rasta and catholicism

STN

STN

sou'wester
I've always thought they served the dual purpose of slagging the Pope and using Rome to represent arch-imperialism/enslavement but perhaps it's just (or primarily) the former.
 
R

ripley

Well-known member
I went to a street party in Jamaica right before Easter. It was in bobo dread territory, and people kept shouting "burn batty-boy jesus!" and "burn the pope!"

I had picked up on the anti-christian strain - I had heard folk talk about christianity as a slave religion (and an enslavers religion)- but never in such graphic terms before..
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
STN said:
I think it's mentioned in Tim White's biography of Bob Marley, of which I no longer have a copy. It could of course be wholly untrue (or incorrectly remembered by me).
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ta.


ripley said:
I went to a street party in Jamaica right before Easter. It was in bobo dread territory, and people kept shouting "burn batty-boy jesus!" and "burn the pope!"
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yabby yu had better be careful 'round those parts then
 
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noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
They burn effigies of the pope and throw fireworks at people dressed as popes and bishops in Lewes (Sussex, UK) on bonfire night. It's pretty nuts.

IMG_4115_cliffe_pope.jpg
 
STN

STN

sou'wester
Matt - I had a flick through the book in Foyles bookshop last night - the incident is only described very briefly (apparently Tosh and a friend, possibly Free I, were discussing it immediately prior to the murders at Tosh's home) but it appears that it occurred in Miami in (I'd guess) 1987. I don't think the Pope was actually present, but lightning struck the altar stand that he was due to speak at.
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
STN said:
Matt - I had a flick through the book in Foyles bookshop last night - the incident is only described very briefly (apparently Tosh and a friend, possibly Free I, were discussing it immediately prior to the murders at Tosh's home) but it appears that it occurred in Miami in (I'd guess) 1987. I don't think the Pope was actually present, but lightning struck the altar stand that he was due to speak at.
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cheers for that. may investigate further. not sure why.
 
D

dHarry

Well-known member
Mr. Tea said:
Ahaha, now I'm imagining Ian Paisley as a truly rightchus! dub producer... :)
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ripley said:
I went to a street party in Jamaica right before Easter. It was in bobo dread territory, and people kept shouting "burn batty-boy jesus!" and "burn the pope!"

I had picked up on the anti-christian strain - I had heard folk talk about christianity as a slave religion (and an enslavers religion)- but never in such graphic terms before..
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miss this Pope-roasting reference upthread?:
me said:
This is a classic of religious tolerance - Lee Perry's Jah-Jah Ah Natty Dread on Return Of The Super-ape:

"Because the pope is a bald-head,
But Jah-Jah ah natty dread,
Gonna set a bonfire,
Gonna put him on the wire"

(- could be the theme song for the Rev. Ian Paisley!)
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M

mms

sometimes
noel emits said:
They burn effigies of the pope and throw fireworks at people dressed as popes and bishops in Lewes (Sussex, UK) on bonfire night. It's pretty nuts.

IMG_4115_cliffe_pope.jpg
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yes it's insane, and the hang the popery things hanging across the streets the constant bangers being thrown at you, it's something to do with celebrating the deaths of the protestant martyrs and its pantomime more than anything else. it's literally like stepping back 100's of years except with heavily protected cops in visors and flame proof cossies.
http://www.lewesbonfirecouncil.org.uk/

they also burn a public hate figure. it really is proper job carnival in the medieval sense.

its not like shankill road in northern ireland, which i visited (as well as falls road) during the 12 days last year though, its all historical reenactment, the pope figure they burn is the one at the time of the death of the 'martyrs'. Arguable though that all religious intolerance is a case of historical reenactment to some extent, constantly repeating the 'fact' of the crime or wrongdoing in order to justify it, no matter how long ago it was.
 
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luka

luka

Well-known member
i was listening to an interview with macka b on rodigans show a few years ago and rodigan asked him about it. he had two main points. one was the catholic churches role in colonialism the other was that the vatican has in its possession a large number of african artifacts, treasures etc which it refuses to hand back.
 
M

mms

sometimes
luka said:
i was listening to an interview with macka b on rodigans show a few years ago and rodigan asked him about it. he had two main points. one was the catholic churches role in colonialism the other was that the vatican has in its possession a large number of african artifacts, treasures etc which it refuses to hand back.
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i guess thats also denying them a dignified history too, as artifacts and treasures are articles in piecing together a kind of empirical history.
 
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