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“dwell with them” (Revelation 21: 3). The death of Haile Selassie, in 1975, allows for the observation of the messianistic foundation and of the millenarian expectation, followed by the disappearance of the messiah, and therefore, in Desroche’s words, for the observation of a “failed messianism.” The coronation of Haile Selassie and the foundation of Rastafari messianism On November 2, 1930, in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, the 225th Emperor of the dynasty of King Solomon was crowned; his name was Ras Tafari Makonnen, and he took the title of Haile Selassie I, Emperor of
the overthrow of Haile Selassie ( Burg, 2008 ; Desportes et al. , 2019 ). Information was suppressed about conflict ( Vaux, 2001 ), forced migration and the extent of the crisis itself ( Clay and Holcomb, 1985 ). The reason was clearly political: the famine of 1972–74 was the triggering event (if not the underlying cause) for the overthrow of Haile Selassie’s government. The regime was very aware of the political consequences of failing to
African regional organizations have played leading roles in constructing collective conflict management rules for the continent, but these rules or norms have not been static. Currently, the African Union (AU) deploys monitors, authorizes peace support operations, and actively engages in internal conflicts in member states. Just a few decades ago these actions would have been deeply controversial under the Organization of African Unity (OAU). What changed to allow for this transformation in the way the African regional organization approaches peace and security? Drawing extensively on primary source documents from the AU Commission archives, this book examines why the OAU chose norms that prioritized state security in 1963 leading to a policy of strict non-interference and why the AU chose very different norms leading to a disparate conflict management policy of non-indifference in the early 2000s. Even if the AU’s capacity to respond to conflict is still developing, this new policy has made the region more willing and capable of responding to violent conflict. The author argues that norm creation largely happened within the African context, and international pressure was not a determinant factor. The role of regional organizations in the international order, particularly those in the African region, has been under-theorized and under-acknowledged, and this book adds to an emerging literature that explores the role of regional organizations in the Global South in creating and promoting norms based on their own experiences and for their own purposes.
propaganda: these are primitives, their customs are barbarous.” ’68 Her focus on Ethiopia was in part the result of her respect for the Emperor, Haile Selassie, the ousted monarch. This, though a somewhat strange cause for a left-wing socialist and republican, typified her obsessive political personality. It also, more rationally, reflected her anti-imperialist, anti-racist and of course anti-fascist sympathies. Moreover, as Barbara Winslow has observed, ‘Pankhurst loved to defend the underdog and she saw in Selassie much more a defeated victim of fascism than a
issue of memory by analyzing the construction of a musical memory within reggae music. A brief account of Rastafari The founding event of the Rastafari movement was the coronation of Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, which took place on November 2, 1930. In Jamaica, some interpreted it as the fulfillment of the prophecy announced by Marcus Garvey before his departure for the United States: “Look to Africa when a Black king shall be crowned, for the day of deliverance is near.” Four Jamaicans started preaching: Howell in West Kingston, Hibbert and Hinds in the
epistemology and ontology of Rastafari which itself is a form of Pan-Africanism. This involvement emerged from the creative weaving of an assemblage of aspects of the cultural, spiritual, aesthetic, linguistic and ideational complex of Jamaican people, catalysed by the coronation of the Ethiopian regent, Ras Tafari, as Emperor Haile Selassie I – in a global African Garveyite belief system – 15 years in the making. This essay explores and analyses the framing of being in Bob Marley’s music as the basis for Pan-African agency and solidarity
The UNIA mission was grievously damaged by the failure in Liberia, but Garvey’s enthusiasm for Africa remained undiminished. This was never more evident than in his fervent championing of Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie. Though the UNIA was a secular organisation, Garvey recognised that many of its potential members, especially in North America and the Caribbean, were Christian. Indeed, the churches were recruiting grounds which he could not afford to forgo. If Garvey was critical of the Christian church for its tacit acceptance of the status quo, for being
averse to the Italian occupation. In a style strikingly similar to the paintings of Adowa, he reinterpreted the cult of the Duce, depicting Mussolini – not Vittorio Emanuele – seated on the throne of imperial Ethiopia with a lion at his feet and a blackshirted officer marching past with a battalion of native soldiers: only an Italian flag with its cross of Savoy fluttering over an Ethiopian palace reminds the viewer that after 1936 it was in reality the Italian king (and not the Duce) who had replaced Emperor Haile Selassie.21 In 1943, after his betrayal by the
prophetic vision is itself divided in four parts, and describes the end of the world in detail: the preliminaries to the great day of God, the punishment of Babylon, the extermination of the pagan nations, and the advent of the New Jerusalem. This text is essential to the Rastafari movement; moreover, it is considered a complete, faithful and exact description of the Apocalypse. Rastas believe that the end of the world is going to happen exactly as described by Saint John: they believe that Haile Selassie is the messiah, the Lamb evoked in the holy text, who has come to
approaches to liberation struggles. Unfortunately, the disagreements proved insurmountable at the ministerial level. The sub-committee was unable to reach an agreement on which charter to use as a basis of discussion, and negotiations stalled until the Heads of States arrived. 35 When trying to understand the intentions and positions of the Heads of States going into the conference, their opening speeches are illustrative. Emperor Haile Selassie opened the conference as its host. Selassie was a hugely respected leader within Africa because of Ethiopia’s stand against