The first Rastafarians in British Guiana were Garveyites!

By Ras Leon Saul

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 that Marcus Garvey visited British Guiana and first brought the message of “Rastafari” closer to home. About seven UNIA branches were established here.

Lewis’s main intentions were to underscore ways in which Garveyism has affected the evolution of Rastafari, and to identify the many similarities and differences that existed 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, practising 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 travellers 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 (recently deceased); 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 organiser 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 (through the Negro World newspaper)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 then 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 mystical disappearance 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 on Homestretch Avenue, 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 and 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 Guyanese drummer and flautist Country, aka “Nya”; Big Dread Palla; Big Beard Basil on 110 Street (Robb and Wellington by the old Metropole); Ital Archie; Zion; Pryor; Sheriff; Champ; the dreaded version of the 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” group 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 Rastamen long before even Guyana’s “father of the nation” – LFS Burnham – had travelled 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) programme. This also caused President Burnham to become 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.

This was in 1978, after representation was made by the Rastafari community following the beatings and locking up of hundreds of Rastafarians at the National Park who had attended a musical showcase commemorating the birth anniversary of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie 1 on Sunday, July 23.

President Burnham even provided transportation and rations for the North Fork agricultural project. But the subsequent attempt at large-scale farming and setting up a community ended in tragic failure with the manifestation of 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.

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!
(To be continued in the next edition: In 1978 – the same year “Burnham legalised obeah”, who was the first Rasta Man to get “12 months in jail” for the possession of marijuana?!)