REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON THE RASTAFARI MOVEMENT IN DOMINICA

Greetings Idren and Sistren

I am solicitng information from Ones and Ones for inclusion in my research for my book DREAD, RASTAFARI AND ETHIOPIA, THE DEFINITIVE HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE BEGININGS AND RISE OF THE RASTAFARI MOVEMENT IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF DOMINICAThe book seeks to throw new light on such epic chapters in Dominica’s history as the passage of the notorious Prohibited and Unlawful Societies and Associations Act 1974(The Dread Act) by the Patrick John administration in 1974. The act was intended to disgrace, and eliminate the Dreads, but what it did, was to give them a legitimacy that distinguished the brothers from their Rastafarian counterparts in Jamaica. Still, it is ironic that eloquent as he was, on the jargon used by the ‘Dreads’, and by the very definition the then Premier John summarised the meaning of ‘Dread‘, as terrorist, that less than seven years later he would be found guilty of treason and branded a terrorist himself.The book also revisit’s the historic trial of black activist, and thinker, Desmond Trotter and his subsequent death sentence for the killing of an American, John Jirasek which was deemed by activist worldwide as a conspiracy to silence the leading organiser of the dreads and compares this to the killing of the father of, Lenox Honychurch, Dominica’s leading historian and author, during an altercations between the brethren and the police in the hills above Roseau, and we speak with Eric Joseph, who was released from prison after 27 years for the murder. Again, no one until now, has been brave enough to ‘sit in the dust with the brethren’ and ‘reason’ with the brethren to go beyond the stereo-type and systemic propaganda published by the John administration’s radio station, and sympathetic weeklies.

DREAD, RASTAFARI AND ETHIOPIA: The definitive historical report of the beginning and the rise of the RastafarI movement in the Commonwealth of Dominica. Will appeal to millions of individuals and institutions around the world for different reasons. Firstly, it will strike a responsive chord with over 250,000 Dominicans on the island and in the Diaspora, many who were not even born, or who were young children when the events in this book were took place. They are fascinated with the Rastafari Movement and need to get the facts from an authoritative voice this author.

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Rastafari Sellassie

Ras Albert and Empress Tempie