AfricaSpeaksHowcomyoucomRaceandHistoryRootsWomenTrinicenter
Homepage
Message Board
Buy Books
RELATED LINKSCOMMUNITYREASONING FORUMCHAT ROOMARCHIVES
Photo Gallery | About Us | Terms of Use | Register/Create a Profile  
This is a new script for this board. Some posters would have to re-register.
We are sorry for the inconvenience.
Contact us at: rastafarispeaks@yahoo.com


Follow us on twitter and on facebook at:
AfricaSpeaksRastafariSpeaksCheik Anta Diop

Rastafari Speaks

Re: The Cause Of Rastafari People Is Well known

Ras Marcus, I see that you, RHEDMAN and ma'at all placed different definitions of what is politics and what is a politician on the table. I think this is a major point to this discussion, because the definitions that are being used are based on characteristics of individuals and history but negative ones of both. It appears that you are defining politics and politicians to be synonymous with corruption, greed and other societal ills.

Wikipedia defines politics as "a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the corporate, academic, and religious segments of society. It consists of "social relations involving authority or power".

And thus a politician is the representative, the person who executes the above on behalf of his community, district, province, country or regional block. Everything else you have described are man PLUS his politics.

So when ma'at says "Politics literally means "to appease the masses"...be it by hook or crook, lies or deception", that is wrong order. For sure it occurs like that a lot but if the masses are ignorant then they deserve what they get.

Africa in antiquity also engaged in politics. How could Egypt be what she was without good organization of "corporate [trade], academic and religious segments of society". And RHEDMAN it is natural for parts of communities to choose different directions due to different goals and agendas, so divisiveness is not necessarily a bad thing. It accounts for the current diversity that exists in every continent. Some communities co-exist, some migrate away from the core group and some weaker ones are subsumed into stronger communities.

ma'at also said "Remember, politics got Garvey 'destroyed'".

To me ma'at, you cheapen the successes of Garvey, that he was a failure (though I know you dont mean it like that). Sure considering his many ambitions, his projects may not have physically sustained themselves, but the legacy and truths are a part of history, our history, development and contributed to the life we as black people currently live. His choices were always going to come with risks because he challenged the political decisions and policies others thought they had the right to impose on him and his people. I should add, all 'mighty' men 'fall', you reach so far and then it is time for someone else, greater perhaps but more often lesser until things reach another breaking point and that successor falls too. That is the cycle.

Politicians can be puppets and whipping boys to other stronger wealthier politicians and they can make puppets of the ones they claim to represent. But look how everyone is talking about Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain of 2010. I can use bad examples too, if the African Union (a regional block) really grasped the idea of sovereignty maybe Gaddafi's fate and the fate of Libya would have played out differently. But African nations are tied up in loans, trade agreements etc…however if they managed their wealth themselves and helped each other out of poverty through a shift in policies the need to play lackey for the west would greatly be reduced and lend for more autonomous sovereign decision making. If their political agenda truly put their own people, African people first, things would be different, for example Mugabe and his choice to give his people back their own land and Chavez and other latin leaders who have nationalized state companies to ensure profits go back to its citizens and the country.

Ras Marcus, you ask "How can we be involved with this system" …we don't have to be. Some can throw up their hands and say it's others to blame, but it takes two hands to clap. Why should Europe, America, the west do something that is not to their benefit regardless of the moral aspects. How often has morality trumped greed, corruption and selfishness?

So Ras Marcus I hope what I said above can be differentiated from what you said…"Politics is the Competition between groups or individuals for power and leadership. It is the art of influencing governmental policies , or of holding control over the people, but it is not based on honesty and integrity". Honesty and integrity has to do with individuals, even African leaders fall short badly there and competition is another issue all together. I think the rastaman's role in politics is - representation and more direct dissemination of issues of liberation, repatriation and freedom from mental slavery. Or as you rightly said that they should be "liberators and agitators for the rights of African people, Africa for the Africans those at home and those abroad."

Ras Marcus, we are the change (yuk, I sound like Obama). Its politics (not integrity or honesty with ourselves) that has brought out the realization that murdering African liberators cannot be tolerated. Though they can still get you out of power by manipulating your own people to do their (the west's) bidding. When some African leaders such as Nkrumah and Nyerere make the political decisions they made it was an example that reminded us of a time before slavery and exploitation on the continent, of African genius or the idea of true community.

About this last comment you made "Rastafari people's movemant to be well known world wide today, with so many people jumping on the Rastafari people's band waggon and trying to steer the movemant in their own directions". But it's a set of fake people who have are helping to market certain aspects of the movement worldwide, who buffer the rawness of it, the real situation of poverty, disenfranchisement, neglect and who are uncomfortable with the idea of repatriation and compensation and leave out the richness only the rastaman, rastawoman could present him/herself.

-M-

Messages In This Thread

Rastas must embrace their role in politics *LINK*
Re: Rastas must embrace their role in politics *LINK*
Ras Tyehimba
Re: Rastas must embrace their role in politics
Re: Rastas must embrace their role in politics
Its still poli-TRICKS no matter how you polish it
Slave Trading Was Carried Out By Politics.
Re: Slave Trading Was Carried Out By Politics.
Rastafari People Have Already Taken Their Place .
Re: Rastafari People Have Already Taken Their Plac
The Cause Of Rastafari People Is Well known
Re: The Cause Of Rastafari People Is Well known
Re: Rastas must embrace their role in politics
Re: Rastas must embrace their role in politics
Re: Rastas must embrace their role in politics *NM* *LINK*
Re: Rastas must embrace their role in politics
Re: Rastas must embrace their role in politics
Re: Rastas must embrace their role in politics


FAIR USE NOTICE:
This site may at times contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml


Copyright © 2003-2014 RastafariSpeaks.com & AfricaSpeaks.com