Rastafari youth have been advised not to repeat the mistakes of their elders. 

An Attorney at Law in the United States of America, Empress Marina Blake said, “the Elders of Rastafari had made some miscalculations and even some grievous mistakes and I am calling on the youths to not repeat our mistakes, but to correct those errors.” 

Empress Marina added, “Some of our mistakes included a complete repudiation of formal education, referring to it as colonial indoctrination, not realizing that we could have harnessed that education in such a way as to benefit our community and our race.”

 Speaking at the 132nd Birthday Celebration of HIM Haile Selassie I,  she said  “We took a sledge hammer to something when a more delicate and selective approach would have been better. We also completely rejected working in, or engaging with, the oppressive capitalist. Yet, we were in fact engaged with the capitalist system, but only at the lowest rung.”

She added that “It would have been better to engage so as to gain experience, skills, access to capital which we could then use to fund our revolutionary movement.” She added, “We severely underestimated the importance of money to the revolutionary struggle for zeal without sufficient knowledge is like a runaway horse.”

She concluded that, “We the Elders, in our mistaken approach, inadvertently created a mindset of victimhood, dependency and waiting for a Savior to change our situation, rather than recognizing that we have the power to save ourselves. The responsibility is entirely ours.”

The 132nd Birthday Celebration was organised by the Rastafari Council, Ghana at Rising Phoenix in Accra.

Other speakers at the celebration included Jah Gold, Glen Zebi and the Rastafari Council, Ghana President, Ahuma Bosco Ocansey aka Daddy Bosco. Special guests at the event included Stuart Brown aka African Star Elder Djabi and veteran media personality Black Santino.

There were performances by Osagyefo, Konkarah Jahvybes and Empress Fya Lioness. Other performers were Aklerh, Empress Sancious and Jefri King.

DJs on rotation were Nature One and Ras Nene on the Mighty Black Waves Sound.