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Haile Selassie celebration - Rastafarians to
commemorate the 45th anniversary of Selassie's three-day visit in April

Published:Sunday
| January 2, 2011 | 12:00 AM

Haile
Selassie (third right) on his historic visit to Jamaica on April 23, 1966. -
File

Howard
Campbell, Gleaner Writer

WHEN
ETHIOPIAN Emperor Haile Selassie I arrived in Jamaica on April 21,1966, it was
considered more than just a state visit by the country's growing Rastafarian
population. It gave the religion of dreadlocked disciples a sense of legitimacy
in their homeland.

"People used to call us
mad and sey Selassie would not come here. It brought recognition for I and I in
Jamaica," said Shephan Fraser, chairman of the Ancient Council and a
priest in the Nyabinghi Order.

The various Rasta groups in
Jamaica plan to commemorate the 45th anniversary of Selassie's three-day visit
in April with a series of events dubbed 'Survival World Culture Music Festival'
to be held at the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium.

Lance Ho Shing, spokesman for
the Ancient Council, told The Sunday Gleaner
that several cultural acts are scheduled to perform on the live segment of the
event, including some from Africa. The series actually starts April 20 with the
lighting of a symbolic fire at the Trelawny stadium.

Ho Shing said the events will
also mark the 50th anniversary of independence for several African nations from
European colonialism.

Embraced
Rastafari

Repatriation to Africa, a
cornerstone of the Rastafarian message, will be one of the issues to be
discussed during the activities.

Fraser was 27 years old when
Selassie came to Jamaica. The St Catherine-born pastor's son said he embraced
Rastafari at age 15 and suffered social prejudice because of his beliefs.

He was among the hundreds of
Rastafarians who showed up at what was then the Palisadoes Airport to welcome
Selassie, whom many Jamaicans hailed as a hero, due to his courageous
leadership of Ethiopian troops against armies of the Fascist Italian dictator
Benito Mussolini in the 1930s.

Most Rastafarians at the time
regarded Selassie as God because he is reportedly a direct descendant of King
Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

The Ethiopian monarch's trip
came at a time when Rastafarians were experiencing widespread aggression from
Jamaican police and shunned by mainstream society. At the same time, the
Jamaican Government was taking a studied look at Rastafarians.

In 1960, Rastafarian leaders
approached University of the West Indies (UWI) lecturers M.G. Smith, Roy
Augier, and Rex Nettleford to conduct a study on the group which many scholars
believe originated in west Kingston during the 1930s. The 50th anniversary of
that report was recognised with the Rastafari Studies Conference at the Mona
campus of the UWI last August.

One year later, three
Rastafarians - Mortimo Planno, Douglas Mack, and Philmore Alvaranga - were part
of a government-sanctioned team that went on a fact-finding tour of Africa. A
technical mission, again funded by the Government, also visited the continent
that year.

Selassie's visit to Jamaica
was the second stop in a four-country Caribbean trip that also included visits
to Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, and Barbados. During his Jamaican stay, Selassie
met Prime Minister Alexander Bustamante, was awarded an honorary degree from
the UWI and addressed Parliament.

His visit inspired rebellious
Jamaican youth to accept Rastafa-rianism, and by the dawn of the 1970s, the
faith was the voice of reggae music standard-bearers like Bob Marley and
Burning Spear.

While reggae was making
international strides in 1974, Ethiopia was in the midst of an economic crisis.
Selassie was deposed by the Ethiopian military that year and was reportedly
executed in August 1975.

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