Marcus Garvey

Born in Jamaica in 1887, Marcus Garvey came to age in the 20th century, as the first nationalist African.  He founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), whose goal was to promote civil rights and equality for the Negro.  His approach was separatist, modeling the American apartheid. He wanted the black nation to be rooted in Africa and to have a separate economic and social system, in competition with the former masters.

He moved to the US at the age of 23.  At its peak popularity, his organization claimed 2 million followers. He designated himself officially as the President of Africa.  Eventually, he was framed by the FBI, tried and sentenced to 5 years in jail. He served four years before being deported to Jamaica. He died in London at the age of 50. Many of his concepts were not lost upon later black militants, such as M.L. King and Malcom X.

 

 

Rastafari

Marcus Garvey believed that the four centuries the imported Africans spent in slavery were nothing but a test from God.  They will rise up and, once again, will dominate the world.  But for this to occur, they need a messiah, a new king from Africa.

In 1930, Haile Selassie became emperor of Ethiopia. The pan-African allegiance identified him as the Redeemer, the Savior. A new social and religious movement took off, it bore Haile Selassie’s pre-coronation name, Ras Tafari.  Selecting passages of the Bible, Rastafarians established a set of norms and rituals that include meditation, long unaltered dreadlocks and the use of marijuana.  The liturgy is about social and economic parity for all Africans.

In Jamaica, Rastafarians were regarded as seditious and malfeasant. They were persecuted by the Establishment, jailed, killed by the police. Their leader, Leonard Howell founded a town on top of a Saint Catherine mountain and called it the Pinnacle.  Thousands of Jamaica led by their Rasta faith, moved to Pinnacle.  But one good day of 1954, the police intervened, razed the place, evicted the ganja farmers, and arrested the faithful by the dozens.

Tensions remained high between Rastafarians and the authorities, until Haile Selassie visited Jamaica in 1966.  More than 100,000 Rastafarians welcomed him at the airport. That was a huge surprise for the post-independence government. Steps were since taken to give more religious freedom to the Rastas while the followers of Jah will tone down their radical views and actions. It all worked out well.

Reggae

Reggae came to life in the 1960s. It came from the slums.  It was a different beat and a slower rhythm inspired from older Jamaican music (ska, rock steady…).  But the content was all social and political. It became the voice of the poor and the dispossessed.  It spread on all continents. It produced megastars. It made Jamaica known around the world.

Bob Marley

 

Who doesn’t know “No woman, no cry”?  It is one of the many successes of Bob Marley and the Wailers (Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer). Marley, a metis, was raised poor and Rastafarian in Kingston. He became the standard-bearer of the working class in Jamaica, and the face of the island abroad.  He was seen by many as the Jamaican moral compass, the Mahatma of the Caribbean.  In 1981, he died of cancer at the age 36.

 

Jimmy Cliff

After starring in the movie “The Harder They Come”, Cliff became Reggae biggest star, for a while.  Next to Bob Marley, but without his charisma, Cliff earned his place on the Jamaican Rushmore.

 

Norman & Michael Manley

Father and son were members of the People National Party (PNP).  They are the founders of modern Jamaica. Norman started the campaign for independence.  Later, Michael created the socialist structures that all black Jamaicans to access education, decent housing, etc.

Alexander Bustamante

He was founded the Jamaican Labor Party (JLP). Later, he became the first prime minister of an independent Jamaica, though Norman Manley did much of the leg work leading to the independence. Bustamante was a tireless defender of Jamaican workers. He was knighted by the British Crown in1955, for his efforts in promoting the union workers.

 

Cool running.

In 1988, the Jamaican bobsledding team became popular at the Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada, due to its unorthodox ways. Its persistence and heroics were (loosely) depicted in an American movie, titled Cool Runnings, released in 1993, that sported a Jimmy Cliff sound track, “I Can See Clearly Now”.

Usain Bolt.

The fastest man alive! Born in 1986, he is the first Olympian to win three times the gold medal for the 100 and 200-meter sprint (in 2008, 2012, 2016). Now he wants to repeat his success in soccer. Poor 10 years ago, he is now worth 35 million dollars, and still single…

Reggae Boyz (National Football Club).

Qualified for the FIFA World Cup, in 1998, in France. Unforgettable. Very talented, very entertaining but with not enough métier to overcome the warrying elite. Voila…

 

 

The Traveller

(Odler Robert Jeanlouie, Sunday, August 19, 2018)

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