On Sunday, October 6, 2024, the Rastafari community will commemorate a historic milestone as members come together to celebrate the first anniversary of the Rastafari Mansions and Organizations (RMO) umbrella organisation.

RMO’s establishment a year ago was guided by the mandate of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, who called on Ethiopians globally to unite and centralize for enduring influence and power, organisers said in a release.

The anniversary celebration will coincide with the fifth edition of RMO’s signature event, Harambee Hall, taking place at the Louise Bennett Garden Theatre from 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM. This gathering promises a rich cultural experience, featuring the distinctive drumming and chanting traditions of various mansions. Attendees can also explore a Rastafari ital farmers’ market, showcasing fresh, organic, and pesticide-free produce, along with authentic Rastafari arts, crafts, and ital cuisine.

In addition to cultural displays, the Harambee Hall will feature a town hall-style reasoning session where RMO will share updates on its progress and initiatives, including outstanding issues affecting the Rastafari community such as locks in schools and vaccination exemptions. The session will serve as a platform for dialogue with the broader Rastafari community on pressing issues. A highlight of the event will be a presentation by Dr K’adamawe Knife, Director of the Office of Social Entrepreneurship at the University of the West Indies (UWI), who will speak on Ital Certification Standards as part of the overall RMO economic plan.

“Rastafari livity—encompassing music, crafts, and ital food—has been widely exploited for decades, both locally and globally,” states Dr Marcus Goffe, RMO executive member and Intellectual Property Rights Attorney. “This event, along with our ongoing Harambee Hall gatherings, offers a pivotal opportunity for the Rastafari community to support the establishment of a formal certification system for Rastafari that will ensure that our community maintains trusted quality standards for our produce and products, while also securing financial benefits from the commercial use of our ideology, imagery, and symbolism.”

Established in 2023, RMO was formed to unite the existing Rastafari mansions and organisations, consolidating the community’s collective assets and resources to fulfill the Rastafari creed and facilitate economic independence and sovereignty.

The RMO currently includes one mansion and 13 organisations that have ratified its constitution. RMO has placed unification and centralisation, reparations and repatriation, economic development including food and water security, at the forefront of its mission.

It simultaneously aims to foster self-reliance and collective security within the Rastafari community in Jamaica. The initiative to bring together Rastafari farmers and artisans is part of a broader strategy to safeguard food quality and availability amidst increasing global uncertainties.

The anniversary event aims to broaden this membership, encouraging wider consultation and engagement to realize one aim, one voice, and one destiny in advancing the Rastafari movement.