Rastafarian Political Power

I think that the Rastafarian movement is strong because of its creativeness. It created trends like the dreadlocks in order to contradict conventional hairstyles of the middle and upper classes. They used reggae as a medium to express their thoughts and feelings about oppression and their neglected situation. They even created a variation of English in an effort to distinguish themselves from the broader culture.

However, just as its creativeness made it strong, it also made it vulnerable to weakness. I think that because the larger culture in Jamaica adopted some of the Rastafarian practices and customs the movement lost some of its power. People finally acknowledged that it was a culture and became familiarized with it. So familiarized they became with it that they acquired some of their traditions such as the dreadlocks and reggae music.

In my opinion, this probably caused the movement to lose some, but not all, of its political power. Politicians and the upper classes became habituated to the Rastas and no longer considered them an extreme threat to the stability of the colonial system. Although the Rastas were considered in politics and gained recognition worldwide, I still think that their political power was somewhat drained because people began using their customs for purposes that had nothing to do with rebellion. For example, the tourist video of Jamaica had some Rastafarian characteristics, but excluded their significance from a Rastafarian perspective in an effort to appeal to tourists. Its creativeness appealed to people worldwide, but its significance became obscured, causing the Rastas to lose some power.