Africa Unite
January 12, 2005 3:01 PM   Subscribe

Bob Marley goes home? Looks like Bob Marley will get what he wished for here and return to Africa. Well, his bones will anyway. I always thought exhumed was an interesting word, see also disinter.
posted by fixedgear (23 comments total)
 
So will the good be disinterred with his bones?

Nevermind.
posted by u.n. owen at 3:19 PM on January 12, 2005


Hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans embraced Haile as their living god and head of the Rastafarian religious movement.

It's hilarious to me that pot will make comfortable kids identify with this shit.
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:30 PM on January 12, 2005


it's not nice to call other people's religion shite....
posted by gnutron at 4:41 PM on January 12, 2005


If I believed that former Canadian PM Brian Mulroney was a living god and that welsh people were a lost tribe of Japan, wouldn't you call my religion shit? What if Brian Mulroney said that I was deluded (but harmless)? What if Brian Mulroney then died but I insisted that he was still alive? Shit yet?
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:55 PM on January 12, 2005


(Without meaning to dump on somebody elseĀ“s religion or country or anything...)

I passed through Sheshemene in Ethiopia - where the Rastas were given land & where Bob is to be buried - and felt a little sorry for those who had willingly left the Caribbean to live in arguably one of the lousiest cities in a country that pretty much defines the phrase "nice place to visit but i sure as hell would not want to live here!"
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:03 PM on January 12, 2005


Rasta man chant

Hear the words of the Rastaman say:
"Babylon, you throne gone down, gone down;
Babylon, you throne gone down."

Said I hear the words of the Iyaman say:
"Babylon, you throne gone down, gone down;
Babylon, you throne gone down."
---
/Short instrumental break/
---
And I hear the angel with the seven seals say:
"Babylon throne gone down, gone down;
Babylon throne gone down."
---
/Short instrumental break/
---
I say fly away home to Zion (fly away home);
I say fly away home to Zion (fly away home).
One bright morning when my work is over,
Man will fly away home.
---
/Short instrumental break/
---
One bright morning when my work is over,
Man will fly away home.
One bright morning when my work is over,
Man will fly away home.
Say one bright morning when my work is over,
Man will fly away home.
posted by Rastafari at 5:07 PM on January 12, 2005


since when does blatantly making up some things and deciding to believe in them on the basis of faith, rather than fact, discount someone's religion?

almost all religions believe in their fair share of make-believe. and these same religions profess positive philosophies on life that embiggen the souls of their believers.

despite all it's shit, rastafarianism has, in fact, served a distinct purpose to generations of people who have had their culture & religion systemically denied to them. as a bootstrap social movement in jamaica, it served to provide faith, promote social welfare and positive philosophies to people who were treated like shit. and i don't think that's shit.
posted by gnutron at 5:13 PM on January 12, 2005


badbrains
posted by snsranch at 6:16 PM on January 12, 2005


Crap, I suck. www.badbrains.com
posted by snsranch at 6:18 PM on January 12, 2005


what gnutron said.
posted by NationalKato at 7:16 PM on January 12, 2005


since when does blatantly making up some things and deciding to believe in them on the basis of faith, rather than fact, discount someone's religion?

When it's completely fucking transparent. If everyone's allowed to pull stuff out of their ass, no one would work because it would be the Feast of Maximum Occupancy every day.
posted by Mayor Curley at 7:23 PM on January 12, 2005


If everyone's allowed to pull stuff out of their ass, no one would work because it would be the Feast of Maximum Occupancy every day.

Actually, everyone *is* allowed to make up whatever they want. Not all of those creations get millions of followers. Whether or not they do doesn't make them 'shit' or 'not shit,' and neither does their degree of transparency. People crave connection to myth, and transparent myths can be the easiest to digest in a rational society.
posted by bingo at 9:14 PM on January 12, 2005


So believing some emperor guy is God is insane but I'm supposed to think that people who believe God is an invisible man in the sky are rational?
posted by furiousxgeorge at 9:24 PM on January 12, 2005


bingo, furious, my points exactly.

to me, saying 'jesus is the son of god' is completely transparent shite - but i still think christianity has some decent philosophies behind it.
posted by gnutron at 11:21 PM on January 12, 2005


Wikipedia on Rastafarian prophet Marcus Garvey:
Due to difficulties in travel resulting from World War II at the time of his death, he was interred in the Kendal [sic] Green Cemetery, London. In November 1964, the Government of Jamaica had his remains brought to Jamaica and ceremoniuously [sic] reinterred at a shrine dedicated to him in National Heroes Park, Garvey having been proclaimed Jamaica's first National Hero.
Wikipedia on Rastafarian messiah Haile Selassie:
Following an abortive coup attempt (December 1960) he pursued more conservative policies, aligning Ethiopia with the West in contrast to the more radical leftist African governments that were more common in that era. His policies contributed to his deposition on September 12, 1974 following a military coup. The media at the time reported that the Emperor died in prison on August 27, 1975, following complications from a prostate operation. His doctors denied that any complications had occurred and rejected the government version of his death. It is widely believed by historians that he was suffocated in his sleep, and his remains buried beneath the president's personal office. (On November 5th, 2000, the late Emperor was given an Imperial funeral by the Ethiopian Orthodox church, but the new post-communist Ethiopian government refused to give it the status of a state funeral.)

Amongst followers of Rastafarianism, a religion which developed in the 1930s in Jamaica under the influence of Marcus Mosiah Garvey's "Back to Africa" movement, Haile Selassie is regarded as a Black messiah who will lead the peoples of Africa and the African diaspora to freedom. Most Rastafarians believe that Haile Selassie [born in 1892] is still alive, and that his widely reported death was part of a conspiracy to discredit their religion.
Wikipedia on "de facto missionary" for Rastafarianism Bob Marley:
In July 1977, Marley was found to have a wound on his right big toe, which he thought was from a soccer injury. The wound did not heal, and his toenail later fell off during a soccer game. It was then that the correct diagnosis was made. Marley actually had a form of skin cancer, malignant melanoma, which grew under his toenail. He was advised to get his toe amputated, but he refused because Rastas believe that doctors are samfai, confidence men who cheat the gullible by pretending to have the power of witchcraft. Marley based this refusal on his Rastafarian beliefs, saying, "Rasta no abide amputation. I and I don't allow a mon ta be dismantled." [Catch a Fire, Timothy White] He did have surgery to try to excise the cancer cells.

The cancer spread to his brain and his lungs. In the summer of 1980, he collapsed during a series of shows at Madison Square Garden. He sought help, mostly from the controversial cancer specialist Josef Issels, but it was too late. A month before his death, he was awarded Jamaica's Order of Merit. He wanted to spend his final days in Jamaica but he became too ill on the flight home and had to land in Miami. He passed away at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami, Florida on May 11, 1981. His near-royal funeral in Jamaica combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy and Rastafarianism. He is buried in a crypt at Nine Miles, near his birthplace.
posted by pracowity at 12:27 AM on January 13, 2005


since when does blatantly making up some things and deciding to believe in them on the basis of faith, rather than fact, discount someone's religion?

When it's completely fucking transparent.

That sure discounts a lot of religions. Virgins don't give birth. How's that for transparent?
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 5:28 AM on January 13, 2005


Religion is bullshit, but I enjoy the ritual (thanks American Splendor).
Yeah, Rastafarianism is a little kooky, like all religions, but they invented the best fucking music on the planet.
Forget Haile, all hail King Tubby!
posted by hellbient at 8:23 AM on January 13, 2005


I read somewhere that Bob had a deathbed-conversion to Christianity. Is that not true? I found lots of links via Google but none of them said one way or another.
posted by petebest at 8:43 AM on January 13, 2005


And, out of nowhere, once again, we're debating rastafari, calling religion bullshit, and picking apart people's beliefs. Oh, this can only go bad.
posted by adampsyche at 8:58 AM on January 13, 2005


Don't trouble the Rastaman,
Don't hurt the Rastaman,
For you done know that
Rastaman nah trouble
No One.

(Burning Spear: Freeman)
posted by UbuRoivas at 10:23 AM on January 13, 2005


Everything's cool, adam...smoke a doobie, I'm a noobie.

Bob Marley will get what he wished for here

Where? Did I miss something? I read the thing twice.
Is it this:
So Africa, Unite 'cause the children wanna come home
?
Or is it in the .ram file, which my anti-rasta work won't accept?

Anyway, I really like the idea of using a song for your Will.
posted by hellbient at 10:50 AM on January 13, 2005


maybe not
posted by petebest at 7:23 AM on January 14, 2005


I love that link, petebest. It's a real estate site, so the last paragraph turns to their real passion:
The building has two storeys, the lower being masonry and the upper of timber. The Museum is the original house and still manifests many of the period's characteristics such as the broad mouldings, the handmade handrails and the lattice work throughout with unique arched shaped doorway and sash windows.
If Marley remains (if his remains remain) in Jamaica, the local real estate folk will be quite relieved.
posted by pracowity at 7:52 AM on January 14, 2005


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