A VERY SERIOUS MESSAGE TO THE RASTAFARI FAMILY WORLDWIDE 1,257 DAYS
BEFORE THE ETHIOPIAN MILLENNIUM
On Saturday, February 14, 2004, Ras Sela of the Rastafari Alliance
of Panama (RAP) emailed the Issembly For Rastafari Iniversal Education
(IRIE) the following excerpted message:
“The I must contact the Rastafari Youth Lawyers and recommend
that R&D be put in place to begin the process to document InI
Moral rules and regulations to establish Rastafari Global Government.”
On March 8, IRIE received another message entitled “Unity for
Reparation” which stated:
“1. The subject repatriation have to be the concern of every
Rasta man, woman and child. . . . . I nation is divided due to lack of
unity. Unity should be InI first priority. InI word, sound and power
must be Unity for Repatriation. InI nation will not fully repatriate
if unity is not manifested in its fullness. InI must look at the big
picture of logistics in order to accomplish this task on any level of
moving. . . . .
2. The only avenue to approach repatriation is by uniting all house
and mansions on a global scale. It is through unity mesh with
efficient and constant reorganization of practical logistical planning
that InI shall accomplish repatriation. For one I plead thee the
following: A) select a legal team to research & develop InI
requirement to establish H.I.M. Emperor Haile Selassie I and H.I.M.
Empress Menen moral government. InI must involve Rasta young legal
minds in this process . . . . “
Also on March 8, in an email response to Ras Sela's message above,
Ras Ikael stated:
“What we need is a paid working secretariat, with the
appropriately qualified personnel, along with the required resources .
. . This secretariat would have representatives from the major
Rastafari groups functioning as a liaison/consultative body to ensure
the feedback and participation of these major groupings/organizations
in Rastafari. But the secretariat would be an independent body with
the required skills to do the job of relocating Rastafari worldwide to
their chosen destination on the African Motherland. . . . The
secretariat will need to liaison with national and international
agencies . . . . “
CONSIDER NOW VERY CAREFULLY THE FOLLOWING FROM THE FOREMOST AFRICAN
AMERICAN LEGAL EXPERT IN INTERNATIONAL LAW:
“It is customary for aggrieved groups, minorities, nations,
indigenous peoples, etc. to organize themselves into a POLITICAL UNITY
in keeping with democratic norms, and national and international law
through which they can politically represent themselves in relation to
the government, the United Nations, other friendly nations, and the
international community at large. Quite often it is the ability of a
group, minority, etc to politically and democratically ‘self-identify’
and ‘self-organize’ that will, from a practical point of view,
determine the degree of seriousness with which its demands and
grievances, in relation to its government, will be given serious
consideration to that government, the UN or the international
community at large. Since all groups have consisted of people with
different religious, ideological and socioeconomic beliefs and
opinions as well as educational and economic backgrounds and
organizations, THE CREATION OF A POLITICAL UNIT THAT RESPECTS,
ENCOMPASSES AND PROVIDES FOR EQUAL PARTICIPATION FOR ALL OF ITS
INTERNAL DIVISIONS, BECOMES THE FIRST AND ULTIMATE TASK IN THE SEARCH
FOR COLLECTIVE HUMAN RIGHTS AS WELL AS SELF-GOVERNMENT AND
INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION. It also provides the fundamental foundation
on which legitimate and effective leadership can be elected.” [Dr.
Y.N. Kly, The IHRAAM African American Task Force to the World
Conference on Racism http://www.geocities.com/ihraam/AATaskForceWCAR.htm
capital emphasis mine]
The Rastafari Family Worldwide is a trans-national religious
polity/minority. Rastafari Family residing within a particular nation
represents a religious minority and in some circumstances, an ethnic
and/or national minority as well. Thus, for example, the Organization
of African American Rastafari Unity represents all three: African
(ethnic) American (national) and Rastafari (religious). Likewise, the
Organization of African Panamanian Rastafari Unity, the Organization
of African Jamaican Rastafari Unity, the Organization of African
Barbados Rastafari Unity, etc.
There is a well-recognized process by which a national, ethnic, or
religious minority becomes recognized. The mechanism for establishing
self-government is the plebiscite: a direct vote by the entire
electorate on an important issue. When an ethnic, national or
religious minority conducts a plebiscite, it exercises its right of
self-determination. Manifesting the ability to exercise that right
NATIONALLY is what effects, or rather ATTRACTS, recognition as a
NATION. A plebiscite is used to determine the will of the nation. A plebiscite
that chooses Self-Government provides the legal foundation for
establishing self government. That is why His Imperial Majesty Haile
Selassie has said,
“Although the beginnings of civilization of each country vary in
time, the fundamental factors which gave impetus to each country to
awaken and embark on the same road to progress to reach their present
level of development are those qualities which are enshrined in the
nature of man, namely DESIRE and FORTITUDE.”
Ras Sela has expressed again I&I collective desire to Istablish
the Rastafari Government Globally. The next step for I&I is to
conduct a plebiscite, that is, by international law, I&I must host
national Rastafari conventions in every country to establish the legal
foundation for Rastafari National Self-Government, and by extension,
trans-national or global self-government. It won’t be enough to hold
a gathering and call it “national”; no, it must truly respect,
encompass and provide for equal participation for all of its internal
divisions. It must prove, by some objective standard, that it
represented, in fact, all Mansions, Organizations, Families, and
Individuals in the House of Rastafari. In order to do this, a Census
must be taken. Government derives from the consent of people. The
people themselves must aggregate their consent for Government to be
established righteously and legally. Thus, a Census (official
population count) and a Plebiscite (official vote) for Self-Government
through a framework and Plan of Action is the immediate task facing
the Rastafari Family Worldwide.
I&I can be sure that this is the will of HIM Haile Selassie I
by praying and also by remembering that when His Imperial Majesty came
to America 50 years ago in 1954, he sent His personal emissary, Madame
Sahara on an 18 month recruiting mission among the Africans in America
with the following Repatriation Package: free transportation for the
whole family, a house rent free, a competitive salary, annual
three-months vacations with pay. All who were interested were asked to
fill out an ETHIOPIAN GOVERNMENT APPLICATION! THE BEST REPATRIATION
PACKAGE I&I EVER GET FROM HIM AND I&I HAD TO FILL OUT PAPERS!
When Rastafari in every country has completed a Census and a
Plebiscite, establishing an ethnic, national or religious minority
within a nation, it will then be possible for those minorities to collectively
establish trans-national self-government, i.e. Rastafari Global
Government on a verifiable legal basis that could be recognized under
international law as sufficiently “national” or “international”.
The Global Reasoning 2003 , under this standard, does not qualify.
There was no verifiable population count consenting to democratically
selected “national delegates”, though there was “international”
participation.
This is why the IRIE STAR ORDER FIVE YEAR PLAN has called for
national Rastafari conventions to be convened by the end of 2004 in
preparation for a Rastafari International Summit in Panama in May
2005. This is the path to self-government.
The 2004 national Rastafari Conventions shall have as its work the
conducting of a Census and the preparation of proposals/plans of
action, for the May 2005 Summit. The harmonization of the collective
proposals will form the Global Rastafari Plebiscite (Plan of Action)
which will then be used in Rastafari Government-to-African Government
negotiations at African embassies in Washington D.C. and in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia. This necessitates that the Rastafari Global
Government (Rastafari Global Secretariat) establish its own embassy in
Washington DC and Addis Ababa as well. Only when this is done will
I&I be able to solve I&I other problems, particularly the task
of Repatriation.
THE FIRST NATIONAL RASTAFARI CONVENTION
The first National Rastafari convention was called by the
Nyahbinghi brethren and held in Kingston, Jamaica from March 1 to
March 21, 1958. Three thousand (3,000) people gathered for the “groundation”
which was broken up by the Jamaican police. That very first national
Rastafari convention established the Ethiopia Africa Black
International Congress and Church of Salvation at 54B Spanish Town
Road for the purpose of “gatheri[ing] all Ethiopian slave Children
in the Diaspora to return to Our Original Vine and Fig Tree through
International Repatriation.”
Two years later, at the request of members of the Rastafari
movement, the University of the West Indies conducted a Report on the
Rastafari Movement and concluded that, first and foremost, the
Rastafari brethren all want repatriation. By April, 1961, the Jamaican
government sponsored an unofficial fact-finding mission to Africa
which was received by H.I.M. Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, Governor
General Nnamdi Azikiwi of Nigeria, President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana,
President William Tubman of Liberia, and Prime Minister Milton Margai
of Sierra Leone. The 1961 Mission submitted Majority and Minority
Reports which to the Jamaican Parliament which became dead letters
when the Government changed hands in 1963.
Twenty years later, Rastafari sons and dawtas, Patriarchs, Priests
and Prophets from the Caribbean, the USA, Canada and England, answered
the call for a Conference to consolidate the Unity of Rastafari
Globally, and to formulate a working committee or Secretariat to deal
with all issues facing the International Rastafari Community, with
Centralization for Repatriation the first priority on the agenda. All
the Mansions within the House of Rastafari were represented and the
presence of so many eminent Elders made the whole event notable in the
history of the Rastafari Movement. The “Theocractic Issembly”
Conference concluded with a document entitled the Theocracy Issembly
22 Proposals of which, “The Establishment of a Divine Theocracy
Reign & Secretariat of Rastafari with Repatriation as the first
priority on the agenda.”
A decade later, in 1992, the Year of the Centenary Trod of
Rastafari to Shashemane, the Rastafari Centralization Organization
(RCO) was established in Jamaica, and in 1993, the International
Rastafari Gathering Committee (IRGC) was established by several
Washington DC-based brethren. Three years later, in 1996 the Economic
and Social Council of the United Nations granted consultative status
to the Rastafari Movement who were represented by Ras Bongo Spear and
Ras Boanerges. [Note: it is unclear which organization received the
ngo consultative status. The Jamaican Observer, November 24, 1996 says
it was the International Rastafarian Development Society while others
say it was the IRGC and still others say it was the Barbados-based
Africa Hall ngo.]
In 1998, at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Ras Bongo
Spear and Ras Boanerges ask: “What is the responsibility of the
nations to Africans in the diaspora with respect to the age old quest
for Repatriation?” Said the Rasses, “Our advice from that
committee and from the UN Office of Human Rights . . . .was simple.
The United Nations as an organization of states cannot at this time in
any serious way entertain the issue of repatriation without the
consent of the African states and the African Governments to which we
want to go in Africa. So we were directed to seek the support of
African governments with respect to the acquisition of land. And after
that, the matter can be brought up again to the United Nations and the
issue of [settlement] can take place.”
Ras Bongo Spear and Ras Boanerges scheduled a Nyahbinghi conference
for November 1998, but the Organization for Rastafari Inity (ORI)
scheduled A Rastafari International Conference, Trade Fair and
Cultural Exposition in Barbados for August of that same year. A power
struggle for the UN consultancy with Ras Bongo Spear and Ras Boanerges
on one side, and Ras Iral and ORI on the other resulted in a petition
to the United Nations to the effect that Ras Bongo Spear did not
represent the Nyahbinghi since he did not attend the August conference
in Barbados. It is charged that ORI tried to access US $40,000 from
the United Nations for a project originally set by Ras Ians, Ras Boanerges
and Ras Bongo Spear. From this, ORI “coup”, came the Eastern
Caribbean Rastafari Organization (ECRO 1998) which became the
Caribbean Rastafari Organization (CRO) in Dominica. In October of
2000, Ras Boanerges left this world and returned to Abba Janhoi.
Twenty years after the Theocratic Issembly and some 24 conferences
later, the Global Reasoning 2003 convened on the University of the
West Indies Mona Campus in Jamaica. According to mission statements
and press releases, the Global Reasoning 2003 was organized “with
the fundamental aim of establishing a global Ras Tafari Secretariat”
and “putting in place an Action Plan for Ras Tafari Development”.
According to the Global Reasoning 2003 agenda, the naming of the “worldwide
Rastafari Secretariat” was to take place on July 22, 2003 at 6:00
p.m. After the Global Reasoning 2003, Rastafari Matriarch Farika
Berhane, in an August 14, 2003 email to IRIE stated,
“[The Provisional Global Reasoning Secretariat] is now in the
process of summarizing the conference and choosing 10 recommendations
from the 53 submitted. I see the lack of continuation from the 1983
conference, the lack of reviewing the 22 points then made and why
these were not fulfilled (and how many were if any) as a major cause of lack
of focus and order in the Global reasoning.”
Yet, to date, eight months later, there is still no Rastafari
Global Secretariat nor Plan of Action.
There has been, of late, some very positive action. The Empress of
Manen Foundation has assisted many incients in Jamaica and has
registered 183 Incients in their Adopt-An-Elder Project. Fundraisers
for the JRDC School in Shashemane have been held in California and
Connecticut. These are just a few of many accomplishments in just the
first few months of 2004. Yet, none of these activities can be the
basis for a comprehensive plan of action for the whole Rastafari
Family Worldwide, though they are certainly elements of the work that
must be done.
Historically, the unifying and most consistent desire of the
Rastafari Family Worldwide, has been for Repatriation. Ras Sela calls
I&I to “Unity for Repatriation”, and word has it that he is in
Jamaica meeting with Interim Secretariat Chairman Arthur Newland at
this very moment and expects the Global Reasoning 2003 Final Report to
be made available. At the same time, the Empress of Zion has just
concluded their 2nd Annual Conference under the theme: “Repatriation:
The Only reality” and should be making their conference report soon.
Likewise, another Rastafari Conference was scheduled in Costa Rica at
the same time. Will any of their reports address “the big picture of
logistics in order to accomplish this task”? Will any unifying
FRAMEWORK be proposed?
On March 31, 2004, I received a February 14, 2004 message entitled
the Order of the Nyahbinghi Ancient Council Speaks which states:
“The Order of the Nyahbinghi Ancient Council has revived its
administration, since The Global Reasoning 2003, in order to provide
transparency, accountability and a protocol in which I&I can move
in one accord, through the powers of the Everliving I Haile Selassie I
the first. Emperor Haile Selassie I is I&I leader, even as the
irits of a newborn baby. The Council may not present the procedure to
accomplishing our goals, but it is the duty of anyone who think they
may have the method, to let the Council be aware in advance to ensure
advise, authority and the blessings of the Massives.
The Order of the Nyahbinghi Ancient Council is now appealing to all
administrators within the Order of the Nyahbinghi in every region
where there is a tabernacle or mansion to contact the Ancient Council
so as to have consultancy in one dialogue. This goes for any
Organization active in the Rastafari Movement for the Rastafari
Community wherever they are located.
I&I of the Ancient Council seek to have one voice in I&I
endeavors towards establishing a Rastafari Nation.”
One God – that’s HIM Haile Selassie I. One Aim – that’s
African Liberation and Unity, for Him said when African People come
together, the whole world come together and that’s I&I Ivine
heritage. One Destiny – that’s Repatriation for Africa awaits her
creators. One Voice. . . . How can that be achieved? How can all
Rastafari have one voice? The answer is the STAR ORDER FIVE YEAR PLAN.
I&I must go through the process for establishing SELF- GOVERNMENT.
The Kingdom of Rastafari must identify its subjects. Rastafari Global
Government must identify its citizens. ALL must participate in a
National Conventions/Plebiscites in order to invest the Rastafari
Global Government with earthly authority recognizable by international
law. When all Rastafari sons and dawtas are properly represented by
organized national units, then all national units can be centralized
and I&I shall have ONE VOICE.
Therefore, IRIE humbly requests the Order of the Ancient Nyahbinghi
to bless the STAR ORDER FIVE YEAR PLAN and raspectfully asks that all
Mansions, Organizations, Families and Individuals within the House of
Rastafari, to endorse the STAR ORDER FIVE YEAR PLAN and work with each
other in the land of one's current residence to convene a National
Rastafari Convention before the end of this year (2004). In fact, in
order to build this momentum, I ask each Rastafari son and dawta
reading this message to copy the following endorsement statement and
forward it to Rastafari_Global_Government@hotmail.com
“In the Spirit of Unity for Repatriation which is I&I Only
Reality, I, (type your name and any organizational affiliation ),
hereby declare, that, to Istablish Rastafari Global Government for the
Purpose of Repatriation, I&I the Rastafari Family Worldwide must
make an honest, full-faith attempt to convene National Rastafari
Conferences that will
1) conduct the Repatriation Census;
2) Prepare Specific, Measurable Courses of Action Proposals; and
3) send an unlimited number of delegates to the Rastafari Summit in
Panama 2005."
I seal-up this message recalling Ras Jahaziel’s Words of
Inspiration to the House of Nyahbinghi, July 26, 2000:
“. . . the Ancients always made mention of THE THEOCRATIC
GOVERNMENT OF HIS MAJESTY. It is not an invisible entity in the sky,
it is a living ORDER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS manifesting itself at a
particular point in time when a whole Nation reaches a stage of
MATURITY where it is ready to submit to IVINE ORDER. This readiness is
demonstrated by their manifestation of the INDWELLING AND ARISEN
PRESENCE OF HAILE I SELASSIE THE FIRST. From out of such a MATURITY OF
CONSCIOUSNESS there are appointed Administrators who conduct the
business of building THE CITY OF HABITATION and implementing ON EARTH
the vision of HAILE I SELASSIE I THE FIRST. The fulfillment of such a
vision represents the coming age of a people who ARE READY TO ORDER
THEMSELVES ALONG IVINE PRINCIPLES AND WILLING TO ABANDON NARROW SELF
INTEREST AND MY-OWN-WAY-NESS FOR THE SAKE OF CREATING AN EDIFICE OF
POWER THAT IS IN ACCORDANCE WITH IVINE WILL. The government therefore
is not just a small group of people but A WHOLE CONGREGATION
manifesting its will through APPOINTEES. To such appointees is to be delegated
the authority to act as ambassadors before the Nations in addressing
issues like the CRIMINALIZATION AND PERSECUTION OF RASTAFARI, the
resolving of the present problems surrounding the Shashemane land
grant and seeking other LAND GRANTS in other parts of Afrika, and
overseeing the development of A TREASURY. In such administration there
must also be set up WORKING COMMITTEES which will be entrusted with
the task of formulating cultural, educational and fundraising programs
in every local community. Such works while disseminating the knowledge
and culture of Rastafari, will also serve to bring more vibrancy and
cohesion to the movement through BRINGING the community together
around common causes and promoting the habit of working together.
There must be CO-ORDINATORS who are responsible for NETWORKING between
the many different communities so that the many different works will
ultimately be ONE WORK IN AGENDA AND CHARACTER. Such Co-ordinators
must be responsible for tying each CONFERENCE TOGETHER so that each
successive conference will build on the conference that came before
and they will see to it that the knowledge gleaned from each
conference is so circulated that it becomes general knowledge
throughout the whole house of I&I. These are just some of the
GOVERNMENTAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIVITIES that need to be implemented
but it all depends on INDIVIDUALS FINDING TIME TO BUILD RASTA NATION.”
Most Heartically and Raspectfully, Ras Nathaniel
