The first main player was Marcus Moziah Garvey who was born in Jamaica in 1887 and believed in little more than having a good time. He left school at 14, became known as Marcus, got a job as a printer, organised a strike, left his job as a printer (understandably), travelled through Central and South America, went to England then returned to Jamaica where he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and The African Communities League (ACL). And he was only 27. Unfortunately for young Marcus no one seemed to care about UNIA and ACL so he packed his bags again and headed north to the land of the free.
He settled in New York City, reinvented the UNIA, started his own printing press and produced a newspaper especially for the Negro population called, somewhat unimaginatively, 'The Negro World'. He founded 'The Black Star Line' and 'The Negro Factories Corporation', opened a chain of restaurants, laundries, grocery stores and a hotel. These were the good times, and he was only 32. These altruistic business schemes were designed to give back some pride and self respect to the exploited black community and by 1920 Marcus claimed that two million of America's finest (black people) had joined the UNIA club.
Garvey's cause became widely known as The Back to Africa Movement and had its greatest day in 1920 when Marcus Garvey, or 'Black Moses' as he preferred to be called, presided at an international rally where he led a parade of 50,000 misanthropic black folks through the streets of Harlem with black power anthems ringing in their ears and prophesies of a black power revival throbbing in their hearts. And Marcus was still only 33.
Then came the bad times. In 1922 Marcus was indicted for fraud, served two years of a five year sentence before being deported back to Jamaica as an undesirable alien and found himself right back where he started. He tried to resurrect the UNIA (again) but no one seemed to care (again) so he packed his bags and moved to London (again) where no one cared at all.
Marcus Garvey died in 1940 but no one (in London anyway) really noticed. Len Howell got out of jail, restarted his commune but in 1941 fell foul (again) of the police and the alleged two million followers now had no one to follow, no where go and very little to believe in. Until, that is, they heard of Tafari Makonnen.
Tafari Makonnen, the second main player, was born on the 23rd of July in 1892 near Harer in Ethiopia. His father was chief advisor to the Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia and young Tafari was quick to learn that a home education, when home is the Emperors palace, can be a distinct advantage to a young lad with ambition. When Lij (a sort of pre-prince title) Tafari became Ras (a real prince) Tafari and started to impress the Emperor with his modern ideas he was soon allowed to take charge of a couple of outlying provinces, reduce the power of local leaders, increase the power of central government and even lay the foundations for a new government department of bureaucracy to be known as the civil service. The grateful Emperor showed his gratitude by allowing Ras Tafari to marry his great granddaughter. And Prince T was only 19.
When Menelik II went the way of all Emperors in 1913 his place was taken by his grandson Lij Yasu who only lasted three years before the Christian majority, under the control of the now mature Prince Tafari, swept aside his youthful Islamic tendencies. Zauditu, Menelik's daughter, was next to try her hand at running the empire and prudently appointed the dependable Tafari as her regent and heir apparent. Tafari happily settled into the role of a foreign ambassador and travelled to London, Paris and Rome and in 1923 he successfully negotiated entry for Ethiopia in the League of Nations.
Ras Tafari was the first Ethiopian ruler to travel outside his own country, he was good looking, charismatic, resourceful and black. He was the sort of man that got noticed. He was a man to inspire patriotism. A man with a cause. A man to lead. He was in fact the embodiment of Black Africa, had a good sounding name and was just the man that two million black Jamaican / American were looking for. Unfortunately, another man with a cause was also looking at Haile Selassie, not to follow, but to destroy.
Benito Mussolini had founded the Fascist Party in Italy, made himself absolute dictator and by 1935 was on the lookout for a nice easy country to invade to prove that he was as important as he thought he was. He looked no further than Ethiopia. Haile Selassie bravely led the resistance for a few months but as numbers overwhelmed the home side, self preservation seemed preferable to heroic death and England offered a safe place to plan a come back campaign. It was only a few years before The Lion of Judah came bounding back to Ethiopia with some heavy British firepower and by 1941 the Italians were on their way home again and the rightful Emperor was back in his palace.
The black folks back in Jamaica, America and now Australia and New Zealand saw the revengeful Lion as the champion of all the (black) races and the saviour of their (black) honour and it was a short step in the human / God evolutionary chain for the newly inspired followers to elevate Ras Tafari to the position of Messiah and for the followers to take the name Rastafarian. Naturally, the newly inspired expected nothing less than a full repatriation, with honours, back to the African heaven that they knew they richly deserved. Heaven, to the Rastafarians actually is Ethiopia and hell, like the after-life, conveniently does not exist.
Back in Ethiopia and aware of his obligations, Selassie had to start the Empire building process all over again. He quickly re-established himself leader and when, in 1963, he played a major role in establishing 'The Organisation of African Unity', his dreams, and those of the Rastafarians seemed to be coming true. But again, the good times were about to turn bad for the All African Hero. In the mid-60's the spectre of war with Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan became reality and civil service corruption caused rampant inflation and severe unemployment. Famine followed drought, strikes and demonstrations were common and on the 12th of September 1974 Haile Selassie I, The Lion of Judah, Messiah, Incarnation of God (or Jah to the Rastafarians) was ignominiously replaced by a provisional military government and sent back to his palace. He was 82. A year later the verdict of 'death by natural causes' was announced without medical or legal confirmation or any independent witness. To many people of course, strangulation, poison or a bullet in the head were seen as a perfectly 'natural cause' of death.
Today the Rastafarian Movement combines various aspects of African religion with various parts of the Christian Old Testament. Ras Tafari is still considered the messiah, there is still hope of redemption for the lost tribes of Israel and Africa is still the Promised Land for the descendants of the victims of the slave trade. However the sunshine and life style of the Caribbean has made the desire to launch militant strikes against the evil white oppressor less attractive with each season that passes, especially as each season that passes brings a new crop of Cannabis Sativa (also known as ganja, marijuana, hashish, pot, weed and grass) which is the acknowledged holy sacrament of all things Rastafarian.
Most Rastafarians follow a vegetarian diet, believe that food should be consumed as near to its natural state as possible and that medicines should be made of herbs or natural elements. Anyone with a dispute should find a peaceful solution and the genuine desire for equality, harmony and justice should be the goals of all good Rastafarians. There is no formal church-base and no central organisation but there are meetings for prayer and discussions and of course the sharing of the all-important holy sacrament.
Then came the bad times. In 1922 Marcus was indicted for fraud, served two years of a five year sentence before being deported back to Jamaica as an undesirable alien and found himself right back where he started. He tried to resurrect the UNIA (again) but no one seemed to care (again) so he packed his bags and moved to London (again) where no one cared at all.
Back in Kingston, Jamaica a commune had been started by one of Garvey's most outspoken supporters Leonard Howell. Len's idea of whipping up support was to advocate black supremacy and actively encourage white persecution. He had only just managed to publish his six (black supremacy, anti-white) principles when he was arrested and thrown in jail for two years.
Marcus Garvey died in 1940 but no one (in London anyway) really noticed. Len Howell got out of jail, restarted his commune but in 1941 fell foul (again) of the police and the alleged two million followers now had no one to follow, no where go and very little to believe in. Until, that is, they heard of Tafari Makonnen.
When Menelik II went the way of all Emperors in 1913 his place was taken by his grandson Lij Yasu who only lasted three years before the Christian majority, under the control of the now mature Prince Tafari, swept aside his youthful Islamic tendencies. Zauditu, Menelik's daughter, was next to try her hand at running the empire and prudently appointed the dependable Tafari as her regent and heir apparent. Tafari happily settled into the role of a foreign ambassador and travelled to London, Paris and Rome and in 1923 he successfully negotiated entry for Ethiopia in the League of Nations.
In 1928 he boldly assumed the title of King and when Zauditu died two years later, Ras Tafari happily took on the title and position of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I, Lion of Judah, and Emperor of Ethiopia. It was a good day for Tafari, and he was only 38.
Ras Tafari was the first Ethiopian ruler to travel outside his own country, he was good looking, charismatic, resourceful and black. He was the sort of man that got noticed. He was a man to inspire patriotism. A man with a cause. A man to lead. He was in fact the embodiment of Black Africa, had a good sounding name and was just the man that two million black Jamaican / American were looking for. Unfortunately, another man with a cause was also looking at Haile Selassie, not to follow, but to destroy.
The black folks back in Jamaica, America and now Australia and New Zealand saw the revengeful Lion as the champion of all the (black) races and the saviour of their (black) honour and it was a short step in the human / God evolutionary chain for the newly inspired followers to elevate Ras Tafari to the position of Messiah and for the followers to take the name Rastafarian. Naturally, the newly inspired expected nothing less than a full repatriation, with honours, back to the African heaven that they knew they richly deserved. Heaven, to the Rastafarians actually is Ethiopia and hell, like the after-life, conveniently does not exist.
Today the Rastafarian Movement combines various aspects of African religion with various parts of the Christian Old Testament. Ras Tafari is still considered the messiah, there is still hope of redemption for the lost tribes of Israel and Africa is still the Promised Land for the descendants of the victims of the slave trade. However the sunshine and life style of the Caribbean has made the desire to launch militant strikes against the evil white oppressor less attractive with each season that passes, especially as each season that passes brings a new crop of Cannabis Sativa (also known as ganja, marijuana, hashish, pot, weed and grass) which is the acknowledged holy sacrament of all things Rastafarian.
Most Rastafarians follow a vegetarian diet, believe that food should be consumed as near to its natural state as possible and that medicines should be made of herbs or natural elements. Anyone with a dispute should find a peaceful solution and the genuine desire for equality, harmony and justice should be the goals of all good Rastafarians. There is no formal church-base and no central organisation but there are meetings for prayer and discussions and of course the sharing of the all-important holy sacrament.
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