Ras Hein Scheepers

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Public Relations Officer: RasTafari Nation Council South Africa

April 2026

60th anniversary of Haile Selassie’s Caribbean State Visits: Trinidad and Tobago (April 18–21); Barbados (April 21); Jamaica (April 21–24); Haiti (April 24).

The relationship between imperial Ethiopia and the Caribbean is a nuanced dialectic of African spirituality, unconventional international relations, and decoloniality. It is not a normative diplomatic history, but one forged through Black liberation theology, resistance to oppression, and the global imagination of African liberation. The Jamaica visit stands out because Haile Selassie awarded a private audience to RasTafari elders with medals and non-state channels for correspondence with the Imperial Ethiopian Throne.

Grounation Day: Haile Selassie visits the Jamaican State and RasTafari people.
The arrival of Haile Selassie I in Kingston on 21 April 1966 has been widely analysed in RasTafari studies as a moment where political diplomacy merged with spiritual revelation, producing what scholars describe as a “rupture in colonial perception” (Chevannes 1994; Edmonds 2003).

The RasTafari cosmology deifies Selassie; he is not simply a political monarch but the manifestation of the divine in modern times, commonly interpreted as the fulfilment of both Black theology’s biblical prophecy and the Black nationalist call of Marcus Garvey to “look to Africa for the crowning of a Black king” (Barrett 1977; Edmonds 2003). This essay unpacks the 1966 visit as a moment of divine intervention, where the revelation of prophecy is given an aesthetic by historical reality, as described by the undertones of the RasTafari worldview.

Contemporary scholarship and grassroots communal ethnography describe the arrival at Palisadoes Airport as a massive gathering of thousands of RasTafari adherents and supporters (Chevannes 1994). As victims of extreme prejudice and state-backed violence in Jamaican society, RasTafari adherents observed the event as a mystic revelation of their philosophy.

For the RasTafari community, the gathering was a ritualisation of their faith in Haile Selassie’s reign as a Black monarch; this reframes the visit beyond state-based diplomacy. Nyahbingi ceremonial drumming and chanting created what Ennis Edmonds views as a “collective spiritual field of recognition,” where bilateral government relations and ancient presence were experienced simultaneously (Edmonds 2003). This decolonial moment catalysed the movement of RasTafari into a legitimate Pan-African spiritual identity, as opposed to being stereotyped as a subcultural fringe group—a cannabis cult that idolises Haile Selassie—marking a definitive relocation and rebranding from the margins of society to the central discourse.

The activity of “Grounation” (or Groundation) is informed by Selassie’s refusal of a red carpet procession upon arrival. He chose to walk on the ground with the Jamaican people, which broke away from the official state reception.

RasTafari theology interprets this act as deeply significant: (a) it symbolises humanity between ruler and people, (b) it signifies Jamaica as having deeper spiritual significance than the other Caribbean state visits, (c) it reinforces the concept of “livity” as grounded, natural existence.

Chevannes (1994) notes that this moment became foundational in RasTafari ritual vocabulary, where the expression “yarding to groundation” refers both to a spiritual journey and holistic communal activities. In this context, the Emperor’s refusal of protocol is interpreted as an act of spiritual communion between the Ethiopian monarch and the ordinary masses of Jamaicans who showed up in their thousands to receive Selassie.

According to scholars, the threefold meaning of Grounation Day is interpreted as: firstly, a site of religious interpretation of a high-level political moment (Edmonds 2003); secondly, a case of sovereign African imperial authority as perceived through the spectacle of diasporic spiritual traditions (Barrett 1977); thirdly, a rehumanising encounter between a sovereign statesman and the popular masses of the Caribbean (Chevannes 1994).

It is therefore not only a historical visit, but also a case study in how political figures can be reinterpreted as sacred agents within postcolonial religious movements.

Marcus Garvey’s Ethiopianism and Ethiopia’s Sovereign Pan-African Reality
For centuries, Ethiopia stood as a political and spiritual pinnacle point. Its resistance to Italian colonisation (1935–1940) operationalised never-colonised African sovereignty. Biblical emphasis on Ethiopia, through Caribbean Black theology, centres Ethiopia as a modern bastion of Black divinity and Africa’s sovereignty.

RasTafari philosophy is primed in the ideas of Marcus Garvey and the work of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), which he founded in 1914. Garvey’s “Ethiopianism” was not limited to a geographic nation but concerned Ethiopia as an empire—a dignified and legitimate aesthetic of Black consciousness, power, and liberation.

Garvey’s call that Africans in the diaspora should “look to Africa for the crowning of a Black king” became a prophetic interpretive framework for the coronation of Haile Selassie I in 1930. In Garvey’s political philosophy, Ethiopia represented: (a) African self-governance, (b) historical continuity of African civilisation, (c) psychological liberation from colonial inferiority.

The UNIA itself functioned as a proto-global Black government; it organised divisions, parliaments, and economic cooperation among the diaspora. Scholarship by Amy Jacques Garvey and Tony Martin outlines how UNIA ideology created the cultural base and intellectual foundation for the RasTafari Pan-African philosophy (Martin 1983; Jacques Garvey 1963).

Jamaica’s Spiritual Essence as RasTafari Faith-Based Fulfilment of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Christianity
“The Church comes to bring the fullness of the faith from which Ethiopia has never departed.” (Yesehaq, cited in Edmonds 2003)

In the 1930s, the coronation of Haile Selassie I inspired Leonard P. Howell to proclaim Ras Tafari Makonnen as a living god among the poorest of the poor in Jamaica. Howell was strongly influenced by Marcus Garvey’s Ethiopianism, as he was a member of the UNIA. Through cultural processes initiated by Howell, RasTafari developed as both a spiritual system and a political critique—rejecting “Babylon” (colonial modernity) while affirming Africa, particularly Ethiopia, as Zion. It fused theology with anti-colonial consciousness, producing a worldview grounded in dignity, repatriation, and liberation. In this framing, RasTafari extends Garvey’s Ethiopianism into lived religion and cultural practice (Chevannes 1994; Edmonds 2003).

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church offered an ancient African expression of Christianity distinct from European colonial forms. Its later engagement with Jamaica deepened ties between Ethiopia and the diaspora.

Post the 1966 visit, the Ethiopian Church, in 1970, sent Abuna Yesehaq to establish the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Jamaica (Edmonds 2003). This marked the start of institutional cooperation between Ethiopia and RasTafari communities that ushered in widespread conversion, leading to the establishment of congregations.

Ethiopian World Federation and Diasporic Political Structure
“We, the Black peoples of the world, pledge unity and support for the independence of Ethiopia.” (EWF Constitution, 1937)

The Ethiopian World Federation (EWF), established under the patronage of Haile Selassie I, institutionalised relations between Ethiopia and the diaspora. In Jamaica, the EWF: (a) advanced Pan-African education, (b) promoted repatriation to Ethiopia, (c) coordinated diaspora support for Ethiopian sovereignty. The EWF also became a critical bridge between formal Ethiopian diplomacy and grassroots RasTafari organisation, translating Ethiopian state symbolism into diasporic political structure.

Organisational revival occurred during the 1950s within Jamaica. A key moment in this process was in 1955, when an African American officer of the EWF, Maymie Richardson, revitalised the EWF’s programme among Jamaican chapters (Chevannes 1994; Edmonds 2003). Richardson’s key message to the Jamaican members of the EWF was the land in Shashamane, Ethiopia, allocated by Selassie to Africans in the West who sought to repatriate back to Africa. This reinforced the ideological tone of Garvey’s Back-to-Africa campaign and legitimised the call for repatriation, authorising the EWF as an official institutional bridge between Jamaica and Ethiopia (Edmonds 2003).

By the early 1960s, many RasTafari groups associated with the EWF, as it provided both diplomatic formality and ideological clarity in an environment that violently suppressed RasTafari adherents, as seen in the Coral Gardens incident (“Bad Friday”) on 13 April 1963 (Barrett 1977; Chevannes 1994). This period marked a shift in RasTafari development from loosely organised spiritual communities into a more structured transnational movement anchored in Ethiopian institutional legitimacy and repatriation ideology, a shift that was given concrete expression by Selassie’s 1966 visit.

Back-to-Africa Movements: Queen Nyahbingi in the 6th Region of the AU
“The African diaspora is an essential part of Africa’s global family and future development.” (African Union 2012)

Nyahbingi spirituality, linked to Queen Nyabinghi of the East African resistance tradition, is a foundational RasTafari ceremony of drumming and chanting (Chevannes 1994). The Jamaican Times, on December 7, 1935, published an article written by an Italian journalist named Federico Philos, headlined “Secret society to destroy white,” with an image of Haile Selassie. This news report, regardless of its fictitious nature, was reinterpreted through Garveyism, Maroon spiritual systems, and biblical frameworks (Barrett 1977). Selassie was central to the establishment of the Organisation for African Unity (OAU), now known as the African Union (AU). In RasTafari philosophy, the AU remains a foundational international organisation in shaping a multipolar world as envisioned by Selassie’s leadership. The African Union recognises the global African diaspora as the “sixth region of Africa,” affirming its role in Africa’s future development and unity (African Union 2012). This aligns with the RasTafari cause for repatriation, as manifested by Selassie’s 1948 Shashamane land grant, with the Ethiopian World Federation as custodian of the land (Robinson 2009).

Return is understood as: (a) physical relocation to Africa, (b) cultural and spiritual reconnection, (c) political inclusion in continental Africa.

Modern Maroons: RasTafari Decolonial Praxis as Anti-Colonial Resistance in the Global South
“Maroon territories are not only spaces of refuge, but laboratories of autonomy where communities reconstruct life against the logics of domination.” A.L.Z. Guillén

Neocolonialism is described by Aníbal Quijano and Walter Mignolo as the reproduction of Eurocentric modes of being; they argue that colonial indoctrination persists through knowledge systems. RasTafari actively decolonises by re-centering Africa as a site and substance of knowledge production. Paulo Freire and Frantz Fanon frame liberation as praxis: action–reflection–action, where theory informs actions and actions inform theory combined with reflection. Samir Amin and Amilcar Cabral argue for post-colonial development rooted in cultural sovereignty, social justice, and economic freedom. Ennis Edmonds and Anthony Bogues describe RasTafari as a worldwide movement and global community of resistance, internationalised through reggae music, with Bob Marley as the cultural figurehead.

From the perspective of Nelson Maldonado-Torres, coloniality is sustained through ongoing structures of domination that resemble a continuous state of war against the colonised. Decoloniality, therefore, must be combative—actively confronting and dismantling these systems. Caribbean Maroon communities, established by runaway slaves, represent early embodiments of such praxis. They formed autonomous societies outside of colonial jurisdiction, practising resistance not only in thought but in lived spatial reality. Expanding this, scholars such as Arturo Escobar and decolonial perspectives linked to socioterritorial movements highlight that resistance is not abstract or metaphysical—it is grounded in land restoration, safe and secured space, reproduction of healthy community, and collective struggle. These perspectives frame Maroon communities as socioterritorial formations—territories of autonomy, sites of alternative governance, and living embodiments of decolonial futures.

Within this framework, RasTafari becomes a continuation of Maroon resistance: (a) a spiritual-territorial affirmation of Africa as Zion, (b) a cultural phenomenon that uproots Eurocentric indoctrination, (c) an ideological creed rooted in restorative justice, African dignity, and communal self-determination.

The 1966 decolonial moment emboldened this emancipatory vision. The visit of an African sovereign in the Caribbean both symbolically and physically linked Maroon traditions with continental sovereignty—bridging the divide between popular resistance and sovereign power.

Maldonado-Torres captures the urgency of this struggle:
“Decolonization is not simply about the end of colonial administrations, but about the overcoming of the logic of war, death, and dehumanization that sustains modernity.”

The 1966 visit represents decolonisation in process. RasTafari can be theorised as a global Maroon movement, anchored in Garvey’s Ethiopianism and shielded by Ethiopian sovereignty, African Union policies, and the Caribbean’s Black liberation traditions.

Bibliography

• A.L.Z. Guillén (n.d.). Maroon Socioterritoriality and Decolonial Resistance: Caribbean and Global Perspectives. (Unpublished decolonial manuscript / cited academic work in circulation)
• African Union (2012). The African Diaspora as the Sixth Region of Africa.
• Barrett, Leonard (1977). The RasTafarians.
• Bogues, Anthony (2003). Black Heretics, Black Prophets: Radical Political Intellectuals. Routledge.
• Cabral, Amilcar (1973). Return to the Source. Monthly Review Press.
• Chevannes, Barry (1994). RasTafari: Roots and Ideology. Syracuse University Press.
• Edmonds, Ennis (2003). RasTafari: From Outcasts to Culture Bearers. Oxford University Press.
• Ethiopian World Federation (1937). Constitution and By-Laws.
• Fanon, Frantz (1963). The Wretched of the Earth. Grove Press.
• Freire, Paulo (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Continuum.
• Garvey, Amy Jacques (1963). The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey. Africa World Press edition.
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• Martin, Tony (1983). Marcus Garvey, Hero: A First Biography. Majority Press.
• Mignolo, Walter (2011). The Darker Side of Western Modernity. Duke University Press.
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• Quijano, Aníbal (2000). “Coloniality of Power and Eurocentrism.” International Sociology.
• Robinson, Theodore (2009). The Pan-African Movement and the Ethiopian World Federation.