Between
Ethiopianism, Rastafari and Black Consciousness
“Will the real black people please stand.
Those fearless of
the unconventional,
Moved towards their
own blackness;
Prone to influence
and set trends,
Schooled in their
times and folkways,
Dedicated to
worthwhile endeavours,
Attentive to meaningful
expression.”
- (Desiree A. Barnwell’s 1970’s poem, Will The Real Black People Please Stand;
quoted from Imraan Moosa’s essay, The Future Is Still Open )
While still on the remarkably clear and brilliantly
conceived essay of advocate and Black Consciousness activist Imraan Moosa, I
find it necessary to use yet another one of his notes, this time from his own
pen; he declares:
“My identification
as an Azanian defies apartheids preconceived categorizations, and my
identification as a Black person allows for no indulgence in tribal and ethnic
deviations and preoccupations. I identify myself with Azania, with Afrika and
with the Black tradition of the wretched of the earth. The challenge is to create
Azania. There is much work to be done. Let us do it.” (Page 6: The Future
Is Still Open)
In his impeccably well researched and deeply personal
essays, Moosa has a way to make Black Consciousness so clear and understandable
even to a passive reader. Because, let’s face it, the South African public is
mired in racial tension and faces racial stereotypes at every turn, yet many
choose to ignore all this and carry on with their lives without contemplating
or acting on ways to challenge inequalities that arise from racism. Thus even
the mere words Black Consciousness have been miss-understood at best and
ignored at worst.
Moosa’s research and use of Black and Indian diaspora
sources to elaborate the universality of BC appears to have been initially
aimed at ‘proving’ to the so called Indians, Coloureds and other non-white
peoples of occupied Azania that BC is as relevant for them as it is for the
people traditionally or historically and politically regarded as Blacks.
In a manner of speaking, Moosa and many other adherents
and even earlier professors of Black Consciousness are saying that Azania of
the real New South Afrika as envisaged by pan-Afrikanists will not simply
appear out of the clouds.
Black
Consciousness is not a Messianic tradition.
Black people united have a real reason and choice of turning
the theory into reality and the groundwork has already been laid. Aside from
the Biko’s, Tiro’s, the Fanon’s, the Poets and
many other unsung revolutionaries within the continent and through-out
the diaspora , even during the early times of colonialism and missionary zeal,
Black queens such as Nzinga, Muhumusa, Yaa-Ashantewa and many kings and noble
Blacks have defended the dignity of this land. Ordinary Black men and kings
have defended their homes and fought tirelessly against whiteness. I will make
mention of the great Zulu warrior Bhambatha ka Mancinza and many more.
So the notion of Black Consciousness is not something
that can be limited to specific names and peoples, we are the conscious creation
of many generations of resisters.
The crucial question arises then; what will we do and
when? Although nowadays, many black radicals often question the efficacy of
unprincipled and what they call unity for its own sake, there is clearly no
hope of Black Afrikan people’s power without a United or concerted effort.
Yes, unity is a must but it is easier pronounced than
done, the time for wishful thinking and uniting without proper conviction is
long over. I believe that an International Black Consciousness community
exists, but it exists in many fragmented groups that could work better united.
But then again, people wish to have their own groups
where they can be seen to shine brighter that the others. There is the
Ethiopian World Federation, a great and mightily international movement that was
initiated by Black people from the Afrikan disspora during the Italian invasion
of Ethiopia. The fact that it exists till this day is a heroic feat, but one
wonders what its true impact is on the lives of the wretched Black folks the
world over.
There are many more such courageous and well-meaning
Black organisations, businesses, associations, even universities that focus on
Pan-Afrikan development, yet again their effect on the lives of our people is difficult
to detect. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that we all exists in the middle of a
White Supremacist world where visibility is over-determined by whiteness or
ones proximity to it.
In my personal life, I have grappled with these issues of
personal and social transformation. Having spent much of my 20’s and now early
30’s as a Rastafarian, the heart-breaking and sacrificial work of striving to
unite Black people towards noble causes is beyond the word difficult. Being a
revolutionary is a thankless preoccupation. As much as Rastafarians profess to
be vehemently anti-politics and purportedly anti-racist; it becomes clear that
in this world, one cannot avoid or try to skirt around political and racial
realities.
As I grew deeper in my understanding of the world, I
simply could not keep chanting songs about the ultra-romanticised Theocracy
Reign of a deposed Ethiopian Emperor, neither could I remain comfortable
singing songs about a mystical Afrikan Zion “a place of saints and angels”,
when in reality all saints are dead and angels are nothing more than imaginary
friends.
In reality, Afrika requires us to be brutally honest in
our analysis and plans of action, how to achieve Pan Afrikanist Black Power
sooner than later for the sake of our children and grandchildren.
The faithful quoting from the Kebra Nagast (The Glory of
Kings), The Holy Bible, The Book of Henok or from the Important Utterances of
HIM Haile Selassie the First have not helped Afrikans to unite, stop
slaughtering each other, competing for crumbs at the table of white supremacy
and black deception – these tomes can make us feel optimistic and that we are a
part of a living history but our today and our future demands a radically
different and pragmatic attitude. This is not a pessimistic but a realistic
view.
And so when I made my decision to cut my dreadlocks for
the last-time, it was a painful yet liberating experience that set me on a
journey of self and societal transformation. Dreads are a simple outward form
of identifying oneself with a culture or the beliefs of the Rastafari, but they
are by no means a sign that one has adopted that rigorous way of life which
includes specific habits, diet, appearance and a whole new perspective on life.
Yet many Rastafarians are revolutionary thinkers, while a
lot more are simply engaged in the external cultural expressions, nothing more
or less.
The revolutionary thinkers exist in a paradoxical or
ambivalent space between believing or ‘knowing’ the divine right of monarchs
(Haile Selassie I as the King of all kings and the ruler of all lords, both biblically
and traditionally) while also being knowledgeable about the works of Marcus
Garvey, Walter Rodney, Kwame Nkrumah, Afrikan historians, political movements
and of course Steve Biko.
Being aware of the works/words and meaning of Biko,
Garvey, Fanon and others would normally set one on a collision course with
religious expressions that support or condone the existence of states such as
Israel or even the USA. These are States that thrive on injustice and profit
from the exploitation of others without impunity.
But here lies the paradox and complexity of Rastafari –
as a pseudo-religious movement, Rastafari is supposed to be a way of life and
not a religion at all, at least not in the typical sense. This is a
contradiction since in the rituals; the Holy Bible takes centre stage. It is
after all called a Church. The Church that the Emperor built, although he might
have meant it to be a place where Jesus Christ is praised instead of His Deputy
(Seyuma Igziabeher).
Alternatively other hand, there has been a revolution
taking place within the specific sectors of the universal Rasta movement.
Some devotees of the God Emperor Haile Selassie I have
totally denounced all associations with Christianity, refuting the well-known
Ethiopian Orthodox and Biblical connection to the movement. These new Rasta’s
have adopted a strictly Pan Afrikanist and traditionalist expression. The most
prominent among them is called BaKehase (The People of the Light or The Light
Bearers). The leader or Grandmaster of this new movement is a charismatic, very
well spoken and intelligent young man who goes by the name of Thau-Thau
Haramanuba, although he does have many other names. After many Facebook
conversations and arguments (Reasoning) I finally met Thau-Thau and we had some
truly interesting conversations especially surrounding what he proposes should
be the daily practice of a Rasta who has disassociated him or herself from the
Bible and what is the role of ancestors.
Although this is not a new phenomenon, in Jamaica it is
accepted that although Rasta’s are identifiable by their use of marijuana,
wearing dreadlocks , their natural lifestyle and cultivation of a pro-African
or Afrocentric culture or rhetoric, they vary significantly in their views
concerning the God-King! While some maintain a strictly biblical and Messianic
and Millennial view e.g. the Boboshanti or EABIC, the Nyahbinghi Theocratic Order
and the 12 Tribes of Israel there are those who have a more secular and even
traditional Afrocentric outlook, viewing Selassie I as just one of the great
kings and modernisers of Afrika. The latter are usually scholars of Egyptology
and Kemetic school of thought. They link Ancient Kush, Kemet to modern day
Black people as an unbroken lineage of spirituality and cultural unity.
This sense of unity in diversity has not saved Rasta’s
from regular persecution by lawmakers, the use of the illegal substance called
ganja does not make things any easier neither. While it is not all Rasta’s who
use or smoke marijuana/ganja, many defend its legalisation while others favour
the option of decriminalisation. But this is a subject requiring its proper
essay and research, time and space. Suffice to say it bears a lot of
information about the economic potential for people of colour all over the world.
While all races use it, it is regarded as traditionally Indian and African yet
the essay would investigate the trend of who benefits from its cultivation,
legalisation and distribution.
So what has all this to do with Black Consciousness and
the cultural and socio-political life of we as a people? Well, I dare say,
essentially everything!
The universal Rastafari ‘gospel’ has been adopted by
people of many racial and cultural backgrounds. Ever-since the rise of Reggae
music, especially the stellar yet ironically misunderstood legend of one Robert
Nesta Marley, Reggae and the identity of Rastafari has become an even bigger.
The King of Reggae has been instrumental in rising even raising the status of
Ethiopia more than that of his homeland (the Island) of Jamaica. Like Guevara,
Marley could be called a true Internationalist or Outer-nationalist as Rasta’s
often say.
Both these troubadours were revolutionaries in their
respective fields, rising above difficult transitions and violent political
climates to become symbols of Liberation and the birth of a New Man. Both are
inspirational liberation fighters, one through the ideology of Socialism and
guerrilla warfare, the other through the philosophy of Ethiopianism and
artistic excellence.
Just like Socialism, Rastafari has been breaks through
many national and cultural boundaries, yet the latter maintains what is called
‘Black Supremacy’ as its core. Black emperor; Black empress, black repatriation
and reparations is the constant call of the Rastaman since he is concerned with
the restoration of Black Afrikan dignity and sovereignty. By escaping or
defeating (burning down) Babylon, the Rasta seeks to become a member of a New
Race that is beyond petty prejudice.
This concept of becoming New or Transformed human beings
is far from novel. Whether one looks at the early writings of Marcus Garvey or
even the speeches of Haile Selassie I where he says we must become something we
have never been…children of a New Race, overcoming petty prejudice…
It is clear that Afrikans and non-white people the world
over had not just been contented with fighting against the scourge of white
supremacy, but were dealing decisively with the psychological and social
effects of imperialism.
Menzi Maseko ©
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