Has Rasta retreated?

[Mutty]

Re: Has Rasta retreated?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Xavier</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
In regards to Rastafari...when doctrine evolves that means there was no base. </div></div>

VERY profound statement. I'm stealing that!

[jah_yout]

Re: Has Rasta retreated?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Mutty</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Xavier</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
In regards to Rastafari...when doctrine evolves that means there was no base. </div></div>

VERY profound statement. I'm stealing that! </div></div>

profound statement-- but one i totally disagree with;

evolution is natural...ackee is poisonous if eaten raw...but apply some heat to that very same ackee &amp; it becomes a delicious meal;
the 'base'- being an ackee, did not change-- we just evolved in our understanding of how to maximize the full use we can get out of it;

the principle doctrines of rastafari have not changed...
anything is open to different interpretations by different ones but i maintain the core principles and valuesofthe rastafari movement have not changed at all-
in some cases they have evolved;

[Mutty]

Re: Has Rasta retreated?

That's cool if you disagree JY. I'm considering it profound in relation to Christianity and Islam.

[Wahalla]

Re: Has Rasta retreated?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jah_yout</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Mutty</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Xavier</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
In regards to Rastafari...when doctrine evolves that means there was no base. </div></div>

VERY profound statement. I'm stealing that! </div></div>

profound statement-- but one i totally disagree with;

evolution is natural...ackee is poisonous if eaten raw...but apply some heat to that very same ackee &amp; it becomes a delicious meal;
the 'base'- being an ackee, did not change-- we just evolved in our understanding of how to maximize the full use we can get out of it;

the principle doctrines of rastafari have not changed...
anything is open to different interpretations by different ones but i maintain the core principles and valuesofthe rastafari movement have not changed at all-
in some cases they have evolved;

</div></div>

All social movements have to evolve, if they dont they become denatured destroyed.. Consider the social atmosphere out of which proto rastafarian movements evolved ? Is Jamaica the same now as it was then ???? Was technology the same ???? was medicine value of life the same ???? Christiantity and islam are evolutions of judaism .. much as judaism is evolutioy of Arkenatum and Babylon....

one theory I have heard of the franatism assocuated with all three Abrahamic religions is that sub groupings tend to ignore teh more current interpretaitons , as well as past interpreatations and go back to the original texts and reitertretate them literally without the references t o eitehr the social and poltical enviroments when they were writen or current conditiosns...

But what do I care if food conditions in late bronze age are completely different from current ones ???? or the ideas of the individuals rights are superior to that of a shaman class ??? Rictuals that were started three or four milenium are irrelevant.... Rictuals are a fundamentals part of religion.. the myths of the proto israli are less relevant than the poetry of John lennon...

[Wahalla]

Re: Has Rasta retreated?

Are the expereinces of Accompong any less distint than Summerton, Beth Salem, Aberdeen or Inverness ???? given that the commmunties had no title while Maroon Town had title.. These communties were equally ignored post emacipation as much as maroon town.. They had neoiter schools electricity or medical facilties.. in fact maroon town has had more than these places...

[evanovitch]

KEEPERS OF THE HERITAGE: Rastafarians want to control their

KEEPERS OF THE HERITAGE: Rastafarians want to control their heritage
Published: Sunday | September 20, 2009


Paul H. Williams, Gleaner Writer


According to the World Intellectual Property Organisation, &quot;Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, and images used in commerce.&quot; In essence, IP rights &quot;are like any other property rights - they allow the creator, or owner, of a patent, trademark, or copy right to benefit from his own work or investment. These rights are outlined in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which sets forth the right to benefit from the protection of moral and material interests resulting from authorship of any scientific, literary, or artistic production&quot;.

While there are legal redresses for people whose creations are exploited and pirated, IP rights laws in many countries are quite lax or non-existent. Also, some victims might not be aware of their rights and that they are being exploited. Some are too poor to seek legal representation and to take legal action. Indigenous groups the world over, with their rich cultural heritage, are oftentimes the ones exploited or living in ignorance. As such pirates have been making a killing from the reproduction of their artistic, cultural and creative outputs.

indigenous groups

Here, in Jamaica, there are indigenous groups, notably the Revivalists, Maroons and Rastafarians, who have a rich culture heritage of song, dance, dress, drumming, language, art and craft, etc. They have their own symbols and emblems that are arbitrarily used for commercial purposes. Some members of these groups are cognisant of the uses of these elements for monetary gains, but are not aware of their rights to ownership.

The Rastafarian community in Jamaica is one group that is aware of the need to protect its heritage from commercial exploitation, and is very concerned about the ownership and protection of its intellectual property rights, especially as they relate to The Pinnacle, a Rastafarian settlement in St Catherine.

Located near Sligoville, The Pinnacle is regarded as the birthplace of Rastafarianism, as it was where Leonard P. Howell set up the first Rastafarian village in the 1930s. There was much antagonism towards Howell and the Rasta settlers from the armed forces and there were many raids on the property. Howell was eventually removed by the authorities in the 1950s. He died in 1981.

Millennium Council

Since 2007, the Ethio-Africa Diaspora Union Millennium Council (Millennium Council), which is an umbrella organisation representing the Rastafarian community, has been advocating the legal ownership and possession of The Pinnacle. It is a collective organisation &quot;which is interested in and committed to the preservation of Pinnacle as a Rastafari village/heritage site, for maintaining the cultural integrity as well as advancing the economic sustainability of the Rastafarian community&quot;.

Some of the objectives of the Millennium Council are &quot;to secure, protect and manage the intellectual property of the Rastafari community worldwide, for the benefit of the Rastafari community worldwide; and to take all such actions as are necessary and appropriate to prevent the further theft and abuse of the symbols, emblems, music, cultural marks, tangible and intangible heritage of the Rastafari community worldwide&quot;.

However, in a letter, dated April 20, the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) has informed Ras Howie Wright, acting chairman of the Millennium Council, of its decision to declare The Pinnacle a national monument. The Millennium Council was given 28 days within which to object to the JNHT's intention. The Millennium Council, outlining several reasons and concerns, subsequently forwarded a letter of objection to the JNHT.

One of the bases of the Millennium Council's objection is its concern about the protection and ownership of the Rastafarian community's indigenous intellectual property rights should the JNHT have its way. In the letter to the JNHT, Ras Howie Wright says, inter alia, &quot;Further, the history, culture, heritage and intellectual property of the Rastafari community will inevitably be on display in any such future development of Pinnacle. We are, therefore, concerned that the rights and interests of the Rastafari community in the Pinnacle site may be overlooked or compromised ... .

history

&quot;We are, therefore, also concerned as to the manner in which this history surrounding Pinnacle, the Rastafari community, and the Government of Jamaica is intended to be portrayed by the Government through its declaration and future plans for Pinnacle; that is, whether the Government will seek to portray Rastafari and Rastafari history and heritage in a negative, demeaning, inaccurate or imbalanced manner, or otherwise exploit Rastafari heritage and culture.

&quot;Our concern, therefore, is that in deciding to declare Pinnacle a national monument, the interests of the Government have been and will be prioritised over the interests and rights of the Rastafari community ... On behalf of the Rastafari community, we would like the opportunity to be heard, in keeping with our right to be consulted, in relation to the future of Pinnacle.&quot;

In a response to the objection raised by the Millennium Council, The JNHT, through its legal officer, Lisa Grant, does not specifically address the Rastafarian community's intellectual property rights concerns. Grant, however, says, among other things, &quot;The declaration offers legal recognition and protection to the site thereby prohibiting any development which would prejudice the historical integrity of the site. As it stands, the site can be put to any use the present owner desires, and this shall be the case until the site is either declared or acquired.&quot; The Millennium Council is concerned about whether &quot;protection&quot; means control.

This could be a legal wrangling, for according to Marcus Goffe, a member of the Rastafarian community and legal adviser to the Millennium Council, &quot;IP laws in Jamaica do not specifically protect indigenous IP rights. (Yet), indigenous IP rights (IP rights of indigenous and tribal communities) are found and well established in international law.

&quot;However, Jamaica's Trademark Act does allow the trademark registrar to disallow registration of trademarks that falsely suggest a connection with persons, institutions and beliefs. This allows for some protection, albeit limited, to the Rastafari community. However, to be effective, it needs some decision to be made as to whether that suggested connection with the community is false or not.&quot;

In a recent discussion with The Sunday Gleaner, Goffe said, &quot;We say that any sort of intention to develop this site around a Rastafarian theme definitely would have to consider the intellectual property rights of Rastafarians as to how their community is represented and portrayed, and how money is made off them.&quot;

protect heritage

Goffe, a 2007 Chevening scholar, has a Master of Laws degree in intellectual property law from Queen Mary, University of London. At present, he's pursuing PhD studies in intellectual property law. He worked at The Gleaner from 2004-2007 specialising in libel (media law) and intellectual property law. His current research is among the indigenous groups in Jamaica.

Despite the legal hitches, the Millennium Council stands resolute in its efforts to protect the heritage of the Rastafarian community. The JNHT has written to the prime minister about meeting with the Millennium Council, and Public Defender Earl Witter was contacted by the Millennium Council. &quot;We need the support of the international community, so that we can send a strong message to the government and we are still appealing - to see if we can solve it diplomatically. We are capable and ready,&quot; Ras Howie Wright declared.

[email protected]

[jah_yout]

Re: KEEPERS OF THE HERITAGE: Rastafarians want to control their

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: evanovitch</div><div class="ubbcode-body">KEEPERS OF THE HERITAGE: Rastafarians want to control their heritage
Published: Sunday | September 20, 2009


Paul H. Williams, Gleaner Writer


According to the World Intellectual Property Organisation, &quot;Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, and images used in commerce.&quot; In essence, IP rights &quot;are like any other property rights - they allow the creator, or owner, of a patent, trademark, or copy right to benefit from his own work or investment. These rights
are outlined in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which sets forth the right to benefit from the protection of moral and material interests resulting from authorship of any scientific, literary, or artistic production&quot;.

While there are legal redresses for people whose creations are exploited and pirated, IP rights laws in many countries are quite lax or non-existent. Also, some victims might not be aware of their rights and that they are being exploited. Some are too poor to seek legal representation and to take legal action. Indigenous groups the world over, with their rich cultural heritage, are oftentimes the ones exploited or living in ignorance. As such pirates have been making a killing from the reproduction of their artistic, cultural and creative outputs.

indigenous groups

Here, in Jamaica, there are indigenous groups, notably the Revivalists, Maroons and Rastafarians, who have a rich culture heritage of song, dance, dress, drumming, language, art and craft, etc. They have their own symbols and emblems that are arbitrarily used for commercial purposes. Some members of these groups are cognisant of the uses of these elements for monetary gains, but are not aware of their rights to ownership.

The Rastafarian community in Jamaica is one group that is aware of the need to protect its heritage from commercial exploitation, and is very concerned about the ownership and protection of its intellectual property rights, especially as they relate to The Pinnacle, a Rastafarian settlement in St Catherine.

Located near Sligoville, The Pinnacle is regarded as the birthplace of Rastafarianism, as it was where Leonard P. Howell set up the first Rastafarian village in the 1930s. There was much antagonism towards Howell and the Rasta settlers from the armed forces and there were many raids on the property. Howell was eventually removed by the authorities in the 1950s. He died in 1981.

Millennium Council

Since 2007, the Ethio-Africa Diaspora Union Millennium Council (Millennium Council), which is an umbrella organisation representing the Rastafarian community, has been advocating the legal ownership and possession of The Pinnacle. It is a collective organisation &quot;which is interested in and committed to the preservation of Pinnacle as a Rastafari village/heritage site, for maintaining the cultural integrity as well as advancing the economic sustainability of the Rastafarian community&quot;.

Some of the objectives of the Millennium Council are &quot;to secure, protect and manage the intellectual property of the Rastafari community worldwide, for the benefit of the Rastafari community worldwide; and to take all such actions as are necessary and appropriate to prevent the further theft and abuse of the symbols, emblems, music, cultural marks, tangible and intangible heritage of the Rastafari community worldwide&quot;.

However, in a letter, dated April 20, the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) has informed Ras Howie Wright, acting chairman of the Millennium Council, of its decision to declare The Pinnacle a national monument. The Millennium Council was given 28 days within which to object to the JNHT's intention. The Millennium Council, outlining several reasons and concerns, subsequently forwarded a letter of objection to the JNHT.

One of the bases of the Millennium Council's objection is its concern about the protection and ownership of the Rastafarian community's indigenous intellectual property rights should the JNHT have its way. In the letter to the JNHT, Ras Howie Wright says, inter alia, &quot;Further, the history, culture, heritage and intellectual property of the Rastafari community will inevitably be on display in any such future development of Pinnacle. We are, therefore, concerned that the rights and interests of the Rastafari community in the Pinnacle site may be overlooked or compromised ... .

history

&quot;We are, therefore, also concerned as to the manner in which this history surrounding Pinnacle, the Rastafari community, and the Government of Jamaica is intended to be portrayed by the Government through its declaration and future plans for Pinnacle; that is, whether the Government will seek to portray Rastafari and Rastafari history and heritage in a negative, demeaning, inaccurate or imbalanced manner, or otherwise exploit Rastafari heritage and culture.

&quot;Our concern, therefore, is that in deciding to declare Pinnacle a national monument, the interests of the Government have been and will be prioritised over the interests and rights of the Rastafari community ... On behalf of the Rastafari community, we would like the opportunity to be heard, in keeping with our right to be consulted, in relation to the future of Pinnacle.&quot;

In a response to the objection raised by the Millennium Council, The JNHT, through its legal officer, Lisa Grant, does not specifically address the Rastafarian community's intellectual property rights concerns. Grant, however, says, among other things, &quot;The declaration offers legal recognition and protection to the site thereby prohibiting any development which would prejudice the historical integrity of the site. As it stands, the site can be put to any use the present owner desires, and this shall be the case until the site is either declared or acquired.&quot; The Millennium Council is concerned about whether &quot;protection&quot; means control.

This could be a legal wrangling, for according to Marcus Goffe, a member of the Rastafarian community and legal adviser to the Millennium Council, &quot;IP laws in Jamaica do not specifically protect indigenous IP rights. (Yet), indigenous IP rights (IP rights of indigenous and tribal communities) are found and well established in international law.

&quot;However, Jamaica's Trademark Act does allow the trademark registrar to disallow registration of trademarks that falsely suggest a connection with persons, institutions and beliefs. This allows for some protection, albeit limited, to the Rastafari community. However, to be effective, it needs some decision to be made as to whether that suggested connection with the community is false or not.&quot;

In a recent discussion with The Sunday Gleaner, Goffe said, &quot;We say that any sort of intention to develop this site around a Rastafarian theme definitely would have to consider the intellectual property rights of Rastafarians as to how their community is represented and portrayed, and how money is made off them.&quot;

protect heritage

Goffe, a 2007 Chevening scholar, has a Master of Laws degree in intellectual property law from Queen Mary, University of London. At present, he's pursuing PhD studies in intellectual property law. He worked at The Gleaner from 2004-2007 specialising in libel (media law) and intellectual property law. His current research is among the indigenous groups in Jamaica.

Despite the legal hitches, the Millennium Council stands resolute in its efforts to protect the heritage of the Rastafarian community. The JNHT has written to the prime minister about meeting with the Millennium Council, and Public Defender Earl Witter was contacted by the Millennium Council. &quot;We need the support of the international community, so that we can send a strong message to the government and we are still appealing - to see if we can solve it diplomatically. We are capable and ready,&quot; Ras Howie Wright declared.

[email protected]

</div></div>


first- give thanx for the reasoning;; interesting topic...

one of far-I's strengths is also one of its weaknesses--the lack of a strict rigid central 'leadership' or 'authority' so to speak...there are of course persons or institutions of power/respect/authority within any particular house of far-I, but the expression/movement is at a crossroads in terms of mass organization to affect political action; whether one believes far-I should get involved in politics or not they have to acknowledge that politics plays a big role in their lives...ultimately, certain ones or organizations will have to lobby or exert pressure on governments on behalf of the people in order to secure their interests as much as possible--some have already done so and continue to do so;

on the face of it i like the idea that they are checking what the gov't wants to do with pinnacle; it is absolutely correct that they have to be watched closely in this delicate affair as they are well aware of their history of brutality, repression &amp; slander against far-I;
obviously a greater degree of cooperation &amp; organization among the different houses would go a long way in forming a political voice...
i'm sure there will be interesting times ahead

[evanovitch]

What are the core beliefs of Rasta?

In 1960 Claudius Henry, the self-styled 'Repairer of the Breach' was sentenced to 10 years in prison for treason after dynamite and machetes were recovered in a police raid of his African Reform Church premises at Rosalie Avenue in Kingston. In 1960 I was 10 years old and living off Waltham Park Road, not far from the explosive action.

Earlier that same year he wrote the following to Fidel Castro, then the new revolutionary on the block: &quot;We want to go back home to Africa; if we are not welcomed back with love, we will go anyway, in hate, as we were brought here. If we cannot go in peace, then we must go in war.&quot;

Claudius Henry served only six of his 10 years, but by 1968 he had set up a church in Kemps Hill, Clarendon. The church was a commune of sorts, and the property had several houses. In 1968 before the hopelessly backward JLP government of the day kicked him out of Jamaica, the great social activist and pan-African scholar, the late Dr Walter Rodney (who earned his PhD at age 22) toured Henry's community and wrote about it.

&quot;Rev Henry has gathered together a number of black brothers and sisters, and they have turned themselves into an independent black economic community. In less than a year they built themselves a church and several dwelling houses, all of concrete, because they make the concrete blocks. They have proper plumbing and electricity and in case the local supplies are inadequate, they have their own water tanks and generator. They operated a fish shop from the outset and later they set up a bakery.

In spite of massive persecutions from the government, the police and the army, the Henry community has extended to several other parts of the island.&quot; Dr Rodney wrote of the specific example of what he saw as economic reawakening and cited it as evidence of the great capacity of our people once they are resolved to strike out on their own.

The important point to note here is that in 1960 Henry was saying &quot;Back to Africa&quot;, but by 1968, after much soul-searching in prison, he began pursuing the less foolishly romantic, more pragmatic notion of building Africa in Jamaica.


MUTABARUKA... Rasta was into healthy eating habits long before the rest of the world began using science to prove that the fad was real
Sections of the Rasta community have taken to calling my recent pieces on Rasta as vitriolic and anti-Rasta in its criticisms of the faith, almost in the same fashion as fundamentalist Christians do whenever one dares to suggest that maybe Christ was not all that he has been made out to be.

Forget about my March 2005 article, &quot;They can't kill Rasta now&quot;. Forget about the fact that my recent criticisms have been centred on the failures of what the Rasta promise of 50 years ago implied - a leadership role in the celebration of black pride and active, living proof that black-skinned people in Jamaica, and more so those of the Rasta faith, can love themselves and be as socio-economically powerful as the small minority of non-black people who still continue to hold sway over most of the important sectors of Jamaica.

It is petty and disingenuous to be telling me that there are PhD Rasta scholars at the UWI and Rasta writers in the press when that was not a focus of my main theme. My main theme was that Rasta was way ahead of the curve in the 1950s (my personal baseline timeline) but that in later years it allowed itself to be infiltrated by cartoon rastas and minstrels, thus giving the impression that the watered-down version was the authentic picture.

Rasta saw black pride, others saw unwanted, broad noses
Mutabaruka has pointed out to me, and quite correctly so, that Rasta was into healthy eating habits long before the rest of the world began using science to prove that the fad was real. Ital or non-salt food and a diet low in animal products was a Rasta staple long before the modern era.

In the 1950s when I was a child, many of Jamaica's black sons and daughters had only a grudging love of themselves. They wanted straight and pretty hair and, like the late Michael Jackson, hated their beautiful, broad noses. It was difficult to blame them when the media and most of what they saw around them were stacked against them. By way of example, a Gleaner ad dated September 19, 1958 advertising ISSAs NEWS has Grace Kelly fabric hats and Parisienne cocktail hats placed right alongside the drawing of one man and three women, all Caucasian (fancy word for white) in a country 95 per cent black-skinned.

Thirty years before that, want ads would run like this one taken from those times: &quot;A young lady, coloured, just left school. Desires position as stenographer and typist, holds speed certificate - will give week free.&quot; In Jamaica, we know what coloured means: light-skinned.
Another one from the period is more pointed: &quot;Sensible, middle-aged woman, almost white, seeks employment, linen keeper, needlewoman, assistant matron.&quot;

Think about this. If a woman seeking a job had to be pushing the 'almost white' line, it leads us to ask what sort of jobs were available for black Jamaicans at that time. Try cane-cutters, petty farmers, domestic workers, gardeners and dockside labourers.

In the 1930s and 1940s when the few educated black men travelled abroad to further their studies, it was partly social adaptation that triggered them into marrying white women. A man could be a highly skilled surgeon or a brilliant academic, but having a white wife would boost his acceptability status among his high-coloured peers and get them invited to socially correct gatherings.

While too many of the educated black elite males chose lighter-skinned women as their socio-sexual partners for life and saw their social acceptance by if not assimilation among the light-skinned middle class as paramount in their pursuits, the male of the Rasta faith embraced his black woman physically, mentally and spiritually.
Princess, Queen and Empress are not words of endearment that arrived yesterday. I heard them from Rastafarians in the 1950s. In celebration of the beauty and wonder of the black woman, Rasta spoke in glowing terms of his Royal woman, and I am pleased that today, some of our singers who are not cartoon rastas are still placing the proud, hard-working mother of the world at the top of the highest pedestal there is.

Is back to Africa and reparations still a Rasta claim?

As an atheist I am probably the wrong person to ask this question, but since I am more than knee-deep in this discourse, let me ask it anyway because I have been getting different answers from many Rastafarian brethren and sistren.

Can one be a true Rasta and a pure Christian at the same time? In response to some of my many questions asked of Rasta since my column, I have been inundated with loads of information. What jumps at me mostly is a feeling that the movement is seeking a unified identity from its many disparate parts. This is good.

When Bob Marley sang in Talking Blues, 'Cause I feel like bombing a church, now, now that you know that the preacher is lying', I didn't get the impression that the great poet/singer was expressing anything more than his utter frustrations at hard life - &quot;Cold ground was my bed last night and rock was my pillow too.&quot;

But at Marley's death, one person in the church at the very ecumenical gathering then said, &quot;Bob died a Christian Rasta man.&quot; The questions are, was Bob fake or real Rasta, and could one be the type of Rasta that Bob was and Christian equally even though the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is said to be Christian while subscribing to a belief closely resembling Judaism? To me, it is very confusing, and not many of the elders that I have spoken with seem to have a united answer.

A Rasta believer sent me the following a few days ago: &quot;An eminent Rasta, Brother Gebre Medhim who is living in Africa, is urging the Rasta leadership - including the Millennium council - to support and implement. He says Rastafari needs a conference to discuss exactly WHAT RASTA IS. He feels that Rasta needs to define what every Rasta's relationship and 'overstanding' is with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the Ethiopian World Federation and the Shashemane Land Grant, all of which were gifts of His Majesty, but which today's Rastas have totally ignored, shelved or criticised. He says that no one should call themselves Rasta unless they acknowledge these three gifts of the Emperor as the foundation of the faith.&quot;

When Claudius Henry, who as far as I know never claimed Rasta primacy over his Christian evangelism, moved from the 1950s mantra 'Back to Africa', it was a realisation that a wholesale moving back to the Motherland was a pipedream. He opted to make Jamaica his Africa and laid down sound economic foundations.

The claim of reparations is, to me, also a pipedream, but sections of the brotherhood continue to press on with this foolishness while the still powerful white world look on and laugh, knowing only too well that without the assistance of black Africans who aided and abetted in the mass capture, the Atlantic Slave Trade would not be the economic success it was to Europe and North America.

The focus of my initial article was more on a need for a reawakening of Rasta with all of its tenets, if not practices of black self-pride and clean and peaceful living than one seriously questioning whether there are Rasta writers, professors or businesses. In this time when our youth, especially the males, have been marginalised and are constantly on the hunt for self-definition and identity, the rubbish of Gully and Gaza has claimed them, and it has introduced a thick, unwanted wedge into their troubled lives.

If Rasta had lived up to its potential of sowing black pride among our genetically militant people, a much different chapter in the history of this country could have been written. If Rasta, like the Jews, had placed education close to the centre of its core beliefs, in a time when successive administrations were parcelling out education (good to a few, second-rate to many), Rasta would have been proud to say to the Ticians, &quot;Look what we have produced while you have fiddled.&quot;

Rasta took up a ball in the 1950s and it began running with it in the 1960s. It is time to pick up that ball and start running again. The debate is nowhere near finished.

[email protected]