The Rasta revolution

"You’re eating pork baby?" Facial stubble would inspire comments that "Rastaman doh deal up with razor." When he weighs the pros and cons of cutting his locks, I recoil in mock horror, and pretend to be aghast at the sacrilege he is contemplating.

This attitude contrasts with that of a friend of mine. "I am a Rasta," he asserts firmly, tossing back his dreadlocks over his shoulder. They are his main source of narcissism. Every week he has his hair locked, orders special shampoo over the internet. "Well, I’m not a Rasta Rasta," he wavers, "but I believe in and follow the rules of the faith. But I don’t burn the weed. Not anymore."

Nowadays, everyone, it seems is either a baldhead or a Rasta. I used to suppose it depended on who one held up as one’s personal icon, Michael Jordan or Bob Marley. Now I think the basis for the decision is shallower. I think it depends on whether or not one is losing one’s hair. Possessing only an ephemeral notion of the faith, I’ve asked others, especially those who claim to be or are in the process of becoming Rastafarian, what are its doctrines. The answers are varied and confusing. Rastas don’t eat meat — but I know of Rastas that do. Rastas have dreadlocks — but not all who lock their hair are Rastafarian and after the song "You don’t have to dread (To be Rasta)" there are those that claim to follow the faith without the obvious hirsute manifestation.

After the Brixton riots Lord Scarman wrote a report in which he stated "The true Rastafarian is deeply religious, essentially humble and sad. The dreadlocks, the headgear and the colours, which he affects, are a daily reminder to him of Africa and a witness to the world of his belief that his exiled people must return there."

Everyone, it seems, has a notion of what constitutes a Rastafarian. Some claim displeasure of what is termed "pretty ras," dreadlocks that are styled by a professional and kept neat. A true Rasta, apparently, perceives this as Babylonian in origin, a bastardisation of the true way. Yet the irony in this is the fact that the adaptation — and adoption — of locks by yuppies has helped make it more socially acceptable. Even Lord Scarman’s precept that the true Rastafarian longs for repatriation becomes shaky under examination.

I cannot view any of the Rastas I know as assimilable, even though they profess a desire to return to the "Motherland." They were all born andraised here. Trinidadian culture and tradition has faded, forming a grey background upon which the neo-colonial dreams of Americanism are played out.

They blast "conscious music" on stereos of souped up Japanese cars, wear desert boots manufactured in England.

Rastafarianism has never been more popular. It is to be found in every part of the world. Right here in Trinidad enthusiastic support of the faith has reached feverish heights. And in keeping with all febrility, a great deal of incoherent thrashing about takes place. There are two extreme ends of the Trini Rastafari spectrum. On one end you have the hardcore proponents, the Capletons as it were, followers of the militant stance of the Jamaican singer self dubbed "the Prophet." Despite the fact that his music, inspired by the Holy Trinity of Jah, Jamaica and Ganja, has descended to ditties about "pumping up her poom poom," he is viewed as a mouthpiece of the movement.

The other end consists of middle class and occasionally upper class involvement. They are the hippies of the new millennium, espousing peace and love, harmony and equality. It’s cool and popular to speak about the marginalisation of the Rasta, to be on the fringes of convention, perhaps secure in the knowledge that they can shave their heads in the morning and return to middle class respectability. Marcus Garvey was once accused of being a member of the Ku Klux Klan. He denied it but went on to say, "the Ku Klux Klan had no other desire than to preserve their race from suicide through miscegenation and to keep it pure, which to me is not a crime but a commendable desire." The irony lies in the fact that many of the faith’s new disciples are products of the interbreeding that contravene the "purity of the Negro race and the purity of the white race" that Garvey advocated.

It is disturbing to think of people converting to a faith when their understanding of it is so tenuous, so nebulous. True Rastas have never had greater support or been more threatened. In the morass of post colonialism insecurity that we have found ourselves in, Rastafarianism has become just one more bandwagon to hitch a ride on. Identity crises have a new manifestation.

Comments? Please write suszanna @hotmail.com<mailto:suszanna@hotmail.com>