Young Rastafarians have been advised not to repeat the mistakes of their elders.
Speaking at the 132nd birthday celebrations of His Majesty Haile Selassie I, Empress Marina Blake said: “The elders of the Rastafari movement made some miscalculations and even some serious mistakes. I call on the youth not to repeat our mistakes but to correct them.”
Empress Marina added: “Some of our mistakes included a total repudiation of formal education, referring to it as colonial indoctrination, not realizing that we could have leveraged that education to benefit our community and our race.”
“We have struck a blow with a sledgehammer when it would have been better to take a more delicate and selective approach. We also completely refused to work or interact with the oppressive capitalist system. However, we were in fact involved with the capitalist system, but only at the lowest level. It would have been better to get involved in such a way that we gained experience, skills and access to capital, which we could then use to finance our revolutionary movement.” He added: “We seriously underestimated the importance of money for the revolutionary struggle; zeal without sufficient knowledge is like a runaway horse.”
She concluded that “we, the elderly, in our misguided approach, inadvertently created a mentality of victimhood, dependency and waiting for a savior to change our situation, instead of recognizing that we have the power to save ourselves. The responsibility is entirely ours.”
The 132nd anniversary celebration was organised by the Rastafari Council of Ghana at Rising Phoenix in Accra.
Speakers at the celebration included Jah Gold, Glen Zebi and the Chairman of the Ghana Rastafari Council, Ahuma Bosco Ocansey aka Daddy Bosco. Special guests at the event included Stuart Brown aka African Star Elder Djabi and veteran media personality Black Santino.
Performers included Osagyefo, Konkarah Jahvybes and Empress Fya Lioness. Other performers included Aklerh, Empress Sancious and Jefri King.
The rotating DJs were Nature One and Ras Nene at the Mighty Black Waves Sound.
