The Wages of Blackness
The Wages of Blackness
Rastafari and the Politics of Pan-Africanism after Flag Independence
When Rastafarians began to petition the Tanzanian government for the “right of entry” in 1976, they benefitted from a history of linkages between Jamaica and Tanzania, facilitated largely by the personal and political friendship between Julius Nyerere and Prime Minister of Jamaica, Michael Manley. This is the subject of the third chapter, which provides essential context for the repatriation. The chapter begins by unearthing the pan-African politics of Michael Manley, which he constructed after appropriating Rastafarian symbols and consciousness into his political campaigns. It also puts a spotlight on the extent to which African leaders of newly independent states helped to define the pan-Africanism of this period by detailing the impact of Julius Nyerere on Manley’s thinking. Finally, it juxtaposes Manley’s acceptance in pan-African circles across Africa with his personal struggle over his own perceived distance from blackness, as a member of Jamaica’s “brown’ elite. In the end, Rastafari was absolutely central to generating the brand of politics surrounding race, color and class in the moment of decolonization. The history of repatriation transgresses analytical boundaries between state and nonstate actors.
Keywords: Michael Manley, Creole Nationalism, Jamaica, People’s National Party, Bob Marley, Democratic Socialism, Beverley Manley, Walter Rodney, Fabian Socialism, Julius Nyerere
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