Marcus Garvey Was A Staunch Critic of Haile Selassie I

Most Rastafarians either won't admit or are unaware that Marcus Garvey absolutely despised Emperor Haile Selassie I.

Rastafarian-based information and UNIA-sourced information concerning Marcus Garvery both produce very different narratives about Emperor Haile Selassie I.

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Hear Me Out First

     As a Rastafarian who doesn't even like to identify with the label "Rastafarian," I unfortunately do use this label when pressed for time and trying to overly simplify things while conversing with those uneducated on H.I.M. Haile Selassie I.

     Among the non-Rasta general public, I mostly have to use the label "Rastafarian" concerning myself, especially when answering "Why do you wear that thing on your head?", etc.

Indoctrination Via Doctrine

     The majority of Rastafari mansions/houses have a doctrine, basically a set of rules, ideals or precepts for those want to "fully join the community," whatever that means.

     Most Rastafari become what they are by way of influence or guidance from one of the mansions, whether directly or indirectly. All Rastafari mansions I have encountered accept the concept of some form of a Trinity or triune God-form.

     In Christianity, the Trinity is taught as consisting of the Father (God), the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit. The Trinity within Rastafari mansions differs, but usually contains Emperor Haile Selassie I and any of the following: Prince Emmanuel, the Honorable Marcus Garvey, the Holy Spirit, God and Shepherd Athlyi Rogers.

The Threat

     Considering Marcus Garvey is part of the Trinity for many Rastafarians, one can imagine how threatening it might be to give a criticism of this man, especially from within the Rastafari community.

     I am first and foremost a seeker of the truth. When I discover a historical or modern-day figure which interests me, I make sure to research from all angles.

     For Marcus Garvey, the most public criticisms of him were completely unfounded, the Black Star Liner "scandal" being the most prominent example.

     In my early days of Ras Tafari research, however, I found a scathing criticism of H.I.M. Emperor Haile Selassie I penned by none other than Marcus Garvey himself.

     Before I had fully accepted the divinity of H.I.M. Haile Selassie I had already already discovered the degrading words contained within Garvey's "Black Man - London" editorial piece titled "The Failure Of Haile Selassie As Emperor."

The Truth Is Always Best

     I am thankful for this discovery though, as it sent me on a one-away trod, discovering the life of Ras Tafari through my own eyes instead of being coerced down a particular path by a Rastafari mansion.

     I would discover under-apprecialoved cornerstones of the Rastafari movement because of this information.

     Figures such as Leonard Howell, Athyli Rogers, Joseph Hibbert, Archibald Dunkley and Robert Hinds are virtually unknown with the Rastafari movement, but claimed Haile Selassie's divinity long before Marcus Garvey's prophetic words

“Look to Africa, when a black king shall be crowned for the day of deliverance is near!”

     These men asserted H.I.M. Haile Selassie I's divinity based on information they discovered within their Christian bibles. These men also revered H.I.M. Haile Selassie I, so I have a hard time placing Marcus Garvey above these men where the Rastafari movement is concerned.

Pan-Africanism Heroes

     It can certainly be said that both Marcus Garvey and H.I.M. Haile Selassie I are both Pan-Africanism heroes, so I want to make it clear I am not tarnishing Garvey's Pan-Africanism record, his work in this field is undeniable.

     I am only stating that I don't include Marcus Garvey as part of a triune Godhead or Rastafari movement hero within my own personal livity. Garvey repeatedly called Selassie I a "despot," and also made it clear he wasn't referring to Selassie when he said to look to Africa for a king to be crowned.

     The truth shall set you free, so I want to share Garvey's editorial piece in full, and provide you the opportunity to decide for yourself what it represents and means to you. For me, it doesn't take away from anyone's legacy, and it's only a problem if the Rastafari community refuses to accept this document as true, as well as Garvey's opinion of Selassie as both a man and a leader.

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Black Man – London

March/April 1937

an Editorial by Marcus Garvey

THE FAILURE OF HAILE SELASSIE AS EMPEROR

^{When the facts of history are written Haile Selassie of Abyssinia will go down as a great coward who ran away from his country to save his skin and left the millions of his countrymen to struggle through a terrible war that he brought upon them because of his political ignorance and his racial disloyalty.}

^{It is a pity that a man of the limited intellectual calibre and weak political character like Haile Selassie became Emperor of Abyssinia at so crucial a time in the political history of the world. Unfortunately, Abyssinia lost the controlling influence of a political personality of patriotic racial character like the late Menelik, whose loyalty to his race and devotion to his country excelled all his other qualities, to the extent that he was able to use that very strength to continuously safeguard the interests of the Ethiopian Empire. What he did so well to preserve, a cringing, white slave hero worshipper, visionless and disloyal to his country, threw away. This is the impression the serious minded political student forms of the conduct of the ex-Emperor of Abyssinia.}

^{EVERY NEGRO ASHAMED}

^{Every Negro who is proud of his race must be ashamed of the way in which Haile Selassie surrendered himself to the white wolves of Europe. These statements may be considered very severe, and in fact, they are. We could have been otherwise apologetic and sympathetic, but that would have been only if we were dealing with a Coptic Priest or a Religious Monk and not a[n] Emperor who held and presided over the political trust of twelve million people of his own country, and the political destiny of the entire Negro race. This little misguided Emperor could not realise that he held in his hands the political trust of the hundreds of millions of Negroes of the world, men and women, who were looking up toward the firm establishment of political sovereignty, and that Ethiopia, like Liberia and Haiti were to them prizes of glory to be perpetuated and strengthened in the maintenance of the dignity of that black race that other men have claimed to be incompetent, inferior and unworthy, which every black man must disprove.}

^{LOOKED WITH HOPE}

^{When the war started in Abyssinia all Negro nationalists looked with hope to Haile Selassie. They spoke for him, they prayed for him, they sung for him, they did everything to hold up his hands, as Aaron did for Moses; but whilst the Negro peoples of the world were praying for the success of Abyssinia this little Emperor was undermining the fabric of his own kingdom by playing the fool with white men, having them advising him[,] having them telling him what to do, how to surrender, how to call off the successful thrusts of his Rases against the Italian invaders. Yes, they were telling him how to prepare his flight, and like an imbecilic child he followed every advice and then ultimately ran away from his country to England, leaving his people to be massacred by the Italians, and leaving the serious white world to laugh at every Negro and repeat the charge and snare – “he is incompetent,” “we told you so.” Indeed Haile Selassie has proved the incompetence of the Negro for political authority, but thank God there are Negroes who realise that Haile Selassie did not represent the truest qualities of the Negro race. How could he, when he wanted to play white? how could he, when he surrounded himself with white influence? how could he, when in a modem world, and in a progressive civilization, he preferred a slave State of black men than a free democratic country where the black citizens could rise to the same opportunities as white citizens in their democracies?}

^{TELL THE TRUTH}

^{The truth must be told so that the white world will realise that it was not the pride of the Negro that surrendered in Abyssinia. It was the disloyalty of a single man who was too silly to take pride in his race, who played such a game as to disgrace the political integrity of a noble people. The Negroes of Abyssinia and of the world are satisfied however that Abyssinia was not conquered by Italy and the European forces of Mussolini. Abyssinia was only conquered by the black levies of Italy. The Askaris have really been the victors in Abyssinia. [Rodolfo] Graziani only marched into Addis Ababa after he had made sure of the advanced guard of the Askaris. Every battle that the Italians won in Abyssinia resulted from the advanced charge of the Askaris. It was black men fighting black men, and this was made possible in Abyssinia because the regime of Haile Selassie had given a bad taste to the mouth, not only of the blacks of Abyssinia but of those of the surrounding territories. They felt that they had a cause against the Amharic white loving Emperor who liked to chain and flog black men, and whose brutality to them gave Mussolini the cause to fool the world that he was bestowing a blessing upon the people of Abyssinia by freeing them.}

^{NO SLAVES}

^{It was a piece of impertinence to suggest that black men should be held as slaves. We must admit that we glorified Haile Selassie when the war started, fought his battles to win international support, but we ever felt deep down in our hearts that he was a slave master. We had hoped that if Abyssinia had won that we would have forced the Government of Abyssinia to free the black whom they held as slaves. We would have preferred this than seeing the country taken by Mussolini or any European power; but now that the country is temporarily lost and the Emperor has cowardly exiled himself, the truth must be told.}

^{WHAT RIGHT HAS HE?}

^{The future freedom of Abyssinia must be built upon the highest principles of democracy. That is why it is preferable for the Abyssinian Negroes and the Negroes of the world to work for the restoration and freedom of the country without the assistance of Haile Selassie, because at best he is but a slave master. The Negroes of the Western World whose forefathers suffered for three hundred years under the terrors of slavery ought to be able to appreciate what freedom means. Surely they cannot feel justified in supporting any system that would hold their brothers in slavery in another country whilst they are enjoying the benefits of freedom elsewhere. The Africans who are free can also appreciate the position of slaves in Abyssinia. What right has the Emperor to keep slaves when all the democratic sections of the world were free, when men had the right to live, to develop, to expand, to enjoy all the benefits of human liberty[?]The Emperor who has been exiled in Europe must have seen the civilization of Europe. In England where he lives he sees that men are not flogged and chained and kicked because of their colour or because of their condition, but where true human liberty guarantees to every man the happiest pursuit he can bring to himself. It has been reported that he is leaving England for Syria, where a large number of Abyssinian refugees are living. There is an interpretation that the decision to leave England and to live among “his people?” in Syria is to perpetuate his divine majesty in the presence of that king worship that he doesn’t get in England, where men look at others as equals and not as masters by divine right. In truth, the Emperor is out of place in democratic England. He wants to be once more in the environment of the feudal Monarch who looks down upon his slaves and serfs with contempt. Except he changes the attitude of thinking himself better than the Negro who constitutes the larger number of Ethiopia and profit by the experience he has gained, he should not be a fit person to be in authority in the very country in which he was born. After all, Haile Selassie is just an ordinary man like any other human being. What right has he to hold men as slaves? It is only the misfortune of the slaves that causes him to be a slave master. Negroes who have the dignity of their race at heart resent the impertinence of anyone holding the blacks as slaves. Haile Selassie ought to realise this and abolish his foolish dream of being an Emperor of slaves and serfs and try to be an Emperor of noble men, and for him to be that he must himself be the noblest of them all. He hasn’t proved his nobility in the war between Italy and Abyssinia. Ras Desta proved to be the Lord, the Nobleman of Ethiopia whilst Halle Selassie proved a cringing coward!}

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You Decide

     Even if not a Rasta, I would think a Pan-Africanist would still be upset by some of this information. It's an inaccurate account of World War II and how hard H.I.M. Haile Selassie worked to bring the world back to peace, as well as rescue I-thiopia from the Italians hellbent on Catholicism colonization.

     Garvey is so anti-monarchy, it's hard to believe he even made such a statement about looking to Africa for a king to be crowned. I would imagine if Garvey lived through the 1970's, he would've support Mengistu Mariam's Dergue genocide, which supposedly liberated I-thiopia from monarchic hands.

     I would love to know how many of you Steemian Caribbean citizens, African-Americans and Pan-Africanists were aware of this document, and I'd also love to hear your thoughts and feelings about it.

BLESS UP I-TINUALLY

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🙏 THANKS FOR READING 🙏

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