Eastern Illinois University The Keep Faculty Research and Creative Activity Communication Studies January 1998 International reggae, democratic socialism, and the secularization of the Rastafarian movement, 1972–1980 Stephen A. King Eastern Illinois University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://thekeep.eiu.edu/commstudies_fac Part of the Communication Commons, and the Music Commons Recommended Citation King, Stephen A., "International reggae, democratic socialism, and the secularization of the Rastafarian movement, 1972–1980" (1998). Faculty Research and Creative Activity. 12. http://thekeep.eiu.edu/commstudies_fac/12 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Communication Studies at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Research and Creative Activity by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. International reggae, democratic socialism, and the secularization of the Rastafarian movement, 1972–1980 Stephen A. King During the 1970s, the Jamaican people appeared to rise “up in rebellion and revolt to . improve their social conditions” (Panton 31). After a decade of struggle against an increasingly repressive Jamaican Labour Party (JLP), Jamaica’s poor and dissident groups embraced the candidacy of People’s National Party (PNP) leader Michael Manley, the son of former Prime Minister Norman Manley, for Prime Minister in 1972. During the national election campaign, Manley attempted to appeal to the Rastafarians and Jamaica’s Black Power movement. Manley even adopted the Biblical name “Joshua” and promised the Jamaican people deliverance from oppression. Two years after winning the election, Manley formally declared Jamaica a “democratic socialist” country.