The movement which grew from the slums of Jamaica in the 1930s made considerable impact as a political and social force.

A DISHEVELLED man sits in a street cafe occasionally brushing back his thick dreadlocks which are half hidden beneath a floppy red, gold and green coloured beanie. As he gently nods in time with the pulsating reggae music blaring from the cheap, throbbing speakers, a speck of ash falls from a marijuana joint onto a T-shirt which bears the image of the legendary Bob Marley.



The world of Rastafarianism can certainly be a confusing one ... part lifestyle choice, part bona fide religion, with few formal boundaries between the two. Not too long ago, Rastafarians were viewed with suspicion and distrust by many societies, yet they are now widely tolerated and occasionally even embraced by the mainstream. In fact, the scene I have just described might occur anywhere from Senegal to Brazil, Thailand to Sweden.

But just who is a real Rastafarian? And what does the future hold for this colourful, yet numerically small group of devotees?

The roots of rasta


Thirty-five years ago on Aug 28, 1975, the Ethiopian Marxist military junta known (by its Amharic acronym) as the DERG announced the death of the aged Emperor Haile Selassie I. Selassie, 82 at the time of his death, had been living under house arrest in his palace ever since a military coup had deposed him a year earlier (on Sept 12, 1974).

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