The Rastafari

They put the rebel punch in reggae music. They are relentlessly optimistic, Forever "battering down sentence" in Babylon, refusing to serve a lifetime, in a society which disgusts them in every way.

The Rastafari believe they don't belong in Jamaican society and they attempt to divorce themselves from the civil institutions which have been established by the oppressors.

The cult began in the thirties after Ras Tafari, Haile Selassie, assumed the throne of Ethiopia, fulfilling the prophecy of Marcus Garvey (a native Jamaican) that a Black King crowned in Africa would be a sign that the day of liberation was near. Contrary to common belief, the Rastafari do not worship Selassie in any formal sense. They believe that each human being is equally divine and look to themselves for solutions to problems.

The traditional Rastas maintain that the late dictator is the symbol of God as a living man, but even this fundamental concept varies from Rasta to Rasta and the trend amongst people influenced by the Rastafari is moving beyond belief in Selassie entirely. For the non-believer it is easy to secularise almost any reggae song: Babylon represents oppression or the State (usually capitialsm); Ethiopia, Africa, or Zion refer to liberation or the land of freedom, Jah is revolution, the force of change, and also the symbol of hope and freedom.

"I remember on the slave ships

how they brutalised our very souls

Today they say that we are free

only to be chained in poverty."

—Slave Driver, The Waiters.

The importance of reggae music in the Jamaican political process was demonstrated during last December's bitterly contested election campaign. Over eighty five thousand people turned out for the "Smile Jamaica" reggae festival organised to support Prime Minister Michael Manley's progressive People's National Party (PNP).

The huge audience, nearly ten per cent of Jamaica's popular voters, was charged with electricity, anticipating the songs hammered out into the gummy Kingston air after weeks of right-wing violence. "Now you've seen the light/' came the words of Bob Marley and the Wailers. "Get up, stand up (People struggling on)! Don't give up the fight[unclear: !]

"Some people think great God will come from the skies, take away everything and make everybody feel high — but if you know what life is worth you would look for yours on earth . ." The singer. Bob Marley, is a figure as significant as Michael Manley in the Jamaican social equation. Even "Time" magazine has recognised Marley as "a political force to rival the government."

Jamaica's right-wing also knows this. Only two days before the concert, which Marley, a Rasta, agreed to play "for the love of the people," he narrowly escaped assassination in an attack on his home by political thugs. He was wounded in the arm and his wife and a number of friends were seriously injured in heavy machine gun fire.

Since 1972, when he adopted the Rasta slogan, "Better Must Come", Manley has retained the confidence of the Jamaican people by identifying himself and his progressive policies with the cultural revolution. According to the conservative Jamaican daily "Gleaner", "this is the basis for the massive lead the PNP enjoys among younger voters below thirty which our data indicate as a major factor accounting for the PNP strength in many areas."

Manley is no revolutionary, but he has to contend with a Chile style campaign of "destabilisation" promoted by the multinationals, primarily American, Canadian and British interests. There is an international squeeze on the economy.

The CIA operates in force in Jamaica (nine operatives exposed in the Jamaican press in the pest year), and there have been dozens of PNP organisers and sympathisers killed in right-wing programmes.

Since the second decisive electoral victory of the PNP on December 15, the campaign is sure to intensify. There is already an international squeeze on the economy The stakes are high because of the strategic bauxite reserves (necessary in production of aluminium) that Jamaica possesses.

Manley knows where his strength is: "I listen carefully to the new reggae songs. We have to keep a moral focus on the terrible suffering poverty we have here. I listen carefully to the new reggae songs because they remind me that the slums are still there and that they are among the worst in the world. The middle-class tells me we are moving towards Socialism too fast The reggae and Rastas tell me we are moving too slow."