Representatives of the movement known as Ras Tafarians are present among us and they are active in the area of Kingston. They have no unified structure, organization or hierarchy. They now exist in different groups without any co-ordination. They are strongly non-conformist, in constant opposition to society at large, while playing a significant role in the politics, economics and social life of Jamaica.
Historical Background
The coming of white colonialism to the American continent was accompanied by two phenomena, the settlement of black slaves in the Caribbean and continental America, and the vandalistic suppression and destruction of Amerindian culture.
The Ras Tafarians belong to a large and widespread movement in our century among emancipated slaves whose ancestors came from the African continent. An outstanding prophet in the 1920's in the Black liberation movement was Marcus Garvey. After the First World War, when the European scramble for Africa was in full swing, Marcus Garvey, the Jamaican, founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association in the United. States. He gave the bugle call for the rise of Black African nationalism, by preaching the doctrine of "Africa for the Africans - at home and abroad". This led to a widespread movement for Blacks on the American continent to return to their African homeland.
In 1927, Marcus Garvey was deported from the USA, came back home to Jamaica, and continued his return to Africa campaign; the main body of Blacks refused to respond; but some did. He preached thrift, hard work and self-reliance -- never very popular themes. He despised the colonial establishment in Jamaica and was briefly imprisoned.
In 1930, Ras Tafari Makonnen of Ethiopia was crowned as Emperor Haile Sellassie. Many followers of Garvey began to wonder if this was to be the deliverer of the Africans -- for he was the symbol of both African independence (Ethiopia had till then resisted the onslaught of European colonialism) and African aspirations.
In 1935, when fascism (Mussolini's forces) invaded Ethiopia and drove out Haile Sellassie, he became a symbol for many Africans abroad -- the little black man with dignity and courage facing up fearlessly to the monster of fascism, colonialism and white domination.
In 1941, when Haile Sellassie returned in triumph to Ethiopia, new hopes were kindled among the oppressed Blacks of the American continent and the Caribbean as well as elsewhere in the world.
Many Jamaican followers of Marcus Garvey had already become convinced that Haile Sellassie was the promised Messiah, the deliverer of the Blacks toiling under the white Pharaohs of the world. It was a short step from that conviction to the belief that Ras Tafari (Haile Sellassie) was Jah or God.
In 1935, the "Niyabingi Order" came into public notice in Jamaica a few months after the rape of Ethiopia by Mussolini's forces. It was claimed that Haile Sellassie was the head of this Order, which existed as a "programe to combat racism" - to overthrow white domination by racial war -- "Death to White and Black oppressors".
The Ras Tafari men became thus also Niyabingi men - "Rastamen" or "Niyamen". The Jamaicans call them Rastas.
1960 was the crucial year according to the prophecies of Marcus Garvey; it was the year of redemption when all the Rastas had to be repatriated to their promised land — Ethiopia. They wrote to the Emperor to come and take them, if necessary, after conquering Jamaica. They entered into correspondence with the Ethiopian Orthodox church Church, and in 1960, Church officially began to negotiate with them for starting an Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Jamaica.
Emperor Haile Sellassie visited Jamaica in the Sixties, and talked with the Ras Tafarians. They would not accept the authority of Jah Ras Tafari himself, who told them that he was an ordinary mortal.
To this day they prefer to believe that The International Press was deceiving the world when they reported the death of Haile Sellassie, They believe that Haile Sellassie is still alive, and working for the liberation of the Blacks, and for their repatriation to Africa.
Organization and Beliefs
The Ras Tafarians are neither a community nor an organized society. They are what they themselves call "an open culture". They have several orders, the chief of which are
(A) the Theocratic order
(B) the priestical order of Melchisedek
(C) The divine order of Niyabingi
The elders of these orders meet from time to time, as they are doing in a little mountain village as the central committee meets in Jamaica.
The Brethren of Jah Ras Tafari as they call themselves are today divided. Some have joined Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Jamaica, having been baptized as Christians. These are regarded as traitors by the rest of the brethren, for whom the basic self-identity is Jewish (Old Testament) rather than Christian.
Their beliefs are mainly the following:
(a) Ras Tafari is the Redeemer, the one true sovereign Theocratic ruler, who controls the whole world and its future, and is the Head of the Brethren of Jah Ras Tafari.
(b) the black race are the true Israelites; those who call themselves Jews are false Jews. All Black men are also Ethiopians, though they do not know this.
(c) The King James Bible, expurged of the false elements brought in by white men,
is the Word of God. This means only certain parts of the Bible are the true Word. In the New Testament, the passages to be accepted are: Hebrews 11, I Corinthians 4, I Timothy 6, I John 4, Thessalonians 3, and Revelation chapters: 13, 15, 17, 18, 19, 22. In the Old Testament also selected passages are emphasized and are affirmed as true.
(d) Eventually Jah Ras Tafari will triumph and establish his kingdom when the black people will be repatriated to their home continent -- Africa.
They all agree in their opposition to white domination in the world. They think that blacks who cooperate with whites are traitors. The Jamaican government, according to them, is a traitors' government, under the control of American and British whites and Transnational corporations. True Rastas therefore, refuse to vote.
They think the churches have all compromised with the white oppressors and with the descendants of the slave-owners.
As for their ethical practices, they forbid alcohol and gambling, but encourage the use of marijuana or hashish as an antidote against many illnesses and as a help to meditation; they believe it gives them wisdom, love and understanding.
Beards and long hair are enjoined for men, in accordance with Nazirite practices (Numbers 6; Leviticus 21) Diet laws of the Old Testament are enforced. Pork is forbidden.
They are opposed to the current educational system, which enchains people in mental slavery, to the white-dominated culture. They do not therefore encourage modern education.
They practice community of goods and discourage the owning of property. They have some settlements; most of them live under conditions of extreme simplicity. They are a protest movement waiting for expatriation from Jamaica and repatriation in Africa; wealth and property are impediments to their quest.
Some of them have jobs; it is difficult for a Rasta with locks and beard to find employment. They usually live together in over-crowded homes, often a cluster of huts with a yard in the middle. They also live in rented quarters in the cities.
Those who accept jobs and live "respectable" lives are often clean-shaven and despised by their bearded Brethren as clean-faces or Baldheads.
From a very dramatic and slightly noisy encounter that I have had with a company of top elders on a mountain camping site in Jamaica, I feel that they despise the World Council of Churches also, since the WCC has done nothing for them. They regard the WCC to be as compromised as the Jamaica Council of Churches. They asked me if the WCC was prepared to do anything for their repatriation to their homeland.
They want to be resettled in Africa. But at the moment, they do not want to be assimilated to the culture of any particular African nation. They would want to keep their identity as a group of Ras Tafarians, which may not be acceptable to most African governments. The present Ethiopian government may not welcome on its soil a community that worships Haile Sellassie. They do not want help for being assimilated into Jamaican culture. They ask help for repatriation to Africa and for their maintaining their identity as a community in Africa. who can help them?