Babylons Throne Gone Down

1
Babylons Throne Gone Down
Reggae, Rasta, and Revelation
2
Marcus Mosiah Garvey

• Jamaican born labor organizer and activist
• Formed UNIA
• Sought Black self-determination and repatriation
• Prophesied crowning of black king and redeemer in
  1924

3
H.I.M. Hailie Selassie I(Ras Tafari Makonnen)

• Crowned in 1930
• Claimed to be the lion of the tribe of Judah
• Lineage
• Revered by Garveyites as the true Messiah
• Iconography

4
Textual Roots of Rasta

• Webb A Black Man Will Become Universal King,
  Proven by Biblical History (1919)
• Rogers Holy Piby (1924), brought to Jamaica by
  Garrison
• Petersburgh Royal Parchment Scroll of Black
  Supremacy (1926)
• Howell The Promised Key (1935)

5
Historical Racial Oppression

• 1494 Spanish come and irradicate Arawaks
• 1650 British conquest slaves work in cane
  fields and mines. After emancipation--infighting
• 1962 Independence, but injustice continues

6
Doctrines of Rastafarianism

• Devotion to Jah Ras Tafari as the one, true,
  living God
• Liberation of All African peoples
• Asceticism
• withdrawal from Babylon
• strict dietary laws
• appearance
• Sacramental Use of Ganja

7
Rasta Millenialism

• Waited for the day of judgment
• Captain Morgan story
• 1986 Cracking of the Seven Seals
• White Horse Challenger Explosion
• Red Horse Global War and Terrorism
• Horse with Scales Deposition of evil Rulers
• Pale Horse AIDS
• Wormwood Chernobyl

8
Bob Marley and Rastafarianism

• Embraces Rastafarianism in the early 70s
• Combined faith, music, and politics
• Reggae as overture to the Apocalypse
• Engaged directly in Jamaican politics

9
Songs of Freedom

• Natural Mystic
• One Drop
• Rastaman Chant