author as a student of African history, asking him to say a few words about his interest in the Rastafarian movement in Jamaica. After a short speech by this author, the tension was visibly relaxed, at the conclusion of which Brown rose and addressed the gathering on the purpose of the meeting. Part of this address, taken in longland follows:
We are gathered here Brethren to reorganize our groups to save the people of
Jamaica. We have to harass the people who have us under their feet. A large
river starts with a little stream. This is not a new work; it is the liberation
movement of Africans abroad. We will have to fight here with all our means.
We did not have the means in 1961 or else we would have toppled the political
parties of this country. No rebel army in the world can defeat us. The white
man's age is coming to an end; all we have to do is to move. We are starting
back but we have to reorganize. Each man among us must take on some responsibility.
We are not many but this is a nucleus. We must get back on the street with agitation.
We cannot sit down now; we must begin. (Referring to the researcher, he said:)
We hope this man writing here will later substantiate our effort with what he
will write. This is not the day of Garvey; this is a new day---we cannot stop
now. This government will one day beg Africa to take us because England and
Canada will not take us, so with no place to send us and with the population
explosion there is going to be hunger here. We must start. Algeria has 20,000,000
people but only 3,000 of her men were in the liberation movement at first.
Plenty of our men got discouraged when did not win. But Jah Rasta helps only
those who help themselves. We will fill the roads again.
Toward the end of 1965, social tension, acts of vandalism, and gang warfare became frequent in Shanty-Town. Due to the heavy concentration of cultists in this part of Kinston, this renewed social unrest was attributed to the Rastafarians. This led not only to the arrest of Ras Sam Brown, but also to the destruction of the Back-O-Wall area itself---an act which brought torrents of criticism on the heads of government, but more importantly a dispersion of the various Rastafarian groups to seek greener pastures both at the edge of the city and to other parts of the island.
The Destruction of Back-O-Wall
Although the government had plans to develop the area known as Fourshore Raod
which included Back-O-Wall as an industrial complex, the social upheavals which
grew tense at the end of 1965 appeared to have hastened the need for its destruction.
The author was an eyewitness to this historic situation and shall report this
incident from notes gathered furing the operation.
On the morning of July 12, 1966, at precisly 9 A.M., a regiment of 250 police
from all over the city assembled at the Denham Town Police Station, opposite
Back-O-Wall. Armed with guns, bayonets, pistols, and clubs, ther scene resembled
a preparation for battle. Squatters caught without notice saw several bulldozers
roaring down the street toward their dilapidated shacks and, with the sharp
deployment of the police at key points in the area, the government "clean-up"
campaign began. When it finally dawned on the "shantyites" that judgment
day had arrived, many made a mad rush to save their few belongings. For the
most part, others stood in amazement and watched their homes of many years reduced
to rubble by the giant machines. When the first raided camp was demolished,
a blazing fire of unknown origin consumed what remained to ashes while the fire
company stood by. The sorrows and sufferings of the people were too much to
report. In three days, three camps were destroyed and hundreds of people were
left abandoned with only the rags on their backs. Hundreds simply moved into
the nearby graveyard, setting up temporary shelters; others found some comfort
at the Spanish Town Roman Catholic Church and others simply lodged on sidewalks.
Of three camps destroyed in 1966 the most important were the Rastafarian Movement
Recruitment Center of Sam Brown, and the African National Congress of Prince
Edward Emanuel. The Rastafarians took the ordeal mildly; they accepted the destruction
as only another incident of government's brutality to the poor and need, further
confirming their desire for Ethiopia. During the operation, A Rastafarian woman
stood on the sidewalk and sang:
Since we are squatters in Jmaica
Send us back to Ethiopia
We will be citizens there.
As usual the forcible removal of the squatters of Back-O-Wall brought torrents of public reaction, most of it against the government. The national weekly, Public Opinion, wrote:
The bulldozers were ordered by government into action and have completed their dastardly destruction, leaving hundreds shelterless and in absolute destitution. Operation "bulldoze and burn" was exectued with ruthless efficiency, indicating meticulous advanced planning and anyone who witnessed the devastation of the settlements and the devastation of the poorest of our poor people must wonder whether in the government, we have men or monsters.
THIS SECTION OF THE WEBSITE (besides the rastafarians introduction below) HAS BEEN MOVED TO OUR SISTER WEBSITE:
http://www.rootsreggaeclub.com/culture_reggae_afro/the_rastafarians/the_rastafarians_main.htm
INTRODUCTION TO THE RASTAFARIANS CULTURE AND HISTORY (see RASTAFARIANS FULL VERSION):
|
