In August 2008 an eccentric Muammar Gaddafi was conferred upon the title king of kings of Africa by more than 200 kings, shiekhs and traditional African chieftainship. However, the authenticity of these chiefs was brought to question imme
diately by Uganda's Head of state Yoweri Museveni who has been an antagonist of the Libya's longest serving State leader. Apparently some of the chiefs were from his East African country. The ceremony took place in Libya's old city of Benghazi seven months ahead of the 12th African Union summit, whose main agenda was to be the integration of Africa into a confederation government, with one currency and Federal Head of States. The summit held on February 6th 2009 elected Col. Gaddafi to head it for the one year term till 2010.Time at which he plans to marshal for faster integration among the A.U member states.
Muammar Gaddafi may have been making a bold statement to fellow African leaders to either hurry up things concerning the integration process or was just showing off his radical reforms he wishes Africa should take up on leadership. He has in his part done away with the cabinet form of governance in his country, and now the form of governance existing is according to his Green Book a three volumes ideal guide on the Arab Jamahiriya, a socialistic-cum-brotherhood kind of constitution. In Jamahiriya the councils are directly responsible for and answerable to the citizenry, who then determine what form of leadership they desire and how state resources should be spent and distributed. In this system of self-rule there are no political parties and no National assembly.
Whatever Gaddafi meant by crowning himself such a dignified title may no
t have had a shake on conventionals like it did on the Rastafari faithfuls across Africa and undoubtedly the World. Rastafarians hold at their core belief the prophecy of Jamaican civil rights movement leader, Marcus Garvey that the coronation of an African emperor would signify the ripeness of time for all African children scattered in the Diaspora to converge homewards, Africa. They further believe that this came to pass with the coronation of Haile-Selassie I on November 2nd 1930, seventy-two nations were in attendance at the St.Giorgis Cathedral in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Ethiopian monarch was coronated as King of Kings, Lord of Lords1, The conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Elect of God, Defender of the Faith and Bearer of the King David Throne, Blessed King of Israel in a royal ritual conducted by forty-nine Ethiopian Orthodox Church Archbishops, priests, monks and before 800 guests amidst world diplomats, Ambassadors and leaders. Among key dignitaries present was envoy to H.M. the King of England and Emperor of India; H.R.H. The Prince Henry Duke of Gloucester, the Duke had the privilege of unveiling a statue of Menelik II prior the ceremony. Also attending was H.R.H. the Prince of Udine, the envoy of H.M. the King of Italy, H.E. Baron von Waldthausen, envoy of the German Republic, envoys of Japan, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Greece, Turkey, U.S.A, Poland, France and Egypt.
Revered as God-reincarnate, Haile-Selassie I is believed to be the saviour2 of the Black race, the messiah from the imminent danger of what His dreadlocked followers term as the 'Great Black Slaughter', referring to the annihilation of the African race by the wicked forces of dirty Babylon (New World Order). Rastafari as a Movement was founded in the 1940s and although popular among the Caribbean circles, its roots can be traced in Africa. The faith's tenets are not always strict however there are those that are universally accepted to be fundamental. They include a vegetarian dietary, growing of dreadlocks or wearing ones hair matted into naps, smoking or the use of ganja-marijuana considered as the Holy Herb given to a righteous man in service to the Creator and following the Teaching of His Majesty Haile-Selassie I. These teaching are lessons derived from the Emperor's speeches, way of life and writings. Rastafarians or Rastas in short occasionally read the Bible, but with reservations on the precept of Christ being White or of Caucasian extraction. They perceive, understand (in their case overstand) and interpret the Scriptures from a Black point of view. For instance they purport that Jesus was Black or of African3 stock and that he had dreadlocks, as he was a Nazarene bearing the vow of separation from God-Jah. Also all his disciples were black and matted their hair and grew their beards. Rastas dispute vehemently the declaration of the demise of their God-King Haile-Selassie I claiming it a media hoax to control the movement from spreading. His reformist Reign was toppled by the Red Terror Military Dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1974 while the Empire was grappling with fuel crises. U.K. based Reggae Artist Macka B challenges in his song Haile Haile 'Dem say Selassie gone, but dem never show no evidence, no body, no dental records, no DNA, very mysterious...'confirming the general consensus of many dreads regarding this issue.
Reggae music still remains the most preferred media of evangelism among Rastafarians. The genre was popularized by Bob Marley and the Wailers who took the Island's music admixture of RnB and strong African drumming to the world's top charts. Today reggae music is celebrated alongside Rock, Hip-Hop and RnB as a contending genre at the Grammy Music Awards since its debut in 1985. Black Uhuru's Anthem album was the first reggae album to win the coveted award, ever since reggae has been adequately represented. This in conjunction with the heavy spiritually infused lyrics, tagged with anti-corruption, pro-life, truth, peace, love and unity might be the reason why British Broadcasting Corporation, B.B.C infers that Rastafarism is the fastest growing new religions in the world.
So as the new A.U Chairperson, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi toys around with the idiosyncratical notion that he's the newly crowned king of kings, someone should ask him this question, King fe oom?
1 Revelation 19:16
2 Revelation 5:13
3 Revelation 1:14-15
References:
My Life and Ethiopia's Progress;
An Autobiography of Emperor of Ethiopia Haile-Selassie I
www.rastaites.com
www.africa-union.org
www.en.wikipedia.org
www.zimdaily.com
www.nazret.com
www.allafrica.com
diately by Uganda's Head of state Yoweri Museveni who has been an antagonist of the Libya's longest serving State leader. Apparently some of the chiefs were from his East African country. The ceremony took place in Libya's old city of Benghazi seven months ahead of the 12th African Union summit, whose main agenda was to be the integration of Africa into a confederation government, with one currency and Federal Head of States. The summit held on February 6th 2009 elected Col. Gaddafi to head it for the one year term till 2010.Time at which he plans to marshal for faster integration among the A.U member states.Muammar Gaddafi may have been making a bold statement to fellow African leaders to either hurry up things concerning the integration process or was just showing off his radical reforms he wishes Africa should take up on leadership. He has in his part done away with the cabinet form of governance in his country, and now the form of governance existing is according to his Green Book a three volumes ideal guide on the Arab Jamahiriya, a socialistic-cum-brotherhood kind of constitution. In Jamahiriya the councils are directly responsible for and answerable to the citizenry, who then determine what form of leadership they desire and how state resources should be spent and distributed. In this system of self-rule there are no political parties and no National assembly.
Whatever Gaddafi meant by crowning himself such a dignified title may no
t have had a shake on conventionals like it did on the Rastafari faithfuls across Africa and undoubtedly the World. Rastafarians hold at their core belief the prophecy of Jamaican civil rights movement leader, Marcus Garvey that the coronation of an African emperor would signify the ripeness of time for all African children scattered in the Diaspora to converge homewards, Africa. They further believe that this came to pass with the coronation of Haile-Selassie I on November 2nd 1930, seventy-two nations were in attendance at the St.Giorgis Cathedral in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Ethiopian monarch was coronated as King of Kings, Lord of Lords1, The conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Elect of God, Defender of the Faith and Bearer of the King David Throne, Blessed King of Israel in a royal ritual conducted by forty-nine Ethiopian Orthodox Church Archbishops, priests, monks and before 800 guests amidst world diplomats, Ambassadors and leaders. Among key dignitaries present was envoy to H.M. the King of England and Emperor of India; H.R.H. The Prince Henry Duke of Gloucester, the Duke had the privilege of unveiling a statue of Menelik II prior the ceremony. Also attending was H.R.H. the Prince of Udine, the envoy of H.M. the King of Italy, H.E. Baron von Waldthausen, envoy of the German Republic, envoys of Japan, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Greece, Turkey, U.S.A, Poland, France and Egypt.Revered as God-reincarnate, Haile-Selassie I is believed to be the saviour2 of the Black race, the messiah from the imminent danger of what His dreadlocked followers term as the 'Great Black Slaughter', referring to the annihilation of the African race by the wicked forces of dirty Babylon (New World Order). Rastafari as a Movement was founded in the 1940s and although popular among the Caribbean circles, its roots can be traced in Africa. The faith's tenets are not always strict however there are those that are universally accepted to be fundamental. They include a vegetarian dietary, growing of dreadlocks or wearing ones hair matted into naps, smoking or the use of ganja-marijuana considered as the Holy Herb given to a righteous man in service to the Creator and following the Teaching of His Majesty Haile-Selassie I. These teaching are lessons derived from the Emperor's speeches, way of life and writings. Rastafarians or Rastas in short occasionally read the Bible, but with reservations on the precept of Christ being White or of Caucasian extraction. They perceive, understand (in their case overstand) and interpret the Scriptures from a Black point of view. For instance they purport that Jesus was Black or of African3 stock and that he had dreadlocks, as he was a Nazarene bearing the vow of separation from God-Jah. Also all his disciples were black and matted their hair and grew their beards. Rastas dispute vehemently the declaration of the demise of their God-King Haile-Selassie I claiming it a media hoax to control the movement from spreading. His reformist Reign was toppled by the Red Terror Military Dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1974 while the Empire was grappling with fuel crises. U.K. based Reggae Artist Macka B challenges in his song Haile Haile 'Dem say Selassie gone, but dem never show no evidence, no body, no dental records, no DNA, very mysterious...'confirming the general consensus of many dreads regarding this issue.
Reggae music still remains the most preferred media of evangelism among Rastafarians. The genre was popularized by Bob Marley and the Wailers who took the Island's music admixture of RnB and strong African drumming to the world's top charts. Today reggae music is celebrated alongside Rock, Hip-Hop and RnB as a contending genre at the Grammy Music Awards since its debut in 1985. Black Uhuru's Anthem album was the first reggae album to win the coveted award, ever since reggae has been adequately represented. This in conjunction with the heavy spiritually infused lyrics, tagged with anti-corruption, pro-life, truth, peace, love and unity might be the reason why British Broadcasting Corporation, B.B.C infers that Rastafarism is the fastest growing new religions in the world.
So as the new A.U Chairperson, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi toys around with the idiosyncratical notion that he's the newly crowned king of kings, someone should ask him this question, King fe oom?
1 Revelation 19:16
2 Revelation 5:13
3 Revelation 1:14-15
References:
My Life and Ethiopia's Progress;
An Autobiography of Emperor of Ethiopia Haile-Selassie I
www.rastaites.com
www.africa-union.org
www.en.wikipedia.org
www.zimdaily.com
www.nazret.com
www.allafrica.com
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