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Well we seem to have a serious language barrier here as nothing you have said thus far is in my post. However I will walk you through it.
I have stated that "there is no way that I will support a group of people who choose of their own accord to go somewhere and then want others to help them live a lifestyle that they have chosen, especially not over indigenous Africans with their indigenous beliefs, religions, practices and projects.". I also said that I can in no way see how a Christianized colony requesting help from others to maintain their lives can be any model for real African repatriation. Somewhere in this you have rustled up an interpretation that I said or implied that "Rastas are going to a majority-biblical African country with their own thing and colonizing with biblical religion" . Please explain to me how you decided that "indigenous Africans with their indigenous beliefs, religions, practices" translates into "Ethiopia being majority biblical country".
I think you also need to do a bit more research into the religious composition of Ethiopia. The official religion of a country often has very little to do with the religious practices of the majority of people that live there. Ethiopia in the time of the Solomonic empire remained largely with their indigenous practices and the incursion of Islam. It is much the same today. You may have the illusion of Ethiopia as a homogenous Christian state but that is quite false. Many Rastas like to claim Rasta and African identification and project their own Christian religion upon Ethiopia. Most Christians in Ethiopia do not regard Selassie as God.
The idea of Rasta that you are espousing here is simply watered down Christianity as far as I am concerned. Some would like to believe that the higher' ites of Rastafari' have nothing to do with real life issues and our personal conduct here on earth. No matter how much weed a person smoke, or chant Haile Selassie name, if they are not seriously engaging and dealing with their own white privilege then they are of no use to any African movement. If you take the Africa out of rasta then all you get is a religion that has no power to liberate anybody. And by Africa I do not mean an idealized false idea of Ethiopia.
Rastafari is rooted in anti-colonialism and Black Nationalism. Whites in this movement seem to want a way to feel better about being white. They would love to just talk about 'the trod' they are on and pretend to abandon their privileges by playing grassroots poor while not seriously engaging African history or the magnitude of their complicity with the system that oppresses Africans daily.
You said: "I personally feel that there is a difference between Rastafari and Pan-Africanism, as can be evident by Marley himself when he said in his last interview (with Black American press), "Pan? There ain't no pan in front of Africa"
Well I would really like to know the acrobatics you took to reach there. Just as there is no Rasta without Africa there is certainly no Rastafari without serious groundings in the tenets of Pan Africanism. I suppose you would like to forget the role of Marcus Garvey. Many white Rastas quote Bob Marley like if he is scripture but the guy did not understand history if he could make such a statement. White record companies have made lots of money off of the music and the image of Bob Marley and now whites have bought into the idea that Bob is the epitome of Rasta and that they can all jump on the one love bandwagon and feel they have a get out of jail free card. Convenient I suppose.
Listen, at the end of the day there is no spirituality without engaging and understanding history. This is not a 'pick and choose' kind of thing. At the end of the day if a white person is not about the liberation of Africans at home and abroad, the dismantling of the colonial system and the addressing or his own privileges as a white person then he is in the wrong place, for there is certainly no spirituality or Higher Ites to be gained without a clear view of present reality.
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