Water of life #44

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Guyana Institute of Historical Research Journal Issue 3 (2015)

Healing the nation:  A history of the Rastafari movement in Guyana in brief

By Ras Leon Saul

HEALING OF THE NATION:
A Brief History of the Rastafari Movement in Guyana 

“RASTAFARIANS IN GUYANA…UNITED IN SPIRIT, DIVIDED IN THE FLESH!”
By Ras Leon Saul © Guyana, June 2015
Greetings in the Name of I and I Guide and Savior, the Most High God "JAH" - The Almighty Father! The Creator of Life…RASTAFARI! Glory to Word, glory to sound and glory to the power of Amon-Ra! For clarity...”Ras Tafari” simply means “Head Creator” and “Prince or Princess of Peace”…to be at PEACE with NATURE, ONESELF, the UNIVERSE and its INHABITANTS…and to have LOVE FOR ALL! 
When you see ones waving the red, gold, green and black banner and shouting “Rasta”, never assume that they have taken the time to actually study the roots of “Rasta”. Many who shout “Rasta” don’t even know who Haile Selassie 1 is and what he represents; who Marcus Garvey was and what he stood for. They have no idea who Leonard Howell was or what he stood for. In fact if you asked them who founded the Rastafari Movement they will probably say “Bob Marley”!
While peace, love and harmony are the goals of Rasta, that’s not the essence of Rasta. The essence of Rasta is resistance…fighting against oppression, resisting unjust systems and revolting until there are equal rights and justice for all! These are the things that are at the root of “Rasta”. The primary purpose of Rasta was to resist against European colonial aggression and oppression. In fact, if you wanted to make a soundtrack of what is currently taking place in Ferguson and Baltimore, USA and Tel Aviv, Israel... reggae would have to be the primary genre to choose songs from. It’s time for a new song!
So my “bredren” was very surprised at the messages he got when he decided to play some reggae songs in support of the protestors in Ferguson, Baltimore and Tel Aviv. One person even went as far to tell him that reggae is love and the music he was posting wasn’t reggae! I’m not making this up…he was posting songs from Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Dennis Brown and Max Romeo. We’re talking about the “King of Reggae”, the “Prince of Reggae”, the “Stepping Razor” himself and a living legend in Max Romeo. The songs posted were songs like “Revolution”, “Burning and Looting” and “Get up, Stand up” by Bob Marley. Also posted was “Revolution” by Dennis Brown, and “Equal Rights and Justice” by Peter Tosh.
How could someone claim to love reggae but find some of the classic reggae songs offensive? The reason is a lot of people heard Bob Marley’s song “One Love” and have no idea what the term means or even who coined the term. “One Love” is a term coined by Marcus Garvey and it wasn’t meant to be a Kumbaya song. “One Love” was a phrase for Blacks to unite and return to the motherland!
Some White people also choose to conveniently ignore the part in the song where Bob Marley says, “Let’s get together to fight this Armageddon”. Who is he telling to let’s get together and who are they going to fight against? Again, Rasta is not all about “one love”. In fact, the motto of the Nyahbinghi is, “Death to all Black and White oppressors”. So trying to stifle certain reggae songs and pigeon-hole militant Rastas as “weed smoking hippies” is ridiculous!
So, I could play Bob Marley’s “One Love” but I must mute the part about fighting the Armageddon and I shouldn’t play his songs like “Revolution” or “Get up, Stand up”? It’s alright when Dennis Brown says “Here I come…with love and not hatred”, but not when he says “Are you ready to stand up and fight the right revolution?”
If you’re just on the “Rasta bandwagon” because it seems cool, please hop off! Rasta is way higher than just being cool! Big up all protestors from Georgetown to Baltimore to Tel Aviv. As Bob Marley said, “Arm in arm, with arms we fight this struggle…cause that’s the only way we can overcome this trouble.”
And cheer up to all the oppressed. As reggae singer Fred Locks says, “things won’t always be the same.” I and I have to take the steps to make sure things change. BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY! Now, this brings I to the source of Rastafari way of life. Both the writings of Marcus Mosiah Garvey in “Philosophies & Opinions” and Edward Ullendorf’s “The Autobiography of Emperor Haile Selassie 1 – Vols. 1 & 2:” could go a far way, along with the Bible, in creating a philosophical framework for Rasta. 
Now, to see yourself as a Rastafari, your choices are either living ITAL or being a VEGAN. Eating as a VEGETARIAN is for those who have less faith. Don't get me wrong, you don't have to see yourself as Rasta to be someone who is at peace with nature, oneself, this universe and its inhabitants or to be living as a VEGAN or living as a VEGETARIAN or just being into ITAL. Because, in the final analysis, being “Rasta” is a spiritual livity and a love conception of the heart!
“Dreadlocks” was a style since a long time ago. Black people in ancient Egypt or Kemet wore dreadlocks. All sorts of people wear dreadlocks for whatever reasons. It is co-incidental that Rasta carries “knotty dreadlocks” too, so everybody associates dreadlocks with Rastafari…even if they are homeless vagrants and roaming “crazies”. Wrong! Rasta has a philosophy by which I and I live. That's why a true heart Rasta King or Prince, or Queen and Princess will never eat dead animals nor partake in using cocaine! Rastafari spiritual teachings are Bible-based, but can also be found in the Vedic Scriptures, the Bhagavad-Gita, the Koran and other holy writings, including the cosmic “Knowledge Book”.
First of all, the “Ark of the Covenant” is the most reserved holy relic of God incarnate, and became part of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Christian belief. The presence of replicas of the Ark of the Covenant in every Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the belief in it, exert a profound influence on the imaginations and spiritual lives of many Ethiopians at home and abroad.
According to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, this priceless treasure (the original Ark of the Covenant) still exists and rests in a small chapel in the monastic complex of Saint Mary of Zion Church in Aksum. This makes Saint Mary of Zion the holiest sanctuary in Ethiopia and the world! It does seem likely that the Ark was “spirited away” and brought to Ethiopia when a young Menelik 1 returned to Aksum with his mother Makeda (Bilkis) – the “Queen of Sheba” (Saba), from a visit to his father - King Solomon in Israel. 
Ever since that time, the Ethiopian monarchs claimed to be direct descendants from the biblical King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, and ruled Ethiopia in an unbroken line until the Coronation on November 2, 1930 of “the King of Kings” - His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie I (the 225th descendant), who sat to rule till the end of times as “Defender of the Faith”. In fact, the “Throne of David” is in Ethiopia.
The advent of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church to then British Guiana in the early 50s (with churches set up in Stanleytown, New Amsterdam; Princess Street, Georgetown and on the East Bank Demerara) marked the spiritual/religious introduction of “Rastafari” and recognition of the divinity of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie 1 of Ethiopia – the oldest independent African State…as GOD incarnate! 
After all, His Imperial Majesty was also head of one of the oldest religions in the world – Ethiopian Orthodox, and upon His Coronation on November 2, 1930 became “Defender of the Faith” and fulfilled biblical prophecy about the “second coming of the Christ in his Kingly Character”! 
The Rastafari Movement is a "messianic religio-political movement" that began in the Jamaican slums in the 1920s and 30s spearheaded by Leonard Percival Howell and Marcus Mosiah Garvey, among others. Marcus Garvey – the “Black Moses” and also the re-incarnated “John the Baptist” had prophesized: “Look to Africa, where a Black King will be crowned. That will be the time of African redemption!” The most famous Rastafari is Bob Marley, whose reggae music gained international recognition for the Jamaican-founded Afrocentric movement after he focused his musical message to proclaim “Jah Lives”!
There is significant variation within the Rastafari Movement and no formal organization. Some Rastafarians see Rasta more as a way of life than a religion. But uniting the diverse movement is belief in the divinity of “Jah” and knowledge of the messiahship of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I, the influence of Jamaican music culture (reggae), resistance of oppression, and pride in African heritage. 
The Rastafarian lifestyle usually includes a natural indulgence, ritual use of marijuana as sacrament, avoidance of alcohol, the wearing of one's hair in dreadlocks, and vegetarianism – moreso an ital diet. Some essentially live by the dietary Laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy in the Old Testament. Rastafarian lifestyle emphasizes harmony with the positive world and a “one love” universal outlook.  Rastafarians draw on parts of the Bible as spiritual texts.
In a final analysis, Rastafari is both a philosophy of life and a religion. Central to the religion is Emperor Haile Selassie I who was the last Emperor of Ethiopia. In Rasta, Selassie is accepted as “Jah”, which is the Rasta name for God. The term “Jah” is a shortened version of the name “Jahovah’ used in Psalms 68:4 of the King James version of the Bible
“Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him.” In Rasta, Jah is accepted as part of the Holy Trinity and, as the Messiah, was expected to return, which HE did when he was crowned Emperor on November 2, 1930 and assumed the name Haile Selassie 1 (Might and Power of the Trinity) with the title of “King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5)…fulfilling ancient Biblical prophecy! 
Along with the reggae explosion of the 1970s, Rastafari’s acceptance in Guyana seriously began after Bob Marley’s music became more popular around 1974/75, especially his album “Natty Dread” and the song “Jah lives!”The visit to Guyana by Count Ossie and the Royal sons of Negus in 1972 to Carifesta; the tour by Third World around 1977/78 and other such roots, rock, reggae bands helped to spread the message of Rastafari in Guyana. But who is this “Rasta” and where did it originate? 
LIDJ TAFARI MAKONNEN was born in his father's country home near Harar, Ethiopia on July 23, 1892, the youngest of 10 children born to Ras Makonnen (Governor of Harar) and his wife Wayzero Yeshimabet. Ras Tafari was the great grandson of King Sahela Selassie of Shoa. He was baptized at the church his father built in Harar, and received his Christian name “Haile Selassie”. He became Emperor Haile Selassie 1 when he was coronated Emperor on November 2, 1930 fulfilling the prophecy of the return of “Christ the Messiah” as “King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of Judah, Elect of Himself and the Universe…Earth’s Rightful Ruler!”

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Almighty GOD, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his Kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this...”Isaiah 9: 6 to 7. 

A brief Biography of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie 1
taken from the book “Ethiopia Reaches Her Hand Unto God: Imperial Ethiopia’s Unique Symbols, Structures, and Role in the Modern World”, by Gregory Copley reveals that His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I was born, in the town of Ejarsa Gora in the Harage Province, some 18 miles outside the city of Harar, Ethiopia. In a significant break with precedence, Ras Lidj Tafari Makonnen was raised with an understanding of world affairs, and with an exposure to the outside world. He was to become the first Emperor of Ethiopia to have traveled extensively abroad.

Ras Makonnen, and therefore Lidj Tafari Makonnen, was directly of the Solomonic Line (225th descendant), as was Emperor Menelik himself and Tafari Makonnen’s great-great grandfather - Negus Sahela Selassie, of Shoa. Lidj Tafari Makonnen was, unusually for the period, brought up with both a strong education in Shoan Amharic traditions and in Western history, languages and statecraft. He was named Dejazmatch - literally “keeper of the door”; the equivalent of the title of “Count” in Western terms - for part of Harage province at the age of 13, in 1904, only about a year before his father’s death. He became Regent in 1916.

The most glorious part of Ras Tafari's life and for the world was in 1930, when he was crowned King of Ethiopia, those who have eyes to see the truth will see it, search and you will find. In 1930 Ras Tafari was crowned King of Ethiopia, taking the title, “The King of Kings, The Lord of Lords, The Conquering Lion of The Tribe of Judah”, breaking open the seven seals of the scroll which is spoken about in Revelations 5:5. His name was also changed from Ras Tafari to Haile Selassie I, which means, “Might and Power of the Trinity”. 
As Emperor Haile Selassie I lived on, HE continuously fulfilled prophecy from the book of Revelations. Babylon would war against the Lamb, but he will overcome them. All of this has come through Haile Selassie I. When the Italians tried to conquer him and his land in 1935, he overthrew them with an allied force led by Himself with his own army on May 5, 1941 (Liberation Day for Ethiopia). He had no other choice to do so because the League of Nations had betrayed him and left him to fight alone. But foolish Babylon, never knew no one could really defeat God Almighty. Indeed, the “Lion of Judah shall break every chain and give I and I the victory again and again!”
During the war Haile Selassie I had done something that if you saw you wouldn't know what to say. The Italian leader Benedict Mussolini was using chemical warfare against Ethiopia, and Ethiopia was fighting back with nominal ammunitions. While they were launching their bombs at Ethiopia one fell directly by King Selassie I's foot, the King put his foot upon the bomb and said, "This bomb will not go off in my country," and it never did to this day.

Members of the Rastafari community are generally marginalized, discriminated against and even criminalized because of I and I unique and peculiar way of life, referred to as the “livity”. As such, with the appearance of an apparent “unkempt” hairstyle, called dreadlocks, it is hard for members to be regarded as conforming to the norms of regular society. This “outcast” position, most times, prevent I and I from getting gainful employment. 
Even though the poverty level is extreme, some Rastafarians are self-employed as art & crafts vendors, itinerant traders, miners and farmers, among other occupations; though many are unemployed and uneducated. Many also don’t have proper homes or places of rest and recreation. In fact, some Rastafarians have taken up residence in the hills around Linden, Mahdia, Kwakwani and many other hinterland locations, engaging in farming, trading and mining.
What I and I seek is a new and a different way of life. I and I still searching for a way of life in which all men will be treated as responsible human beings, able to participate fully in the political affairs of governance and righteous government; a way of life in which ignorance and poverty, if not abolished, are at least the exception and are actively combated; a way of life in which the blessings and benefits of the modern world can be enjoyed by all without the total sacrifice of all that was good and beneficial in the old Ethiopia. I and I are from and of the people, and I and I desires derive from and are theirs.
The first Rastafarians in British Guiana were Garveyites, who would have also probably been “Jordanites”! Writer Rupert Lewis has examined political aspects of the origins of the Rastafari Movement at a time when the Garvey Movement was in decline in the 1930s. It was around that time Marcus Garvey visited British Guiana and first brought the message of “Rastafari” closer to home. About seven UNIA branches were established here.
Lewis’ main intentions were to underscore ways in which Garveyism has affected the evolution of Rastafari and to identify the many similarities and differences that exist between the two anti-colonial ideologies. Many interpretations of the origins of Rastafari have focused on two events during this period: the coronation of Ras Tafari as Emperor of Ethiopia in 1930 and Marcus Mosiah Garvey's writings on the significance of this coronation for people of African descent.
But, the actual manifestation of dreadlocked Rastafarians in Guyana, practicing the ascetic natural way of life and eschewing the temptations and pitfalls of “Babylon system”, did not happen until the mid-60s, when Guyanese sailors and travelers to Jamaica, such as brethren like Orlando Butcher aka “Ras Lando Judah”, Ras Camo Williams, pioneering agriculturalist - Ras Ramsammy (from Queen’s College) who introduced the use of “ital’, Ras Nunki, Ras Akatunde and others returned to this country with reports, reflections and herbal samples of the new “way of life”. Early Rases also included British, Cats, Spanner, Big Daddy, Mister Clean, Kiddus-I, Stone Face, Big Youth from Rasville, Big G, Natty Wiltshire and Ras Kanhai. 
Some individuals see Rastafari as a political movement, a sentiment that is offensive to religious-minded Rasta people. The Rastafari Movement did, however, gain power and popularity through many social and political aspirations of key Rasta individuals. Publisher, publicist and organizer Marcus Garvey, who is regarded as a prophet by many members of the Rasta faith, used his spiritual, economic, cultural and political Pan-African vision to inspire a new world view within the group. Marcus Garvey’s visit to Guyana in October 1937 was a defining moment in the establishment of “Rasta prophecy” in Guyana. He had declared years earlier…“Look to Africa where a Black King will be crowned…that will be the time of African redemption!”
Pan-Africanist revolutionary, Guyanese scholar and renowned historian Dr. Walter Rodney also had a seminal impact on the awareness and acceptance of Rastafari philosophy, not only in Africa, Guyana and Jamaica, but the rest of the world through one of his publications – “Groundings with My Brethren”. In 1968, Jamaica’s Prime Minister – Hugh Shearer banned Walter Rodney from entering Jamaica…and Brother Walter’s militant conscious Afrocentric advocacy brought more focus on Rastafari here in Guyana. When Walter Rodney of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) and Forbes Burnham got into conflict, several Rasta personalities, including Colin Carto aka “Ras Abyssinian”, were involved in the struggle as members of the WPA. This caused some members of the budding Rasta community to be viewed with suspicion by the PNC-government and endured persecutions from the police. 
Along with the reggae explosion of the 1970s, Rastafari’s acceptance in Guyana also began after Bob Marley’s music became more popular, especially his album “Natty Dread” and the song “Jah Lives” (after the mystic of Emperor Haile Selassie 1 from the throne) in the mid-70s. This sparked the fire that lit the consciousness of Rastafari in the hearts of many young Guyanese. The visit to these shores by Third World around 1977 at the newly-constructed National Sports Hall helped cement the Rasta message to aspiring Guyanese dreadlocks.
Before that, there was the visit to Guyana by Count Ossie and the Royal Sons of Negus to Carifesta in 1972 along with cultural troupes from the Caribbean, especially Jamaica that brought the message home. Indeed, without a doubt the music of Dennis Brown, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Burning Spear, Culture, Toots & the Maytals, Jacob “Killer” Miller and other such roots, rock, reggae bands helped to spread the message of Rastafari in Guyana. 
Then, there were also pioneering brethren like Big Dread Palla, Big Beard on 110 Street (Robb and Wellington by the old Metropole), Ital Archie, Zion, Brian Van Rossum, Sheriff, Champ, the dreaded version Alpha Crew from Laluni Street, Queenstown (including Cooley I…an early proponent of the use of raw food, Peta Pop and Renny who now has his coconut water shop on Orange Walk near Bourda Market). 
But there was the original loving “King Alpha” Crew from Third and Light Streets, Alberttown (including craftsmen Brian Van Rossum, Ras Marcus, Nya Keith, King David, Judah Star Bongo Tony, Rubber and Pat) who helped establish the presence of dreadlocked Rastaman, long before even Guyana's "father of the nation" – L.F.S. Burnham traveled to Ethiopia in the early 70s…before the first Carifesta to meet with HIM Emperor Haile Selassie 1.
His Imperial Majesty advised the Guyanese leader on aspects of visionary governance that led President Burnham to proclaim the “Feed, Clothe and House” (FCH) program. This also led to President Burnham being sympathetic to the people’s movement of Rastafari. The revolutionary-minded leader granted the Rastafari community large tracts of land at North Fork in the hinterland…even providing transportation and rations. But the subsequent attempt at large-scale farming and setting up a community ended in tragic failure with much greed, dissension, divisiveness and death among the brethren. Among those who were part of that failed venture were Big Beard, British, Stone Man and Lepke, among others.
But the “black heart” Guyanese head of State did not despair and granted land in Georgetown to the Rasta community…thus “Rasville’ was created in South Ruimveldt near the aptly named “Roxanne Burnham” Gardens. The Rasville community-building initiative was spearheaded by Ras Lepke, with Ras Polo and Ras Chris Man being prominently involved, along with others – dread and baldhead alike!
In 1978 – the same year “Burnham legalized obeah”, the first Rasta Man to get “12 months in jail” for the possession of marijuana! He was Ras Nobriega aka “Nobby” or “Yellowman”/”Tarata” who was a Ras since 1975. He appeared in front of Magistrate Fung-Kee-Fung. The previous year – 1977, Nobby, Palla Jones, Donald aka “Castle” from Thomas Street, South Cummingsburg held the first Rasta musical stage show at the National Park. According to Nobby, “37 police vehicles with police men showed up and proceeded to beat and brutalize everybody present! Injured Rases included Nan, Marcus and Obadiah (who is still mad resulting from the beating he got back then)!
But it was Alfred Park aka “Jah Fred”/ “Dread Steve”, along with Brother Lyken aka “Jah Lion” (who had remigrated from the USA to Guyana in 1979/80 bringing “Earthquake’ sound system and the “Black Symbolic” Band) and established a cultural hot spot called “Top Ranking”, a veritable Rasta community centre and music studio next to the South Ruimveldt Plaza, who really led the way in rising up an artistic and musical renaissance in Guyana. 
The “Reggae Fever” musical showcase in June 1981 promoted by “Jah Fred” aka “Dread Steve”,  “Jah Lion”, Andrew “Andy” Cole, Ras Leon with Jah Peter and Jah Bunny – two other remigrants from the  USA,  saw the National Park being packed to capacity to enjoy the first local stage show with just Rastafarian artists from Guyana. It was a watershed moment and sealed the presence of Rasta in Guyana! Two more “Reggae Fever” showcases were held in 1982 and 1987, with massive participation.
At that time too, in June 1981, Ras Leon Saul had established the first Rasta cultural centre in Regent Street (between Light and Albert formerly the “Office”) called the “Lion’s Den” Cultural Lounge, along with a cultural group called the Black Arts Dramatists (BAD) company. The best ital puri used to be sold there, made by Ras Chris Man, Ras Natty and Blue, among others. It was in the middle of restrictions of food imports, including flour. But I and I used to get flour…and nuff herb!
Other Rases involved at that time in 1981 in the spread of Rastafari way of life, operating out of the “Lion’s Den Cultural Lounge” on Regent Street, included Ras Linden McPherson aka “Playtime”, former teacher Ras Junior, Ras Clyde Thierens and Mark Britton aka “Ras Majesty” (both from QC), Family Teach, Ras Chris Man (the ital puri specialist) from Rasville, Ras Maurice-I aka Levi Esras from Leopold Street and Ras Natty, who now operates an ital stop near the “Blacka” in North Ruimveldt. 
Moreso, even before that first “Reggae Fever” in 1981, Ras Leon Saul, in 1980, had mesmerized the society with his six-month hit radio serial on the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) – “For Better…For Worse”, that culminated with eight sold out shows at the National Cultural Centre from May 28, 1981. 
“For Better…For Worse” involved several Rasta artists including Family Teach, Ras Clyde Thierens, Ras George, Ras Nya and Ras Paul, along with many of present-day top thespians such as Henry Rodney, Godfrey Naughton, Margaret Lawrence, Ingrid Richards-Fung,  Kwesi Oginga and Hector Stoute, among others.  
This highly-successful theatrical stage presentation was the first such as a private, commercial production at the National Cultural Centre and opened the door to the “Link Show” by Ron Robinson and Gem Madhoo in October 1981, and many other stage productions over the years. 
Just a bit earlier, after the transition of Brother Bob Marley on May 11, 1981- well-known journalist and political activist - Ras Ronald Waddell, had penned an article in the Chronicle newspaper on Sunday, May 17, 1981…“the Guyana Rastafarians may accept wage employment (though only until they can set up their own thing); work with other Rastafarians in commerce, art & craft manufacture or agriculture; or refuse all work. Those who refuse all work may be termed “purists”, so far as their rejection of society’s norms and values, means and ends appear to be total.”
Fast forward…by 2015, Guyanese Rastafarians had evolved from being separate from Babylon and being politically neutral, non-partisan and divorced from the everyday machinations of the State…to being integrally involved in the political life of Guyana. This was evidenced by voting patterns and even the establishing of its own political representation through the Healing the Nation Theocracy Party (HTNTP), with Alfred Park as presidential candidate and Ras Leon Saul as prime ministerial candidate.
This development, it must be noted, came after then President of Guyana Burnham stated in 1985 at a rally in the National Park that, "killing I is a waste, another Rasta gon tek I place...you can't kill a people's movement!" At that time, Comrade Burnham’s back was against the wall as he was leading the country through economic turmoil and international political machinations because of his “nationalization” policy and practice. It was the dread Rasta community who supported Burnham in those dark days because the Spartan nature of the economy and the restriction of imports did not bother the “dread” way of life as much as it did the “baldheads”.
In August 1985, after Burnham’s “sacrificial” death at the “acaldama” or “slaughter house” that the Georgetown Hospital had become, President Desmond Hoyte selected a young, dreadlocked Rastafarian singer from the then Youth Division – Ras Ikene Trotman to be on his party ticket later that year. This resulted in him being elected as the first Rasta Member of Parliament (MP) in the administration of the People’s National Congress (PNC) government!
Ras Trotman was escorted to the opening of Parliament by Ras Camo Williams (in his sleek Mercedes-benz saloon) accompanied by Ras Lando Judah and Ras Leon Saul. But, unfortunately, that dread representation was short-lived, as Ras Trotman was compromised when several months later, on his first trip to the USA, he was busted with a package of cocaine! 
The fall-out that followed is still being felt to this day, as an embarrassed President Hoyte reacted angrily against the Rastafari community by enacting drastic, draconian narcotics legislation against the possession, trafficking and use of marijuana. Police men were busy cutting off Rasta man locks and imprisoning I and I. Even back then, there were a lot of extra-judicial killings of many dreadlocks and Rastafarians!
This resulted in the worst pogrom, persecution, purge and prosecution inflicted on Rastas with arbitrary searches, mandatory detentions, imprisonment and even death! Just one ganja seed found on your person or premises resulted in jail time! But, it was President Janet Jagan who, in 1997/98, alleviated the situation somewhat by bringing in legislation that allowed for the possession of at least 5 grams of marijuana for personal use, and upon being found in certain excess being hit with a fine and doing community service instead of jail time. 
Thus, again it must be emphasized, the involvement of the Rastafarian community in the politics of Guyana came to bear in the 2015 General and Regional Elections, with the setting up of Healing the Nation Theocracy Party (HTNTP) expressly to campaign for the “LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA”, after being registered with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on January 30, 2015. Along with Chairman Alfred Park and General Secretary – Ras Leon Saul, the executive also comprises Ras Neville Duncan as the treasurer, with Roy Small aka “Ras Carbon” as Vice-Chairman, plus committee members Ras Kent Hollingsworth, Ras Joel Anderson, Ras Daweed, Sister Felicia Nicholson and Ras Bob Haynes.
This period of political involvement also saw the participation of the Theocracy House of Nyahbinghi led by Binghi Trogs and Sister Esther, the Twelve Tribes of Israel led by Brother Reuben and the Guyana Rastafari Council led by its President Ras Simeon, General Secretary Ras Ian and Vice-President Sister Tekla among others, in denouncing HTNTP popularly being referred to as the “Rasta Party”, as not being true representatives of the Rastafarian community! HTNTP’s main platform in its campaign was the “Eradication of poverty” and the “legalization of marijuana”! HTNTP only contested in Region 4 and gained 294 votes. But, more importantly, HTNTP threw its support behind the Coalition of APNU+AFC!
Instead of the Rasta community holding “one head” to push its agenda and demands, the Guyanese society saw this unholy dreadlocked “troika” sitting in council with the oppressive People’s Progressive Party/Civic administration, and seemingly endorsing that corrupt party, after they had consultations with the Coalition - A Partnership For National Unity (APNU) and Alliance For Change (AFC) on matters that HTNTP was set up to deal with…issues such as the “Eradication of Poverty”, “Legalization of Marijuana”, “Equal Rights & Justice” and “promoting righteous government”.
The words of writer Ruel Johnson could be applied to some dreads, “A lot of these self-professed 'revolutionaries' in Guyana need to grab a dictionary and see the difference between 'revolution' and 'collusion'. If your rhetoric is about upsetting the order but your actions seek to provide cover for the system, you are a collaborator not an agent of change. And if you’re shouting “Haile Selassie!” while collecting coins from Babylon, you’re not a Rasta, just a rascal or even a rasshole!”  
Rastafari political representation in 2015 was preceded by a variety of activities throughout the years to organize, centralize and mobilize the budding Rasta community. Ras Benji Chisel from Albouystown in South Georgetown produced a weekend live–in display titled “Life In Reality” – aimed at showing off Rastafari way of life in St. Phillip’s Green, Georgetown from December 26 to 28, 1982. A Rasta Cultural Expo was also held in July/August 1985 on the Merriman’s Mall, organized by Ras Camo of Roots & Culture along with Ras Leon Saul, Ras Joseph, Ras Blackie, Ras Nunky, Ras Lando Judah and others.
Also in 1985, Ras Michael (Jeune) and other Rastas like Ras Dollo, Ras Swifty, Ras Playtime (Linden McPherson) Ras Maurice-I and others formed the first GUYANA RASTAFARI COUNCIL. Ras Leon Saul, was the Co-ordinating Elder of the Council, until Ras Leon had to leave Guyana for Canada in August 1986 to protect his life and safeguard his freedom. All the cost of activities I and I engaged in at the early GRC were borne out of the pockets of Ras Michael and Rastas like Ras Swifty, Ras Dollo and Ras Leon.
In the words of Ras Michael, “Very Briefly the Guyana Rastafari Council came into being the very year that signaled the passing of Guyana's first Executive President Forbes Burnham. It was found to be a necessary organization, since Rasta had a civic and social responsibility to the community. It was also necessitated by the need to educate and promote Rastafari in business, etc. 

“You must know that Rasta is its own government. I and I, therefore, had programs set to run and publish a newspaper. Again, all our efforts were funded internally by ourselves. I and I secured land for a culture centre and other parcels for development by individuals. However there was a band of brethren who was scheming to gain monetary advantages, some through political alignments. 

“Therefore it became a continuous distraction to continually humble their futile attempts and still concentrate on the big picture. There are always wolves in sheep clothing and this is the only time I have ever mentioned this in public domain but it is imperative to expose all weakness. I man return will be dread if fools get in the way. As Rastafari, I and I care not about political friendships for monetary gain. I personally took self-support for brothers in jail. That was a part of the general program.

“That Council fell apart when I hurriedly left Guyana for exile in Babylon (USA). There has been no account made to I man of what caused the organization to slide into decline. However, for some time, while it seemed active under other personnel, some seeming politically bad moves followed and still continue to follow. You must remember…WOLVES ARE STILL AMONG THE SHEEP!” stated Ras Michael.

The TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL was established at its headquarters in Victoria Village in 1986, under the overseer Ras Reuben (Percy Bristol) who had re-migrated from the USA. The Twelve Tribes of Israel immediately attracted a large secular following. Its functions have been regular over the years, though there has been a decline in membership. 

The THEOCRACY ORDER OF THE NYAHBINGHI was officially introduced to Guyana in 1997 with the visit of the Nyahbinghi elders from Jamaica led by Ras Bonarges and the Sons of Thunder. A high-powered Rasta delegation went to the Guyana Parliament in 1997, led by Nyahbinghi elders including Ras Bonarges, to meet with Prime Minister Sam Hinds to discuss the state of Rastafari in Guyana and the use of marijuana. 

Ganja was openly burnt in the compound of the National Assembly at Parliament Building…under the nose of the Prime Minister! Again, in the early days, many flocked to the nyahbinghi groundations; but within recent times, there has been some amount of apathy, and non-participation because of personality conflicts, conflicting doctrines plus a general lack of consciousness and brotherly/sisterly love. 

"...And herein the Order of the Nyahbinghi is an Ivine Priestly Order. It was originated and originally used by Melchizedek the High Priest and King of Righteousness; and was resurgent in these ages by the Rastafari brethren who are the blessed children of the King of Righteousness. 
“The Theocracy Order of the Nyahbinghi carries the instrument of Justice and Judgement! The Judgement of the Theocracy Order of the Nyahbinghi is to liquidate and terminate all evil conception. The justice thereof for the just is to guide and call one and ones ways and steps in the road which leads to the city of ever-living life. The Justice also for the unjust is: ‘Death to White and Black downpressors’!

"And herein, the Theocracy Reign is a Righteous Government, and administered through divine principles. All its instruments of authority are in Holiness. The Theocracy Reign does not affiliate with the government and churches of this world. The Theocracy Reign is affiliated with an Order - the Theocracy Order of the Nyahbinghi, which is the Order of Melchizedek. For this man Melchizedek is without beginning of days nor ending of life. He abideth a High Priest forever. Even so, I and I, His sons and daughters, live within the principles of ever-living life.” 
The present GUYANA RASTAFARI COUNCIL (GRC), legally registered under the Friendly Societies Act with registration number 786, was resuscitated by Ras Maurice-I aka Levi Esras on July 30, 1999 and headquartered at 129, Orange Walk, Bourda in Georgetown. Since that time, the GRC has been striving to obtain enough land from the government to involve its members in agriculture and setting up its own community. There has been no success, so far, in the acquisition of land! 

In 2004, the GRC came onto the national scene by participating in the two-year “national social cohesion program”, initiated by the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC), in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Participation by members of the GRC saw them being trained in “conflict resolution” and having the opportunity in 2006, at the culmination of program with the first-ever national multi-stakeholder forum, to present before the representatives of the nation, issues that were affecting the Rastafari community.

A high point of the stewardship of the GRC under Rases such as Ras Abdalla, Ras Simeon, Ras Ian, Ras Supa Lion, Sister Teckla and Ras Jusly, among others, was the hosting of the July 2005 10th Regional Rastafari Conference coordinated by the Caribbean Rastafari Organisation (CRO) headed by Ras Frank-I from Antigua & Barbuda. It was held at the President’s College at Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara, under the theme “Historical Awareness, Spiritual Upliftment and Economic Development for the Rastafari Nation”.

To this initiative, the then PPP/C government of Guyana contributed G$3.2 million! Along with the local Rasta community, there were 20 representatives from within the Caribbean community, Europe and the USA who attended the watershed conference to discuss issues pertinent to “Rasta collective survival and continued integration into society”. 

In 2006, the GRC initiated the first-ever “Rastafari Meeting of Mansions (Denominations)”. This was held at the St. George’s School on Church Street. In 2007, the GRC (representing the Rastafari faith) was invited by UNAIDS to participate, alongside the other four major religious groups – Christian, Hindu, Muslim and Bahai, in the national launch of the “World Aids Campaign” – “Take the Lead”. The GRC was invited by the Minister of Health to formally come on the National HIV program.

This resulted in the first-ever “National Rastafari Health Conference held at Splashmins Resort on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway in 2008, under the theme – “Knowledge is the Health of the Flesh…but Ignorance is the Sickness Thereof”. As a result of these two activities, the Guyana National Faith and HIV Coalition was established – comprising of the five main faiths of Guyana (inclusive of Rastafari)! The year 2008 also saw the GRC, on behalf of the Rastafari community, and in consort with the other representatives of the African-Guyanese community through the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC), present to the National Assembly of Guyana a list of issues that needed to be immediately addressed in order to help foster better relations between the Rastafari community and the other ethnic groups. 

Among these issues was the call for the official recognition, representation and respect for the Rastafari community and its representatives; a review of the Narcotics (Drug) Act that at present discriminates against the Rastafari community’s use of marijuana as its “religious sacrament” (akin to the Christian community’s communion); and also for the establishment of a “Rastafari Development Fund”, as a form of “reparations” to help bring relief and elevate the community to be on par economically with the other ethnic groups.

As a result of this, the Guyana Rastafari Council was recognized by the former PPP/C government as the entity to be consulted on the establishment of the various rights commissions. Several members of the GRC were selected to be on such commissions, including former Vice-President of the GRC Sister Nicole Cole who was a Commissioner on the Women and Gender Equality Commission and the Rights of the Child Commission. The present President of the GRC – Ras Simeon was a Commissioner on the Non-Communicable Disease and Disability Commission and is a “Child Abuse” TV spokesperson.

Also in 2008, the GRC – under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, hosted the Rastafari Day celebrations at Carifesta 10 in the GFC ground. All in all, the GRC was able to position itself and be represented on the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC), be part of the Inter-religious Organization (IRO) and generally make the State accept Rastafari as a faith-based community!

Another watershed moment for the Guyana Rastafari Council, under the then presidency of Ras Leon Saul, was giving leadership in January 2011 to the commemoration of the International Year for People of African Descent (IYPAD), in the face of boycotts by the People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R), the African Cultural Development Association (ACDA), the All African People’s Organization, among other Black groups. Ras Leon Saul, was selected to address the opening ceremony at which President Jagdeo was the featured speaker at the International Convention Centre, Lilliendaal. There, he publicly urged the President of Guyana to consider the “legalization of ganja”!

Guyana has more than 20,000 dreadlocked Rastafarians, and many more adherents to “Jah” without dreads. About 80% are unemployed within the formal employment sector. Some 20% own their businesses and work in the construction industry, 30% are farmers, 10% are miners; 10% are itinerant vendors (including the sale of ital/vegetarian food) and 10% are unemployed.
Because of I and I unique way of life and peculiar characteristics in appearance, especially the wearing of dreadlocks, the eating of ital and other natural foods, the sporting of the red, yellow and green colors and certain sacramental practices…society in general empathizes with the “roots & culture”, but yet still circumvents the individual Rastafarian presence and collective contributions, by not acknowledging I and I. This is because of the insidious effect of marginalization, and even criminalization, through imprisonment for the use of I and I sacrament – marijuana!
In order for Rastafarians to insert I and I presence into the formal economic structure, I and I have to use initiative in creating plantation agriculture, large scale logging, innovative mining, specialized cottage industry development while carving out I and I own creative economic path to self-sufficiency! 
In terms of self-sufficiency, zealous Rastas like Benji Chisel, Stone Face, Ras Issachar, Judah Star and Ras Napkin even made clothes from jute bags. Some were involved in planting organic crops, including ganja in places such as Linden, Loo Creek and Swan up the Demerara River and De Veldt and Sand Hills up the Berbice River, plus Canje Creek, up the Abary, the Mahaicony and Mahaica creeks! Along with the cultivation of the holy herb, a variety of doctrines abounded…from not eating vine food to the necessity of physical circumcision - and whether one must have locks to be Rasta.
Some dreadlocks, including deviant members of the infamous and feared Alpha gang from Queenstown, who introduced the “I-concept”, indulged in petty theft at municipal markets. Other ignorant dreads were involved in silly actions at the zoo such as the petting of lions, or lying down on the road in front of oncoming vehicles; while the more conscious bredren resorted to heading for the hills or becoming engaged in itinerant trading.
But there were some early bredren who sought to shine a different intellectual light of Rastafari in the 70s.They included actor Ras Dallas Rogers aka Zaba, multi-talented musicians Keith Paul aka “Ras Iauwata” and his brother – Terrence “Chico” Paul aka “Ras Xola, exceptional singers Mark Bryan, Family Teach, versatile musicians I-Roots and his brother “Flour”…along with Ras Sangie kept the fire blazing with the music of the “Congo Bongo” Band. They helped pave the way for “Revelation Band” and then there was Ras Ewart aka “Jah Storm” and his sound system around 1989 preceding the other Ras Como and his protégés, who would later emerge as the “First Born” singing group after the turn of the century.
But before that, there were national soccer players Mark Britton aka “Ras Majesty” and Gordon “Ultimate Warrior” Braithwaite (all from Queen’s College), Ras Terry and Natty Wiltshire who broke barriers and were in the vanguard of Rasta involvement in soccer. There were some other conscious Rases from New Amsterdam, Berbice such as Ras Bongo Charlie, Jah Mike in Bartica and Carlos McFarlane from Kwakwani. Veteran craftsmen/sculptors Montgomery Griffith aka Ras Tanna Man and his brother Bakes Man were inspirations to many youth man in Stanleytown (Trench Town), along with Ras Trotty, Ras Skinner, Ras Issachar aka “Isso”, Mark-I, Michael Hamilton aka “Ras Zoakes”, Judah and Sister Julieanna, along with Ras Desmond Patterson aka “Joe Bust Up”. 
In Georgetown, Ras Benji Chisel - who had organized the first Rasta expo in December 1980 at St. Phillip’s Green, started the mobile ital to the point of now being a fixture in front of Demico House dispensing ital to all and sundry. Chisel was a pioneer in advocating, along with Ras Trotty, the circumsion rites to be deemed a “true Rastaman”! 
Ras Camo Williams had established the Roots & Culture organization, along with a permanent exhibition of art works – paintings, leathercraft and sculpture, with leathercraft expert Ras Marcus at the South Ruimveldt Plaza. Ras Lando Judah was a pioneer in “culture” importation from Jamaica and brought the orthodox philosophy of Rastafari. I man, Ras Leon, knotted up and came to manifest consciousness through the teachings of Ras Camo and Ras Lando on the latter’s back step in Hunter Street, Albouystown in October 1980…followed up by presence at many nyahbinghi groundations in Lando’s yard. 
The Lama Canal, known as the “Blacka” played a very important role in the lives of many Rastas.  Regular outings to that mystical stream of water resulted in many knotting up and grooming their copious knots in that herbal mix as they sought to come to grips with the varying teachings, philosophies and doctrines of Rastafari swirling around at that time in Guyana.
Meanwhile, in the Tiger Bay ghetto in North Georgetown, there was Big Man – who, though he wasn’t dreadlocked, was undoubtedly a Rasta elder along with Big Daddy, Calvin Charles aka “Soup”, Colin Charles aka “Killa”, and their brother Derek Charles aka “Shortman” (Kingman of Sister Petal), Gordon aka “Big G” , Brother and also Ras Greenie. Present often in the Tiger Bay ghetto was Ras Carto aka “Abyssinnian” who was part of the Movement Against Oppression (MAO) and the Working People’s Alliance (WPA). 
The development of tabernacles in Wisroc and Tucber was undertaken, after one was burnt down in Festival City/South Ruimveldt in Georgetown. The cutting off of locks and general persecution, including extra-judicial killings, were still a regular feature. The burning down of the Tabernacle in south Georgetown (Festival City area) by the Mayor and City Council in the 90s was a low-point in the development of the Rastafari community. 
This resulted in the focus of Rastafari worship through the “nyahbinghi groundation” being shifted to Linden at Wisroc (under the eldership of Ras Ida and Sister Esther, Binghi Trogs, Ras Addis Asher and other ancients), and also Tucber in New Amsterdam (with the help of Congo Thom and other brethren) where Tabernacles have been erected. On the mid-Corentyne there is Congo Town, spearheaded by Ras Fire Lion. Other notable settlements of Rastas include Mahdia and Kwakwani. 
More notable personalities who have been in the forefront of Rastafari expressions and service to the community include Ras Iauwata and Ras Xola, who in the early 80s returned home from Canada to help introduce the practice of “nyahbinghi” drumming, chanting, worship and even the cooking of ital in a “yaba”. There is still Zee Napthali, of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, who sells ital at D’Urban and George Street in Georgetown; Nature Man who has been an ital dispensing fixture at Robb and Alexander Streets in Georgetown.
Without a doubt, Ras Ivelaw James aka “Brooks Man” and his New Amsterdam-based roots & culture performance group – CONGO NYA, incubated on the Berbice River, made an indelible mark on Guyanese cultural society with the presence of the group. This pioneering family of Rastas ended up traveling to Suriname, French Guiana and Brazil to spread the unique sound of Guyanese roots drumming and show off the culture of Africa as founded in Berbice. Many were the bredren from all over Guyana who trekked to Pilot Street, New Amsterdam and the Berbice River in the early 80s to ground with their Congo Nya bredren. These included Ras Cappy, Baseman and Hicksman…and countless others! 
Performance Poet Ras Aaron carried the Rasta cultural banner to Barbados and was an active community organizer on the East Coast, Demerara since in the 80s. On the West Bank of Demerara – a bona fide Rasta ancient from Jamaica – Brother Gladstone aka “Gladdy” of the Twelve Tribes of Israel has lived in relative seclusion on the West Bank, Demerara after migrating from Jamaica…since the late 60s and, like many other Rastas – male and female, simply opted out of “Babylon system” involvement.
The presence and role of the Guyanese Rasta woman are relatively obscure and unsung refrains – they are conscious, sacrificing, persecuted, ridiculed, full of strength and resilience with a quiet presence. These resourceful women have been the foundation rock of the Guyana Rastafari community…taking care of, nurturing the Rasta youth and the kingman alike. There are Sistrens such as Nyahbinghi Queen Sister Petal of “Roots Daughters” fame, along with Sister Norma, Nyabinghi Queen Sister Mercy, Queen Debbie Rogers – a “fronto” stalwart at the Staborek Market, Queen Sister Pokin, Sister Lucky, Nyahbinghi Queen Sister Esther Giddings, Sister Tekla and Queen Isis from the GRC Orange Walk HQ, who have all made their mark. 
Other sistrens have also contributed from Stanleytown (Trenchtown) New Amsterdam such as Nyahbinghi Queen Sister Marcia and Queen Sister Donna Makeda – founder and choreographer of “Burning Flames” Dance Group, who later has become an award-winning reggae artist and publisher in Toronto, Canada.  These sistren are all in the mold of Empress Menen – wife of Emperor Haile Selassie 1. She was crowned alongside the Emperor on November 2, 1930…the first time this had occurred.
The emphasis placed on the coronation of Haile Selassie I was important in colonies such as Jamaica and British Guiana, where the British monarchy was the supreme symbol of power. In the UNIA, Garvey always emphasized a counter-hegemonic perspective against European domination and exploitation of Africa. Consistent with this approach, he had written and produced a play, in June 1930, titled The Coronation of an African King, which had scenes set in several African, European, and West Indian capitals. The play was also a dramatic portrayal of the UNIA's work and the attempts by the U.S. and European governments to stem the tide of the Garvey movement.
Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association in Jamaica in 1914. It took off in the United States in the period after World War I and became the largest Pan-African movement of the early 20th century. The Garvey movement saw its heyday in the early 1920s, but by the late 1920s and early 1930s it was already in decline. Nonetheless, Garvey and the leaders of the UNIA represented early 20th-century Black Nationalist leadership that mobilized the masses around a program of cultural, economic, and political modernity.
That Rastafari and Garveyism share many similarities is well known among their adherents, as well as among scholars who do research on these movements. Both movements are Afrocentric and unapologetically defend the beauty and dignity of Africa and people of African ancestry. While Garvey emphasized Africa's social and political redemption, Rastas include in that agenda a spiritual dimension, which they often clothe in Judeo-Christian thought and African concepts.  
Both Garveyism and Rastafari show great respect for the Bible and attempt to distance themselves from biased, Eurocentric interpretations of Scripture that contribute to the oppression of black people. Ken Post, whose work on Rastafari is well known, has stressed the importance of the Bible in Jamaican culture and Rastafari, pointing out that "the religious factor which Jamaicans of all classes had in common was the King James Version of the Holy Bible.  For the majority of members of the lower and many of the intermediate classes, the contents of this book represented the essential truth. People were accustomed to search the Bible for answers to their problems." This was the same for Guianese at that time.
His love for and frequent citations of passages from the Bible notwithstanding, Garvey was less interested in giving a theological or religious interpretation to his Afrocentric political ideology…than the Rastafarians have shown themselves to be. Garvey and the Rastafarians, however, both read the Bible with the knowledge that Africa and Africans had been a part of that recorded experience and wisdom - it is not a book that is alien to Black people.  
The most well-known Marcus Garvey scholar in the United States, Robert Hill, has argued that the Holy Piby and the Royal Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy are the two books that provide "the actual interpretative basis of Rastafari ideology."  
These were introduced into Jamaica between 1925 and 1927. Along with the Bible and the oral traditions, they are among a variety of sources that have helped to shape Rastafarian beliefs. Other scholars have examined the history of Rastafari in this context. They have explored its origins in the peasantry. They have also emphasized the impact of traditional Afro-Jamaican religions, such as Revivalism and Kumina (in Guiana that would be Akomfo), on the evolution of Rastafari. Maureen Warner-Lewis, an authority on Caribbean culture, has pointed to the wide range of African continuities in the Rastafarian belief system.
Historically, Garveyism and Rastafari were both started by a person who was unknown and rather insignificant, at first, and both movements were later exported from Jamaica to other countries, including British Guiana, under the harsh economic and political conditions of the early 20th century. Whereas Garveyism first surfaced in Jamaica during World War I, Rastafari came out of the depression years of the 1930s, which gave birth to the 1938 labor rebellion. As in Garveyism, the Guyanese roots of Rastafari are to be found in the varied cultural, economic, and political struggles of the Black African Guyanese people in the post emancipation years after 1838…particularly the “village movement” – a form of African communalism.
Both movements are committed to an ideology of nationalism that supports political and economic independence for Blacks. That is, they both demonstrate a strong anti-colonial stance and show interest in national independence, although they have very different interpretations of what a Black independent nation should be.
Both movements gained their popularity abroad, before they were accepted at home by the Guyanese lower class and the people in the “Ghetto”. There has not been much support from the middle class, from whom I and I still receive much hostility.
Rastafarian intellectuals construct a lineage going back beyond the plantation to Ethiopia, and many Rastafarian elders emphasize individual spiritual vision and personal conviction to account for the origins of their conversion. Many versions of the 1930s emergence of Rastafari are proffered other than those that have become standard in scholarly works. However, certain basic facts remain undisputed…one them being that several of Garvey's followers were involved in the founding of Rastafari. That is now common knowledge.  
Leonard Howell, acknowledged as a father of Rastafari and the founder of Pinnacle community in Jamaica, for example, traveled paths similar to Garvey and was a known Garveyite and Africanist. Coming from a poor rural background, Howell joined the thousands of Jamaicans who migrated to Panama and then to the United States, where he worked with the United States Army as a cook and was said to have had a business in New York. Garvey did not work with the army but made Harlem, New York, his headquarters. Hill notes that Howell's return to Jamaica "coincided with the period of marked upsurge in religious revivalism that began during 1930-31."
Although the Garveyite secular-religious interpretation of the coronation of Ras Tafari and the Rastafarian religious view of that event both originated from a similar Africa-centered tradition, they are not identical. Garvey saw in Selassie an African head of State, and someone who could be a major player in the Pan-African Black Nationalist movement; but the Rastafarian interpretation of the Emperor recognized Divinity!  
To the Rastafarian way of thinking, no contradiction exists between the secular and the religious elements in Garvey's thinking, nor in his emphases regarding the Emperor's coronation. They interpret the whole of Garvey's thoughts from a theocratic point of view. In contrast, Garvey privileged a secular approach, with a preference for modernity over theocracy. So when Garvey later criticized Emperor Haile Selassie 1 for his conduct in Ethiopia's war with Italy, he saw the Emperor as a ruler, not as God.  
Rastafarians, by contrast, saw God in the Emperor. Haile Selassie is God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The coronation, therefore, inspired the emergence of the Rastafari Movement in ways that Garvey never envisioned. Rastas fused ancient Hebrew prophecy, so common in Garvey's speeches, with Africanist ideas and gave rise to the most influential cultural and spiritual current to have emerged in the Caribbean in the 20th century!
In Guyana, the differences between the Garveyites and the Rastafarians involve not only Garvey's ideological stance but also the social character of the movement he led and the religious outlook of the early Rastafarians. The early Rastas were drawn predominantly from the African Guyanese underclass, and the religious character and cultural and social practices of early Rastafari are characteristic of the Guyanese peasantry who were most attracted to a Black message of redemption. But in Guyana, the land of six races, Rastafari is embraced by all six, to create that spiritual “seventh” race.
Another Garveyite associated with the early Rastafarians is Robert Hinds, a follower of Alexander Bedward who was among those arrested on Bedward's 1921 march against oppression and his call for spiritual reform. Professor Barry Chevannes calls Hinds "the most successful of all early Rastafari, in terms of membership.”
Hinds led an organization of over 800 members on roll, and turnout at functions of a couple hundred." Hinds's headquarters was called the “King of Kings Mission”, and "it was organized along the lines of a Revival group." Again, the connection between Bedwardism, revivalism, and early Rastafari is patently clear. Also, like both Bedward and Garvey, Hinds had the ability to attract a large following.
The 1935 Italian war against Ethiopia gave the budding Rastafari Movement one of its most important impulses. Not only were Rastafarians and Garveyites protesting publicly in Kingston, but the wider black community, including British Guiana, was also opposed to Italy's aggression. Many homes in British Guiana at that time had pictures of Emperor Haile Selassie 1 on his big white horse, or sitting regally on His Throne…the “Throne of David”.
Although the Garveyites and the early Rastafarians were minority groups in Jamaica and Guyana in the 1930s, they were at the forefront of the challenge to Jamaica's and British Guiana’s colonial mentality. Rastafari therefore represents an important dimension of popular resistance to British colonialism, the plantation system, as well as the authority of British-oriented mulatto and Black middle-class political and social values. This still holds true today.   
However, to frame the oppositionist posture of Rastafari in relation to the more privileged classes is to see it conveniently in a one-sided way, when, in fact, it has challenged the values not only of the privileged but also of the underprivileged who accept colonial values. The Rastafarian's "chanting down Babylon" is, therefore, directed at all segments of the Jamaican and Guyanese society that cradle and foster the beliefs that sustain Black subordination.
Garveyism was broader than Rastafari in social appeal and included a strong element of middle-class Blacks of that era, though it also attracted a strong working-class and rural following. By contrast, Rastafari is definitely rooted in the lower socio-economic classes. It was a movement among the Jamaican poor, unmediated. The infusion of the middle class into Rastafari came with Black Power in the 1960s. In this regard, the theme of nationhood articulated by Garvey and other nationalists came into conflict with the theme of repatriation that was strongly held by Rastafarians.
The imperative of repatriation among Rastafarians reflected trends all over the Americas, as witnessed in both the mythic and the physical return of Brazilian and Cuban Blacks to West Africa in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as in the repatriationist efforts in the United States during the same period.   
Another important difference between Garvey and Rastafarians lies in their views on ganja, which is used ritually as a “sacrament”, medicinally and socially by Rastafarians. This position brought Garvey into conflict with those who advocated and practiced the ritual, sacramental use of ganja, as well as with those who traded in it. (Jamaica had several herbalists who sold many herbs for various maladies and not as drug dealers.)  
But while Garveyism inspired the prophetic and Ethiopianist vision of the Rastafarians, who hail Garvey as a great hero and prophet of Rastafari, the Jamaican Pan-Africanist stood in strong opposition to the Rastas' fundamental beliefs and practices. He saw their rituals and livity as un-Christian and degrading to the true African personality.
Another significant difference between the Rastafari and the Garvey movement is that the latter was institutionalized and centralized through the UNIA, while the Rastafarian movement is not an institutionalized and centralized establishment. Attempts by Rastafarians to centralize the movement have proven dismal failures, although no doubt efforts will continue to be made in that direction. There is no central leadership or hierarchy that makes decisions for the movement, and the various groups exercise a tremendous measure of independence. Perhaps I and I only uniting principle is the knowledge of Selassie-I and Ethiopianism.
On the one hand, Garvey does have the status of a prophet in the Rastafarian worldview, and in some ways, Garveyism has influenced the Rastafarian ideology. Indeed, Garveyism is said to be one of the ideological foundations of the Rastafari religion, a result of the cross-pollination that occurred between the Garvey movement and those who have been identified by scholars as the founders of Rastafari.  
On the other hand, Rastafari was not a product of the Garvey movement. The spread of Garveyism corresponds with Black militancy after World War I - as seen, for example, in the labor movements among the Oil Fields Workers Trades Union, led by Uriah Buzz Butler and Captain Author Cipriani of Trinidad and Tobago - and depended on the success of Garvey in organizing and channeling that radicalism in Jamaica and parts of the United States. The spread of Rastafari outside of Jamaica in the late 20th century had a different vehicle - that of reggae music and the dreadlocks images associated with Bob Marley!
Garveyites and Rastafarians were active in the anti-colonial and labor struggles, but the outcomes of those struggles were determined by other players: the British government; the landed oligarchy, who had been shaken by the events but not defeated; and the political brokers drawn from the middle classes. Political leadership drawn from the black and brown middle classes negotiated Independence from Britain during the 1960s and, in their nation-building efforts, took some elements of Garvey's program but rejected much of his Black assertiveness and pride.   
In this context, from the 1940s to 1960s, Garveyism tended to be equated with Rastafari, since the Rastafarians embraced Garvey as I and I prophet…akin to “John the Baptist”. In the thinking of the Rastafarians, after Garvey's death in 1940, he assumed mythic proportions, second only to Emperor Haile Selassie 1…the returned Christ in His Kingly character. Pressures from the rest of society against Rastafari, in the years leading up and subsequent to political independence, have created closer bonds between Rastafari and Garveyism, while not eroding differences in outlook among their followers.  
Moreover, while Rastafari as a movement has grown and spread internationally, no Garvey movement existed, in an organic sense at the end of the 20th century. But Garvey's ideas and views remain important; and are a point of reference at the popular level as well as in Jamaican state and local politics, due to his status as Jamaica's first national hero! An appropriate question to raise is: What will be the future of Rastafari?  Might it suffer the fate of Garveyism, maintaining a legacy without a movement? Might it become organized into a political force that would cause it to lose its cultural dynamics and forget its roots and ethos? 
Perhaps its decentralized and less organized (than Garveyism) nature will prove to be Rastafari's own salvation, including the Guyana Rastafari community’s crucial involvement in the issues of the CARICOM “Reparations Claim”, the commemoration of the International Decade for People of African Descent with its theme of “Recognition, Justice & Development”, and the advocacy for the setting up of a National Marijuana Commission that could eventually lead to decriminalization and full legalization of marijuana in Guyana! This would certainly go a far way in the “healing of the nation”!
May the meditation of I man heart and the words of I mouth be upfully accepted by one and all in the name of Emperor Haile Selassie 1 who lives as a Holy Monk in the mountains of Ethiopia with a new name…that of ABBA QUDUS Nuff! love, brethren and sistren! Selah! JAH RASTAFARI!
Notes: 
(a) Extract from “Sunday Chronicle” newspaper, Sunday, May 17, 1981.
1. Cited in Robert Hill, ed., Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers, vol. 7: November 1927 - August 1940 (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1990), 442.
2. Ibid., 440-41.
3. The quotation from Psalm 68:31 -- "Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God" (KJV) -- was used by Garvey in developing his Pan-African message. See Robert Hill, "Leonard P. Howell and Millenarian Visions in Early Rastafari," Jamaica Journal 16, 1 (1983): 24-39.
4. For a review of The Coronation of an African King, see The Blackman, June 21, 1930, 3.  See also Beverley Hamilton, "Marcus Garvey: Cultural Activist," Jamaica Journal 20, 3 (1987): 21-30, for discussion of Garvey's cultural activities in Jamaica.
5. K.W.J. Post, Arise Ye Starvelings: The Jamaican Labour Rebellion of 1938 and Its Aftermath (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1978), 160.
6. According to Robert Hill, the Holy Piby was written and published by Robert Athlyi Rogers in 1924, in Newark, New Jersey. The Royal Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy was published by the Reverend Fitz Balintine Pettersburgh. See Hill, "Leonard P. Howell," 27.
7. Leonard Howell is said to have plagiarized the Holy Piby in his 1935 text titled The Promised Key.  See Chapter 21 on The Promised Key in this book.
8. Rastafarian writer E.S.P. McPherson argues that Rastafari had pre-Columbian roots in that Ethiopian people came here before the Spaniards. He does not provide any evidence other than the oral tradition of certain Rastafarian elders. See E.S.P. McPherson, Rastafari and Politics -- Sixty Years of a Developing Cultural Ideology: A Sociology of Development Perspective (Kingston: Black International Iyahbinghi Press Production, 1991), 22.
9. On Kumina, see an interesting article by Kenneth Bilby and Elliott Leib, "Kumina, the Howellite Church and the Emergence of Rastafarian Traditional Music in Jamaica, " Jamaica Journal 19, 3 (1986): 22-28.
10. Maureen Warner-Lewis, "African Continuities in the Rastafari Belief System," Caribbean Quarterly 39, 3-4 (1993): 108-23. Garvey, of course, would have had less respect than most Rastas for revivalism and Kumina.
11. Joseph Owens, Dread: The Rastafarians of Jamaica (Kingston: Sangster's Book Stores, 1976), 18-19.
12. Barbara Makeda Lee, Rastafari: The New Creation (London: Jamaica Media Productions, 1982), 14-15.
13. In the 1920s, Garveyites in New York described Howell "as being a 'con-man' but also 'a samfie’ [Obeah] man'" (Hill, "Leonard P. Howell," 30).
14. Cited in Horace Campbell, Rasta and Resistance: From Marcus Garvey to Walter Rodney (London: Hansib Publishing, 1985), 71.
15. For an insightful discussion of the Rastafarian use of the Old Testament, see Dennis Forsythe, Rastafari: For the Healing of the Nation (Kingston: Zaika Publications, 1983); and Post, Arise Ye Starvelings.
16. On the worldwide spread of Rastafari, see Neil Savishinsky, "Transnational Popular Culture and the Global Spread of the Jamaican Rastafarian Movement, " New West Indian Guide 68, 3-4 (1994): 259-81.  See also Chapter 7 by Savishinsky in this anthology.
17. Barry Chevannes, Rastafari: Roots and Ideology (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1994); idem, "Introducing the Native Religions of Jamaica," in Barry Chevannes, ed., Rastafari and Other African-Caribbean Worldviews (The Hague: Macmillan Publishers/Institute of Social Studies, 1995).
18. The Rastafarian Movement developed an urban character with the drift to Kingston in the 1940s-1950s, and only during the 1960s did it gain significant numbers of adherents among the middle class.
19. For more information on Howell and his role in Rastafari, see William David Spencer's commentary on The Promised Key in Chapter 21, below.
20. Hill, "Leonard P. Howell," 32.
21. Chevannes, Rastafari, 127.
22. Editorial, Plain Talk, July 20, 1935.
23. Editorial, Plain Talk, October 26, 1935.
24. Robert Weisboard, "British West Indian Reaction to the Italian-Ethiopian War: An Episode in Pan-Africanism," Caribbean Studies 10, 1 (1970): 35-36.
25.  Ibid.
26. Jamaica Standard, January 14, 1939, 24.
27. Plain Talk, August 7, 1937, 7.
28. Cited in Rupert Lewis, Marcus Garvey: Anti-Colonial Champion (Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 1992), 172.
29. Robert E. Hood, Must God Remain Greek? Afro Cultures and God-Talk (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990), 91.See Plain Talk, April 10, 1937, 7; May 1, 1937, 10.  See also Hill, ed., Marcus Garvey, 7:698-703, for correspondence between Garvey and Una Brown of New York City over Garvey's criticisms of Selassie.
30. Una Brown wrote, "I feel like a lot of others that you have been quite unfair in your writing" (in Hill, ed., Marcus Garvey, 7:699).

31. Virtually all the scholarly and popular literature on Rastafari accords Garvey this
31. Virtually all the scholarly and popular literature on Rastafari accords Garvey this status.  See Jabulani I. Tafari, "The Rastafari: Successors of Marcus Garvey," in Rex Nettleford, ed., Caribbean Quarterly Monograph: Rastafari (Kingston: Carribean Quarterly, University of the West Indies, 1985), 1-12, for a statement on Rastafari as successors of Marcus Garvey.
32. Rodolfo Sarracino, Los quevolvierona Africa (Havana: Editorial de CienciasSociales, 1988).
33. Hill, ed., Marcus Garvey, 7:997-1000.
34. See Philip Potter, "The Religious Thought of Marcus Garvey," in Rupert Lewis and Patrick Bryan, eds., Garvey: His Work and Impact (Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 1991), 145-163.
35. Scholars are divided on whether ganja was brought on the plantations by indentured Indian laborers or by enslaved Africans (see Bilby and Leib, "Kumina," 23). See Neil Savishinsky's "African Dimensions of the Jamaican Rastafarian Movement," Chapter 7 in this book, for details.
36. Marcus Garvey, Editorial, "The Dangerous Weed," New Jamaican, 13 August 1932.
37. Chevannes, Rastafari, 87.
38. See Chevannes, Rastafari, 39, 126-27, 78-80, for the impact of Bedward on early Rastafari. For the political impact of Bedwardism, see Lewis, Marcus Garvey.
39. Marcus Garvey, "The Death of a Fanatic," New Jamaican, 11 August 1932, 2; The editorial is very critical of "bad religion".
40. Jamaican novelist Erna Brodber used the term colorist behavior in her 1995 emancipation commemoration lecture "Emancipation --The Lesson and the Legacy: . . . As We Forgive Those Who Trespass against Us . . ." - (lecture presented at the Bethel Baptist Church, Kingston, Jamaica, on Sunday, July 30, 1995; Kingston Emancipation Commemoration Committee).
41. See Rex Nettleford, "Letter to the Editor," Daily Observer, August 5, 1995, 8.
42.  Chevannes, Rastafari, 87-99, 100-110.
43. By "organic sense" I mean that a social movement has to be an expression of a particular moment and has to grow and change in ways corresponding to the interests and agendas of its members. Research on the Rastafarian movement shows an organic change. However, there is no comparable evidence among those who call themselves Garveyites.

44. Chanting Down Babylon: The Rastafari Reader, Edited by Nathaniel Samuel Murrell, William David Spencer, and Adrian Anthony McFarlane (Temple University Press 1998), pp. 145-158.

BLACK HISTORY

The main plantations on the West Demerara and, the Essequibo coast, that the liberated Africans were assigned to, on their arrival in the colony, were Bagotville,Canal Polder, and Anna Regina. " Timehri Sept, 1917 by J Graham Cruickshank " Among the "Aku" (Yoruba)..." Mother Bednigo - “gone home, done” in August 1916 after a life of many tribulations and great labour. She spent her last days in Canal No.1 West Bank Demerara, Guyana. supporting herself by weaving lamp wicks from raw cotton with a little spindle. Mother Bednigo had been a free girl in Africa when she was kidnapped by the Yoruba and sold to the Spaniards. The Spanish slave ship was intercepted by a British man-o-war and she was rescued and taken to Demerara in January 15, 1851 on a ship called the “Brandon”. She was indentured to Plantation Moor Farm, Wakenaam; there she married and later went to live in Canal No. 1 with her husband. Mother Bednigo’s story, is the story of liberated Africans in general.

Slavery and Family relationships: Implications for Family Living Education. By Bridget Ogowewo

Slavery and Family Relationship: Implications for Family Living Education By Bridget Ogowewo Guyana is a multi cultural society, made up of six ethnic groups ; among them are the Afro Guyanese. Although family is the basic unit of every society, the conceptualization of family varies across cultures . This study focused on the Afro Guyanese family since only the Afro Guyanese had slavery experience in Guyana. Traditionally, family is a social group characterized by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction. It includes adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual relationship and one or more children, own or adopted of the cohabiting adults, (Fulcher & Scott, 2003). It is the instrument that brings together individuals and group activities. There are some basic expectations of the family. United Nations (1992b) as cited by Usman (2002) enumerated the role of the family to include: procreation, socialization, providing affection and emotional support. She stressed that the family has been described by the sociologist as the smallest unit but the most important unit within the society. It is an agency of social control (Heald, 1991). He explained that during the early years, the child is largely dependent on its family and as such its parents have considerable power to direct its behaviour. A pertinent question for our modern society is to ask if the family is still performing its role. Usman (2002), noted that the family which has been a unit of organization, the basis on which we can plan and develop our wider communities, is rapidly disappearing by day due to a number of factors, such as urbanization, political , economic and social changes in the society. She added that these factors have impacted the family resulting in divergent family forms. Hence Fulcher and Scott (2003) again defined the family as a small group of closely related persons who share a distinct sense of identity and responsibility for each other that outweighs their commitment to others. This broad definition has a different concept of family. It does not fit the traditional conception of the family. This group is not based on marriage, biological descent or adoption. It embraces different forms of family relationships such as cohabiting (unmarried couple living together). In this context Fulcher and Scott ( 2003) cited Gittens (1993) who argued that the term family should be families, in order to give recognition to the various forms of family relationships. Cohabitation is categorized into three forms by Fulcher and Scott (2003) as:  Long- term relationships similar to marriage ( consensual)  Short-term relationships with little commitment.  Pre- marriage relationships. In Britain, cohabitation takes the form of pre-marriage which may lead to marriage. If it fails, it may result to single parenthood. (Social Trends, 2002) A look at the Caribbean Society shows that the African Caribbean has different forms of marital relationships. Rodman (1971) indicated that in Trinidad, there are three types of marital or quasi- marital relationships – friending, (visiting relationship) living (Common-law) and married. These three types of marital relationships are common to all the regions in the Caribbean. Beasie [2008] indicated that In Guyana, union status is defined to include any legal civil status of marriage of a man and wife as husband and wife as well as other stable cohabitation. He further stated that a stable cohabitation is a relationship whereby a man and woman living together in common- law relationship with or without legal binding. Statistics in 2002 showed that the number of those who were married was 34.7 percent and those who were cohabiting was 34.5. ( Beasie, 2008) .Cohabitation being one of the causes of single parenthood may explain the commonality of this family relationship in Guyana. Cohabitation therefore is an unstable marital relationship. Cohabitation in the Caribbean has its roots in the slave society. Chavannes (1985) noted that research in the Caribbean generally indicated that the slave society did not encourage stable family relations and this was the probable cause of the chaos in the family forms, such as multiple relations, denial of paternity, aversion to domestic stability, neglect of financial responsibility for the children, high incidence of female – headed households and poor socialization of the male child. He further noted that the generally held view was that Africans were stripped of their culture- their behaviour pattern, values and beliefs. From observation, female headed households are common in the Caribbean, for example the Afro Guyanese households in Guyana. The experience of the African- American family may be similar to that of the African Guyanese family. Herskovits (1941) argued that slavery shaped the tradition of matriarchal dominance among the African- American family. He indicated that under slavery, the only enduring bond was that which existed between mother and children. Aronson, Wilson and Akert (1996) noted that marriage in the Caribbean is weakly institutionalized and it is common for women to head households. They added that the bond between mother and children is stronger than between father and children. Matriarchal dominance is contrary to the African culture of patriarchal dominance. Matriarchal dominance implies that the males were marginalized in the family. Families were connected together with a network of women. It is noted that marginality of the males is traced to the days of slavery. Patterson ( 1967) indicated that males played only a marginal role in the family since some of them were father substitute to children living in the household. This was due to the mating pattern of the women. The woman bore and kept children of several fathers. Further arguments explained the marginality of the male partner. Debien (1960) as cited by Barrow (1996) stated that there was no sexual division of labor on the estate. This devalued the labour of the man. Besides, woman became superior over the man being a common-law partner of the master of his foreman. Other attendant effects of slavery experience in the Caribbean, include migration and abandonment. These have posed some challenges to the family relations in the Caribbean Nevertheless, Waite ( 1995 ) pointed out that migration was a coping mechanism for the Caribbean to catch up with development of the developed countries. This has persisted to date. It is worrisome to note that in the modern day, with early teenage pregnancies as noted by Waite ( 1995 ) migrating parents leave their children with working grand parents without the support of the extended family. The children are therefore denied quality time and attention. The attendant effect is the feeling of abandonment which is manifested in the deviant behavior of the pre-teen and teenage young people. These challenges among others might result to unstable family life. It is important to note that the stability of the family is very important to every society. Stability of the family enhances the development of every nation. This study therefore was undertaken to ascertain family marital relationships and their challenges among Afro Guyanese student teachers at University of Guyana . The implications for Family Living Education as a way forward for achieving a stable family life was discussed. Additionally, a recommendation was made that would also promote a stable family life Purpose of the study The purposes of the study were to ascertain the:  Marital/quasi-marital relationships of Afro Guyanese student teachers at University of Guyana.  challenges of the Afro Guyanese family in Guyana. Research Questions  What are the forms of marital/quasi- marital relationships of student teachers in Guyana?  What are the challenges of the Afro Guyanese family in Guyana? METHODOLOGY This study was a survey of Afro Guyanese student teachers at University of Guyana who were in marital or quasi marital relationship. The target population was four hundred and fifty .The student teachers were trained practicing teachers in different Regions in Guyana. The researcher used them as the target population since they deal with children in schools as practicing teachers ; moreover they have experience of marital relationship Sample and Sampling Purposive sampling technique was used to sample one hundred Afro Guyanese student teachers who were in marital or quasi-marital union from the target population. Instrumentation The instrument for the study was questionnaire which consisted of seventeen statements for (17) Likert scale. It was a modified version of a four point scale. Strongly Agree (SA)= 4 , Agree ( A) = 3 ,Disagree (DA) = 2,Strongly Disagree (SD) = 1). The instrument was validated by two experts ,one in Measurement and Evaluation and the other one in Family Living Education. This was in terms of content validity. Technique of data collection The researcher administered the questionnaires to the sample with the assistance of two undergraduate students at University of Guyana. One hundred questionnaires were administered but ninety eight completed questionnaires were returned. Technique of data Analysis Mean and percentage were used to analyze the data. The mean was calculated as follows: SA = 4 A = 3 DA = 2 SD = 1 Total = 10 Mean = 10/ 4 = 2.5 Thus a mean response of 2.5 and more was classified as an important challenge for the family while a mean response of below 2.5 was classified as not an important challenge for the family. RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS Research question One Table 1 What are the forms of marital / quasi marital Relationship among Afro Guyanese student teachers ? Forms of marital / quasi marital relationship Forms of marital/ quasi marital relationship Frequency Percentage Married 45 45.9 Common- law 31 31.6 Visiting Relationship 22 22.4 Total 98 99.9 The result of the study (table 1) showed that there are different forms of marital or quasi marital relationships among Afro Guyanese student teachers . From the study, 45.9 percent, 31.6 percent and 22.4 percent of the respondents were in relationship of married, common – law, and visiting respectively. Although the union status in Guyana are comprised of the married union and common- law unions (Beaie, 2008) the result of the study showed that there are those who are involved in visiting relationship. The visiting relationship is same as the friending relationship. Rodman (1971) indicated that in this relationship, the man has certain obligations to the woman and to any children they both have. Common law and visiting relationships are unsuitable because the ties between the partners are not extensive. From the study, only 45 percent were married. Common- law and visiting relationships have their roots in the slave society. Barrow ( 1996) stated that in Caribbean, the blacks were considered outside the institution of legal matrimony. He added that marital life was a luxury and was incompatible with the regiment efficiency of the plantation system. He indicated that the outcome of the prohibition of family life among the blacks was the development of common- law unions and other informal patterns of mating. Barrow (1996) cited some studies carried out in the Caribbean. It was noted that families were unstable, many households contained individuals with female heads, others consisting of the woman, her children and other grand children. He further noted that though matrifocality is marginal in the contemporary society, it might have been important in the period of slavery. Smith ( 1956 ) argued that several factors explained the central place occupied by this concept in the anthropological and sociological literature of the 1950s onwards. First, male played weak roles, and this was characterized by the frequency of common-law unions of which some of them were unstable visiting unions. Some males in such unions were not committed to their responsibilities; the woman was abandoned if she was pregnant. The second factor was the migration of slaves in search of jobs after emancipation and this also explains the concept of matrifocality. Against this background, it is safe to state that the commonality of common-law and visiting unions among the Afro Guyanese student teachers as shown in table 1, may be attributed to the frequency of female- headed homes and single parenthood among the black families Research Question Two What are the challenges of Afro Guyanese family ? Table 2 Challenges of the family Mean (Married) Remark Mean ( Common- Law Union) Remarks Mean ( Visiting Union) Remarks Social/Moral Behavior (parents and children) 1 Violence among spouse/partner is on the increase 3.2 Important 3.2 Important 3.2 Important 2 Violence among youth sibling is on the increase 3.3 Important 3.2 Important 3.1 Important 3 Violence between parents and children is on the increase 3.1 Important 3.2 Important 2.8 Important 4 Most children do not have respect for elders 3.3 Important 3.2 Important 3.0 Important 5 Most children do not have respect for constituted authority 3.0 Important 3.0 Important 2.8 Important 6 Infidelity among spouses/ partners is on the increase 3.4 Important 3.2 Important 3.1 Important 7 Sexual abuse of children by adults member of the family is on the increase 3.2 Important 3 Important 2.9 Important 8 Sexual promiscuity among youths is on the increase 3.5 Important 3.6 Important 3.5 Important 9 Mode of dressing among parents do not reflect good morals 3.1 Important 3.2 Important 3.3 Important 10 Mode of dressing among youths does not reflect good morals 3.4 Important 3.1 Important 3.1 Important Education 11 Most parents do not attend parents teacher association (P.T.A) and parents teachers conference 3.1 Important 3 Important 3.3 Important 12 13 Most parents do not have the time to supervise their children academic work is on the increase Most parents do not provide educational materials for their children 3.1 2.9 Important Important 3.1 3.1 Important Important 2.9 2.9 Important Important 14 Most children are not hard working in their studies 2.9 Important 2.9 Important 2.9 Important 15 There is increasing rate of examination malpractice among students 3.3 Important 2.9 Important 3 Important Family Nutrition 16 Most parents do not have time to prepare meals for their children is on the increase 3.1 Important 3.1 Important 2.5 Important 17 Eating out by family members is on the increase 2.9 Important 2.7 Important 3.5 Important 18 Eating out by children is on the increase 3.1 Important 3.4 Important 3.4 Important In table 2, there was no mean response below 2.5. The result clearly showed that all the respondents -the married, the common-law unions and the visiting unions -perceived all the items in table 2 as challenges of the Afro Guyanese family in Guyana. Social/Moral Behavior of parents and children The result of the study showed that violence among spouses/partners and among youths/siblings, is on the increase. Waithe (1995) noted that physical abuse of women by men has always been one of the unfortunate features of the Caribbean society. This could be attributed to the prevalence of common-law and visiting unions ,since there is no legal binding on the partners. The unstable relationship could result to violence if any one of the partners decides to quit when dissatisfied. Besides, it has been observed and noted that father or father figure tends to be marginal in the day to day relationship of households. The mother-child bond is strengthened when the woman is economically empowered. Waite ( 1995) indicated that the poor and more materially deprived men are, the greater the marginality and the greater the role of women. The marginality of men could result to violence among such spouses when the woman tries to assert herself over the man. The behaviour of the parents has influence on the social/moral behaviour of the children. Hence the result of the study showed that violence among youths/siblings is on the increase. To corroborate this, Hartup (1995)indicated that the type of family into which a child is born can affect the expectations , roles, beliefs, and interrelationships the child later experiences throughout life. The family also affects the child’s physical cognitive , emotional and social development. Similarly, Craig and Dunn (2007) noted that the network of interrelationships and expectations within the family is a unique and major influence on the child ‘s social, emotional and cognitive development. Waithe (1995) stressed that parents feuding with each other may blame the child and punish the child for things they see in the child which they dislike in themselves and in their spouse. The attendant effect could be child abuse and neglect. Hence Craig and Dunn (2007) emphasized that child abuse and neglect occur in families where there are other domestic violence. They added that regardless of age, an abusive parent destroys the expectations of love, trust and dependency that are so essential to healthy personality and social development. The result is developmental problems that are manifested in the personality of the individual in later life. Hence children who are denied love and affection, who are brought up in an abusive environment may become abusive. This suggests reason for the prevalence of violence among other vices in the society. With regards to infidelity among spouses, the result of the study showed that it is on the increase (table 2).This is a serious concern in the society. Usman (2002) cited Adams (1991)who stated that infidelity is a killer that has set many homes ablaze. This immoral act, might have affected the moral life of some youths, since from the study sexual promiscuity is on the increase (table 2).It is also sad to note that the immoral act has degenerated to sexual abuse of children by adult member(s) of the family (table 2). This problem has its roots in the slave society where unregulated sexual mating was prevalent. Patterson (1967) indicated five basic types of associations that characterized the Jamaican society : Prostitution, unstable unions, stable inions, multiple association and monogamous association. He noted that prostitution was frequent on the plantation estates. Besides migration one of the attendant problems of slavery, may be a contributing factor to the immoral sexual mating in the family. In support of this, Waithe ( 1995 ) noted that since emigrants were mostly males there was a high sex imbalance. The men made sexual demands from a surplus female population and this resulted to a high frequency of social mating, extra marital births and multiple father hoods of children from individual woman. It is also important to add that migration led to child abandonment as earlier noted. Children who are left with working grandparents and other relatives are not given quality time and attention. The children then develop the feeling of abandonment which is manifested in the deviant behavior such as immoral behavior which may also reflect their mode of dressing (table 2. This may result in juvenile delinquency in later life if the situation is not controlled. As regards respect for elder and constituted authority, the study showed that most children do not have respect for elders and constituted authority (table 2). As earlier noted, children may become abusive when they are brought to up in an abusive environment. The result of the study therefore suggests that the family which ought to be a conducive/supportive environment for the child has become abusive. This to some extent could be as a result of unstable family relationships which their roots in the slave e society. Haralambos and others (1993) emphasized that the family bears the main responsibility for primary socialization. During the early years of life, the child learns many of the basic behaviour patterns of the society. It is therefore worrisome that since the family seems to have become abusive, most children might not have been nurtured to develop good moral behaviour. Education of the child With respect to education of the child, the result of the study showed that most parents do not show interest in the education of their children (table 2). It is the primary responsibility of parents to provide quality education for their children. Since most parents do not supervise their children’s academic work, do not provide them with educational materials and since they do not attend Parents Teachers Conference/ Parents Teachers Association, in order to monitor the progress of their children, the result of the study is therefore not a surprise that most of the children are not hardworking in their studies and there is increasing rate of examination malpractice (table 2). This problem can be linked to migration - an attendant problem of slavery among the black families. Children whose parents have migrated to greener pastures may not receive quality academic attention. The scenario where only one of the parents emigrates, or in case of single parent hood, the female ( wife/mother) may be saddled with too many challenges in the family to cope with. This in turn might impact the quality of academic given to the child. Hence Ogowewo (2002) cited Akinosho ( 1999) who emphasized that a child who has never been stimulated and who lacks attention in early childhood cannot be expected to perform well where intellectual exercise is demanded. Parents should provide the child attention and intellectually stimulate the child by providing the child educational materials and supportive home environment to study. Family Nutrition The result of the study showed that most parents do not have time to prepare meals . The result also showed that eating out by members of the family is on the increase (Table 2). This might have accounted for the increasing rate of poor health conditions. Ogowewo (2002) indicated that good nutrition is essential for normal organ development and function .It also provides resistance to infection. Parents not having time to prepare meals for the family could be due to the problem of single parent hood which might have resulted from common law or visiting relationship . Besides, working grand parents of children, whose parents might have migrated, may be faced with the difficulty of having time to prepare meals for the family. CONCLUSIONS / RECOMMENDATION The result of the study showed that there are three forms of marital / quasi marital relationship - married , common law and visiting relationships among the Afro Guyanese student teachers. Common law and visiting relationships have their roots in the slave society. As previously noted, the commonality of common-law and visiting unions among the Afro Guyanese student teachers could be attributed to the frequency of female- headed homes and single parenthood among the black families in the slave society. The study also found out that the Afro Guyanese family in Guyana had challenges to contend with – Social / moral behavior of parents and children, education of the child and family nutrition. From observation common law and visiting relationships are prevalent among the Afro – Guyanese . The aforementioned challenges confronting the Afro- Guyanese family could be attributed to common law and visiting relationships. These relationships have weak family ties with attendant effect of unstable family life. Finally, since the Africans in the Caribbean were stripped of their culture during slavery, this paper recommends the establishment of an Institute of African Studies at the University of Guyana. This will expose students to African culture that would promote stable family life in the society. IMPLICATIONS FOR FAMILY LIVING EDUCATION From the foregoing, slavery negatively impacted family relationships among Afro Guyanese in Guyana .To have a balanced society and to enhance national development, the family which is the basic unit of the society, should carry out its responsibilities creditably. The challenges of the family among Afro Guyanese in the contemporary Guyanese society suggest that the persistence of the abnormalities may be due to lack of awareness of the expectations/ values of the family. This assertion is based on the fact that during slavery, the blacks were stripped of their culture and due to conditions in the slave society, family life was unstable. The socialization function among other functions of the family might have been hampered by the unstable family life. In line with this, Idibie (2005) indicated that unusual family structures affect the way off springs are socialized. It tends to make the children adopt the behaviour of the parents in their immediate environment and the behaviour may not be true to the child’s sex role. Bearing in mind that the family moulds the personality of the child, which in turn will impact the social and economic status of a nation, the family status of the Afro Guyanese in the contemporary Guyanese society is of great concern. A way forward is to educate the family to fulfill its obligations. It is therefore important that every individual should be exposed to Family Living Education. Family Living Education as the name implies, is the study of the family. It embraces concepts of the family and family obligations. It equips the learner with the knowledge that will enable him/her to conceptualize the true meaning of family, the expectations of the family and that of the society at large. The individual will appreciate his role as a member of a family and the society. Family Living Education would equip the individual with knowledge and life skills that would enable him / her to develop and demonstrate the spirit of commitment to ensuring stability of the family and the larger society. For instance, developing the spirit of commitment would minimize the incidence of parents migrating and abandoning their children for their grand -parents . Although the researcher recognizes that some concepts of Family Living Education are taught to secondary school students who choose Social Studies as one of their options, Family Living Education should be a compulsory course at the tertiary level. Apart from the regular school system, it should be a regular Educational programme on television and radio . This is necessary for the education of the masses. 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