BLACK INTERNATIONALISM

Board Discussion about Black Internationalism

Board Discussion about Black Internationalism

Introduction

In the twentieth century, two movements have emerged out of Jamaica in protest of black oppression and slavery, both mental and physical. The first to evolve was Garveyism, founded by Marcus Garvey, and was born in the aftermath of the First World War. Rastafarianism was the second movement to emerge, lead by Leonard Howell during the depression years of the 1930's. Garveyism and Rastafarianism are both resistance movements based on the same ideal: consciousness and essentialism of Africa and its descendants (James, 1933, 49-62). The founding brethren of the Rastafari movement were Garveyites themselves, although not members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), they agreed with and defended the principals for which Garvey stood. Essentially, Garveyism provided the ideological premise for the Rastafari movement, and out of this foundation, we see the Rastafari religion evolve. Stemming from many of the ideas that Garvey pursued through the UNIA, but adapting them in different ways, we see the Rasta ideology evolve into a realm it calls its own. It is the spiritual side of the Rastafari movement from which all the major differences the two movements are. This paper attempts to explore the path that Garvey made for the blacks of the world and understand the divergence and principles from which the Rastas made their theological trail (Prewett, 1994,, 2007).



Garveyism Movement

Marcus Garvey was born in Jamaica, and it was in his home country that he recognized the social and political oppression with which the black population lived. From this discontent, he was the first to provide a plan to free the black population from the grips of the Eurocentric world that controlled them. Garvey's plan called for a rallying of “Africa or Africans at home and abroad”. This African essentialism was to be a concentration of effort and drive to bring about fundamental transformation of an unjust society (James, 1933, 49-62) (Prewett, 1994,, 2007).

Garvey's aim was to recontextualize particular aspects of seeming irreconcilable systems of Marxism/Leninism, monarchism, and even of National Socialism for the African of Africa American experience (Eric, 1997, 224). Garvey did not feel restricted by established political ideologies, instead he felt free to pick out the best attributes of every government. Ultimately, Garveyism hoped to develop the African continent into a modern network of nations, modelling it after the United States and Western Europe (Gordon, 1993, 11-146).

Garvey established the UNIA in Jamaica in the year 1914, two years later he left for the United States in order to gain more momentum for his movement and spread the African unity he had started in Jamaica. Before leaving Jamaica, Garvey made a prophecy of sorts to his followers: “Look into Africa for the crowning of a black king. He shall be the Redeemer” (Leonard, 1997, 33-67). From this prediction stems most of the discrepancy between Garveyites and Rastafarians, something I will discuss later in this paper (Eric, 1997, 25-43).

The four main themes that the Garvey movement was built ...