My thoughts on Rastafari

Liberation of Self

I am an Anishinaabekwe, which means I am an Ojibwe woman. We are the first people's of the Great Lakes area of Turtle Island. We believe we have lived here since we have been created by The Creator, to live on the back of the turtle. Archaeological evidence suggests we have been here for at least 10,000 years. About 300 years ago, the Anglo Saxon came to our land and claimed it as his own. He signed treaties with us, which disfavored us as we did not know how to write his language. He imposed his laws, and morals, and beliefs. He indoctrinated us into his way of life, and attempted to eliminate our culture. (see also: Residential Schools, 60s scoop, the fact it was illegal to have an indigenous cultural celebration until the 1950s).

This imbued into us a lot of hate. A lot of pain. A lot of struggle. As a people, we collectively hurt. Back home on the rez, drug use is incredibly rampant. I have lost three cousins to overdose. My Nookamis (maternal grandmother) was diagnosed with dementia, but later undiagnosed as it was discovered she was injecting herself with heroin in the nursing home. We are desperate for something to ease the pain of our loss. We are drunks. We are drug addicts. We fight, we bicker, we blame. We start fights with our loved ones because we think they caused our problems, but it was the white man with his Indian Act, his religion, and his catholic church.

I was no different. I am my mother's kin. I have struggled so long, thinking that everyone was out to get me. We have an intergenerational victim complex (no doubt associated with being intergenerational victims, but still).

I recently had a bit of a spiritual awakening. I was at my Momma's house, and we were talking about my recent relationship troubles. She showed me a video of the man she was flirting with. He had suffered a traumatic brain injury about 10 years back, and had lost much of his control of his left hand. Despite that, he was a pianist. She showed me this video of him playing the piano, first improvising, and then singing No Woman No Cry, by Bob Marley. During his improv, he would accidentally hit the wrong key with his left hand, due to his injury, but he would just play off it on his right hand and re-discover the melody and take the harmony back to somewhere different, but just as beautiful.

[Verse 1]
'Cause, 'cause, 'cause I remember when we used to sit
In the government yard in Trenchtown
Oba, observing the hypocrites, yeah
Mingle with the good people we meet, yeah
Good friends we have had, oh, good friends we've lost along the way, yeah
In this great future you can't forget your past
So dry your tears I say, yeah

[Chorus]
No, woman, no cry
No, woman, no cry, eh, yeah
Little darling don't shed no tears
No, woman, no cry

I realized in that moment that the only thing holding us back from happiness was ourselves.

At least for me, the only thing holding me back was failing to forgive myself. I was so tied up in my past transgressions (which are a product of both my circumstance and my own responsibility), that I was unable to see my own value.

That night, as I drove home, I listened to the 10 or so most popular Bob Marley songs. It was the first time I had really considered the lyrics. As a kid, I listened to Bob Marley and was like "haha duuuuude weed lol". But this time, something about them clicked in a way they hadn't ever before.

The most striking for me was Redemption Songs

[Chorus]
Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever have
Redemption songs
Redemption songs

[Verse 2]
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds
Have no fear for atomic energy
'Cause none of them can stop the time
How long shall they kill our prophets
While we stand aside and look?
Ooh, some say it's just a part of it
We've got to fulfill the book

[Chorus]
Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever have
Redemption songs
Redemption songs

(I highly recommend listening to this song and reading the lyrics. It is a work of pure poetry)

When I arrived home, I began reading about Rastafari, and the life of Bob Marley, and his motivations to writing his songs. I watched every known clip of the man speaking.

I discovered that this idea of redemption of self, that we are the only ones holding us back from happiness, is one of the key tenets of Rastafari.

Brief Explanation of Rastafari

Disclaimer: Please don't take me on an authority on Rastafari. This is simply my understanding of the topic and I am perfectly willing to hear your views and how they might differ. Rastafari is not a monolith, and everyone has their own view of how it works.

The Rastas have a worldview that is based on the Abrahamic religions. Many consider it to be a form of Christianity, but some scholars of religion argue that it is distinct within itself. I agree that I think it is distinct. Rastafari comes from the name of Emperor Haile Selassie: Ras means king, and Tafari was his given name. The Rastas believe Haile Selassie to be the true heir to the Jews (I think. I am not super clear on this part. I have to read more.)

They believe that all people came from Noah after the great flood, but humanity schismed into two groups, the children of Babylon, and the children of Zion (note: extremely distinct from Zionism, although they come from the same text). The children of Babylon were technological people who sought to build a tower to God, but became clouded by their differences and bickered and fought, while the children of Zion accepted love into their hearts and were happy to live in harmony on Earth, freed from the desire to try to bring God to reality.

The people of Babylon and the people of Zion would fight, and banish the children of Zion to exodus. This is widely considered to be a metaphor for the Atlantic slave trade. Many Rastas see themselves as the children of Zion, forced to wander the desert (i.e., the new world) by the Babylonians. Rastas typically see cops, agents of catholicism, military, etc. as children of Babylon. The key to understanding Rastafari is understanding that the children of Babylon can still access God, as we are all His children. They just have to put aside their worldly differences and forgive themselves of their tresspasses, and then humanity will be One again, just like back in the days of old.

Distinct from i.e. Israeli zionism, for the Rasta, Zion is about reuniting everyone, not just the Jews. It is about loving our neighbors and forgiving, not bombing Palestinian children out of hatred. It is steeped in the suffering of the slave trade, and the removal of Black people from Africa. It is inherently about community, and suffering.

This is just my understanding. We have to forgive one another, and love one another, and humanity will be whole again.

Liberation of Community

Suffering is caused by two things-- the innate suffering of living (hunger, drought, famine, death, etc), and the intercommunity suffering (loss of friendship, conflict, fighting). If we forgive ourselves, and others, we can eliminate intercommunity suffering, and band together to help solve and struggle through the innate suffering.

Around the world, I think a lot of our communities are very fragmented. They are fragmented by the innate suffering, and the intercommunity suffering. They are fragmented by the children of Babylon, who aim to conquer us and control us so they can reach their mission of building their tower to God.

I think the only way to heal these schisms is with forgiveness. I forgive my Nookamis for being cruel to my mother growing up. She was only acting out of a broken heart. I forgive my mother for being cruel to me growing up. I forgive my father for being cruel to me growing up. I forgive my brother, and my exes, and my bosses, and everyone who has wronged me. I forgive myself, for the things I did to those people. Our past transgressions are in the past. It is up to us to heal from them, and rediscover love.

It is only through love that we can find peace on Earth.

Marxism and Rastafari -- A Revolutionary Religion

I think a lot of parallels between Marxism and Rastafari exist. Marx believed that the proletariat was positioned below the bourgeoisie, and the bourgeoisie oppress the proletariat through class-warfare and control of capital and the means of production, and the only hope for the proletariat was to revolt against the bourgeoisie, for their own liberation. He believed they have nothing to lose but their chains. I believe this is very analogous to the conclusions of the Rasta-- the children of Zion are oppressed by the children of Babylon, and their only hope is to find redemption.

I think the main difference in their conclusion is in their methods. Marxist revolutions have been violent. The Russian revolution started with a civil war that was vicious and bloody, and killed many. Ask a Florida Cuban what their opinion is on Marxism-- they will be quite strongly against it due to the memory of the horrors of revolution (not that I have much sympathy for them, they were slavers after all). Violent revolution leads to reactionary sentiment that slows the progress of liberation.

Rastas believe in love as a revolutionary concept. They aren't angry at the children of Babylon. They understand them, and forgive them. They spread ideas of love, which is so radical in our modern world. Now, there is of course a good argument as to which method is more effective. Bob Marley was able to reunite the two Jamaican opposition parties. I don't remember how that situation played out. I can't say what is more effective. I am just a girl. I just think this world could use a lot more love.