Leave Babylon: The Trope of Babylon in Rastafarian Discourse

[BT 6.1 (2008) 46-60] ISSN (print) 1476-9948

doi: 10.1558/blth2008v6il.46 ISSN (online) 1743-1670

L E A V E B A B Y L O N : T H E T R O P E O F B A B Y L O N I N

RASTAFARIAN DISCOURSE

Steed V. Davidson Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary

2770 Marin Avenue Berkeley, CA 94708

USA [email protected]

ABSTRACT

This article explores the usage of the term "Babylon" in Rastafarian liberation discourse as distinct from the exodus motif normally associated with theologies of liberation. This usage comes mainly from Marcus Garvey's notion of a "Black Zionism" that pictured Zion as a place of restoration. In its usage in the prophetic books of Jeremiah and Isaiah, Zion serves as the foil for Babylon and in many instances the two topoi are paired. The article argues that the Rastafarian reading of the biblical texts, more so the prophets and not the book of Revelation, generated the notion of Babylon as the evil empire, any place outside of Africa as Babylon, and the British Empire as Babylon with Zion as its counterpoint. An exploration of the music of Bob Marley, as representative of Rastafarian discourse, also reflects the pairing of Babylon-Zion, as seen in the prophetic texts.

Keywords: Babylon, Bob Marley, Marcus Garvey, Rastafarian biblical herme-neutics, Zion.

Scholars have long since discovered the central place of "Babylon" in Rastafarian discourse. Even to the uninitiated and casual observer it is clear that there is a level of vehemence that surrounds the usage of this term in the discursive world of the Rastafarian. There is general agreement that the social, economic and political circumstances of 1930s Jamaica gave rise to the Rastafarian movement and their invective against colonial society.1

1. Among the pioneering studies is the government commissioned work of 1960 that sought an insight into the movement as a means of responding to various social crises that

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Davidson Leave Babylon 47

A number of scholarly works explore how social and historical conditions in

Jamaica at the time suggest the use of biblical imagery.2 In addition, other

important works provide reflection on how biblical imagery is used in Rasta

farian discourse as well as work that traces a Rastafarian biblical hermeneutic.3

Sufficient sources trace the development of the movement as a unique vehicle

of social resistance and change. The body of work on Rastafarian discourse and

its usage of the term "Babylon" is not something that I wish to challenge or to

supplant in a radical way. Rather, this work seeks to extend it by interrogating

the choice of this particular trope and to pay close attention to the biblical texts

themselves. In other words, while there are studies that argue that the social

conditions of colonial Jamaican society provide an obvious link with the bib

lical trope there is little that reflects on how the biblical image proves useful for

Rastafarian thought. Therefore, this article aims to explore the biblical trope

and its related concepts that make it suited to the Rastafarian mind.

It is necessary to place some limits on this article and to acknowledge a few

of its deficiencies at the outset. This article assumes knowledge of the historical

development of the Rastafarian movement, as well as some of its key theo

logical concepts, and will only make reference to these as needed.4 Not much

attention will be given to describing how "Babylon" functions in Rastafarian

discourse nor disputing what others have contributed in this regard, since

Ennis Edmonds has done a sufficient task with this in his book.5

This article would have been more relevant if it relied on primary sources

and drew from direct observations of actual Rastafarian discourse. It draws

developed around the movement. M. G. Smith, Roy Augier and Rex M. Nettleford, Report

on the Rastafari Movement in Kingston, Jamaica (Social and Economic Studies; Kingston: Univer

sity of the West Indies, 1960); Barry Chevannes, Rastafari: Roots and Ideology (Syracuse, NY:

Syracuse University Press, 1994).

2. Joseph Owens, Dread: The Rastafarians of Jamaica (London: Heinemann, 1984);

Leonard E. Barrett, Sr., The Rastafarians: Sounds of Cultural Dissonance (Boston: Beacon, 1988);

Ennis B. Edmonds, "Dread Τ In-a-Babylon: Ideological Resistance and Cultural Revitaliza-

tion," in Chanting Down Babylon: The Rastafari Reader, eds Nathaniel Samuel Murrell, William

David Spencer and Adrian Anthony McFarlane (Philadelphia: Temple University Press,

1998).

3. Nathaniel Samuel Murrell and Lewin Williams, "The Black Biblical Hermeneutics

of Rastafari," in Chanting Down Babylon, eds Murrell, Spencer and McFarlane.

4. Exploratory work on Rastafari from within a Black theological context has been

addressed in previous articles published in this journal. See Darren J. N. Middleton, "As it is

in Zion: Seeking Rastafari in Ghana, West Africa,* Black Theology: An Internationaljournal 4,

no. 2 (2006): 151-72. See also Noel Leo Erskine, "The Roots of Rebellion and Rasta Theol

ogy in Jamaica," Black Theology: An International Journal 5, no. 1 (2007): 104-25.

5. Ennis B. Edmonds, Rastafari (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003).

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2008.

48 Black Theology: An International Journal

exclusively on secondary sources, and perhaps at times, third-hand sources. Therefore, the inferences here are tentative as best and do not adequately represent where the movement is at present. Appreciating that Rastafarianism is a movement, this article will not capture sufficiently the evolution of these notions over time within the movement itself. At best, this is an initial point of departure to a project that can lead to greater enquiry of the reading practices of the Rastafarians and the ways in which the Bible functions within the movement.

In exploring the symbolic power of "Babylon" in the Bible it is necessary to pay attention to kindred notions of Ethiopianism, Zionism, exile and return or repatriation as it appears in Rastafarian contexts. In so doing, I will suggest that the turn towards the Bible and specific portions and concepts of the Bible is rhetorically inspired by Marcus Garvey's thought. The usage of the trope "Babylon" reflects the Rastafarian development of "Garvey's Afro-centric Bible readings"6 and the advancement of a "Black Zionism."

Essentially, the argument of this article is that Garvey's philosophy of "'Africa for Africans' at home and abroad" planted the seeds from which the discourse around Babylon flowered. An exploration of specific texts in the Bible which support this Garvey inspired discourse will be offered. Underlying this contention is that varying images of Babylon are presented in the Bible, and that the significance of the trope is not the same in all texts. These foundations will lead to an exploration of how the trope is used in Rastafarian discourse and to inferences for the development of a Rastafarian hermeneutic.

Garvey's Rhetorical World

There is general consensus among most scholars that the Rastafarians are inheritors of the thought world and cosmology of Marcus Garvey. A part of the legacy is located, primarily, in what Chevannes prefers to call "the Idealization of Africa"7 in the Bible, or what others refer to as Ethiopianism. Simply put, Ethiopianism is the notion that the modern state of Ethiopia fulfills biblical prophecy of the rise of a dominant nation as represented primarily in Psalm 68:31, interpreted to be a reference to Africa. This idea places Ethiopia either as symbolic or actual homeland and, therefore, functions both as a source of identity and a destination for repatriation for Africans living outside of

6. Murrell and Williams use this term to describe the biblical approach of the Rasta

farians. Murrell and Williams, "Black Biblical Hermeneutics of Rastafari," 328.

7. Chevannes, Rastafari, 34.



Africa.8 Garvey hails the coronation of Haile Selassie as Ras Tafari, Emperor of Ethiopia in 1930, as propitious for Africa and Africans. Erskine suggests that Garvey sees it as "a positive movement in racial uplift."9 Garvey is not just commenting on political movements, but is also tying in the developments in Ethiopia with his broader vision of Africa and Africans, and supporting these with scripture. In an article in 1930 in the newspaper The Blackman, he writes:

The Psalmist prophesied that Princes would come out of Egypt and Ethiopia

would stretch forth her hands unto God. We have no doubt that the time is now

come. Ethiopia is really now stretching forth her hands. The great kingdom of

the East has been hidden for many centuries, but gradually she is rising to take a

leading place in the world and it is for us of the Negro race to assist in everyway

to hold up the hand of Emperor Ras Tafari.

Although the interpretations being made here are not original to Garvey, he can be regarded as an immediate contributor to an Afro-centric reading of the Bible that Rastafarians inherited. Chevannes argues that this approach has several antecedents both in Jamaica, Cuba and in the United States. Among these, he mentions early Baptist preachers George Lisle and William Knibb.11 Garvey builds upon these ideas, and presents for Rastafarians a model of an African-centered approach to biblical interpretation that starts with critical reflection upon the social and political conditions of persons of African descent. Murrell and Williams understand this when they credit Garvey as a major influence upon Rastafarians and other Black liberationists: "Garvey's Afrocentric interpretation of the Bible and his Ethiopianist vision and philosophy of Blackness, which had a powerful impact on Garveyites both in Jamaica and the United States, also influenced the Rastafarians."12

It is necessary to expand our understanding of Garvey's Ethiopianist ideas and how they lay the ground for Rastafarian usage of "Babylon" in their discourse. Garvey is intensely committed to the idea of repatriation of Africans to Africa as exemplified in his modification of the slogan, "Africa for Africans" to which he added "at home and abroad."

In pursuit of these ideas, Garvey's articulation has resonances with the growing chorus of Zionism. The highly respected Caribbean theologian and


9. Noel Leo Erskine, From Garvey to Marley: Rastafari Theology (Gainesville, FL: Univer

sity Press of Florida, 2005), 119.

10. Erskine, From Garvey to Marley, 120.


12. Murrell and Williams, "Black Biblical Hermeneutics of Rastafari," 330. So too Barrett,

Sr., The Rastafarians, 68.



ecumenist, Philip Potter, hesitantly argues for a direct connection between Garvey and the fomenting discussions on Zionism, in the early part of the nineteenth century. He cannot shake the fact that Garvey's residency in England between 1912-14 may have brought him into contact with these ideas, and that these ideas, therefore, serve as the theoretical framework for his own call for the creation of a Black homeland:

There is a close affinity between the Zionist movement and its programme and Garvey's idea of a homeland in Africa and of the relation of Blacks everywhere to Africa Of great interest is the fact that Zionism was the response to Caucasian white racism against a Semitic people whose language had some kinship to

•l ' i

Ethiopia's

While Potter is reluctant to insert the term Zionism in Garvey's thought, there is sufficient ground, both from Garvey's own work, and the extension of his work by his supporters, to view it as a form of Zionism. On June 6,1928 in a speech delivered at Royal Albert Hall in London, Garvey lays out an argument for the creation of a Black homeland. Invoking the results of the Berlin Conference that divided, or, one might even say, carved up Africa and distributed its various parts to European nations, Garvey laments that no share was given to Africans. He then asserts, "But we are going to have our part of Africa whether you will it or not. We are going to have it. Because we are not going to be a race without a country. God never intended it; and we are not going to abuse God's confidence in us as men."14

In an editorial some years later in 1936, Garvey comments on the impending creation of a homeland for Jews and explores the similarities between the Jewish condition and those of Africans in the western world. He commends wealthy Jews who help to finance the project of resettling Jews in Israel and deplores Blacks who frown upon doing the same for Africa. Garvey sums up the situation as this: "We must have an independent national expression, such an expression they must seek out of their new Zion."15

By the following year, Garvey is making stronger connections between the Jews and Blacks in North America. Speaking in Toronto on August 29,1937 he says:

13 Philip Potter, "The Religious Thought of Marcus Garvey," in Garvey His Work and Impact, eds Rupert Lewis and Patrick Bryan (Jamaica University of the West Indies, 1988), 160

14 Robert Hill, ed , The Marcus Garvey and Unwersal Negro Improvement Association Papers, vol VII, November 1927-August 1940 (Berkeley, CA University of California Press, 1995), 204

15 Hill, The Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers, 668

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2008


The Negroes of the United States and Canada may not go to Africa in this lifetime, but one day the call will come for us to return as the Jews are now returning to Palestine. As the Jews are now returning to meet the crowning glory of God our time will come.

The rhetorical frame of Garvey's thought on repatriation and a Black homeland is shaped around contemporary Zionism. Garvey himself does not explicitly use the term to represent African repatriation even though he makes sufficient symbolic and rhetorical connections between African repatriation and Zionism. It is not surprising, therefore, that those persons who are influenced by Garvey and sympathetic to his ideas are the ones who amplify this connection in his thinking. An article by Hilaire de Souza of Dahomey in the paper, Le Guide du Dahomey, dating from October 15,1921, is illustrative of the appeal of Garvey's thought on his sympathizers.

In this article de Souza seeks to explain what in that time was being viewed as the "extremist theory of Marcus Garvey." He characterizes Garvey's thinking as "this type of'Black Zionism', which is widespread in certain countries, especially in the United States of America, and which preaches the return of Blacks to Africa."17 What is crucial to note is how the notion of Zion enters into the discourse of Garvey and that of conceptual Black thought at the time. The prevalence of the notion of Zion in Rastafarian thought is exemplary of the pervasiveness of the Garveyite influence upon the Rastafarians.

To make the claim for "Zion" to be seen as an aspect of Garvey's Ethiopianist thought is also to claim that "Zion" functions in a similar, though different, symbolic way in Rastafarian theology. Scholars such as Chevannes make a distinction in the Rastafarian discourse between "Ethiopia," which is a referent for the modern nation state, and the symbolic/rhetorical apparatus around Haile Selassie, and then "Zion," which refers to Africa in general.18 The distinction is significant for our understanding of how the trope "Babylon" enters in Rastafarian discourse. Even if it is accepted that both "Ethiopia" and "Zion" have the same symbolic value for Rastafarians, the term "Ethiopia" in its biblical usage does not naturally lead to the concepts and reality of "Babylon" in its biblical usage. Rather, it is "Zionism," as can be gleaned from Garvey and the

16. Hill, The Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers, 777. 17. Robert Hill, ed., The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers,

vol. TX,AfricafortheAjricans Í92Í-Í922 (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995), 239.

18. Chevannes writes of the Rastafarian hope to be "delivered out of captivity by a return to *Zion\ that is Africa, the land of our ancestors, or Ethiopia, the seat ofJah, Ras Tafari himself, Emperor Haile Selassie's precoronation name." Chevannes, Rastafari, 1.



term "Zion," which suggests the usage of the trope "Babylon" in Rastafarian discourse. The trajectory traced here begins with Garvey, and his Ethiopianist ideas as inherited from earlier advocates of this view includes the "Idealization of Africa" approach or an Africa-centered method in reading the Bible. This trajectory adopts the concept of Zion as an ideal place and homeland, which, in turn, leads to the symbolism of Zion in the Bible that suggests "Babylon" as a suitable signifier for the Rastafarian condition.

Babylon in Biblical Perspective

The examination of "Babylon" in its biblical usage needs to be predicated on the reading practices that Rastafarians would have employed. Murrell and Williams characterize the Rastafarian approach to the Bible as "a strict fundamentalist view."19 It is marked by a "free style" with a penchant for proof-texting, coupled with a running commentary. In other words, Rastafarians read the plain sense of the text and are not bothered by the conventions of the historical-critical method. Yet, it is a close reading that is able to capture biblical symbolism, and to retool it in support of their purposes.

The practice of close reading of the Bible is one they would already employ along with Garvey and other "Africa-centered" readers of the Bible. It is this approach that gives power to "Ethiopia" in their discourse, which leads to the notion of Africa as Zion, and eventually to colonial society as "Babylon." Jackson sums up the logic that is at work here as: "If Ethiopia was Zion, and the rest of Africa counted as Zion, then Black people elsewhere were in Babylon."20

The Bible as a whole serves as the primary source for the symbolic power of "Babylon" in Rastafarian discourse. While other groups have used this symbol to represent their condition, there is little evidence that usage other than that suggested by the biblical texts influences the Rastafarians. In mining the Bible for this symbol there seems to be little discrimination between Old and New Testament texts in the way that certain Christian groups conceptualize the priority of the New Testament over the Old Testament.21 The power of the

19. Murrell and Williams, "Black Biblical Hermeneutics of Rastafari," 327. 20. Michael Jackson, "Rastafarianism," Theology 83 (1980): 27. 21. I take this view contrary to that proposed by Owens: "The Rastafarians' primary

scriptural inspiration concerning Babylon, is not, however, from the Old Testament, but rather from the New. The Book of Revelation, as an early Christian attack on the Roman empire of the day, painted Rome itself after the image of the ancient Babylon. The continuity in the succession of forces arrayed against God's people was easily discernible to the author of Revelation. In the Rastas' eyes, this same Babylonian-Roman empire exerts



symbol of Babylon is potent in both halves of the Bible and there is a measure

of continuity between both. It is important to note that there is no monolithic

usage of "Babylon" in the biblical texts, even though the Rastafarians appear to

be drawn to a single view of "Babylon."

The majority of the referents to "Babylon" in the Bible are largely found

in the context of historical reporting. The usage in Kings, Chronicles, Ezra-

Nehemiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and a few books of the New Testament report the

history of deportation from the threats to the destruction of Jerusalem and the

time of exile. It is only in texts like Jeremiah, Isaiah, Psalm 137 and Revelation

that we can find symbolic usage designed to communicate a specific view about

Babylon.

Of these texts the book of Jeremiah has by far the largest number of referents

(170 times), involving a complex approach to Babylon. There is no mention of

Babylon in the first 20 chapters of the book because those texts veil the imperial

threat to Judah with the phrase "foe from the north." When the book of Jere

miah refers to Babylon there are three main views that can be identified. First,

Babylon is seen as an instrument of punishment: "And I will give all Judah

into the hand of the king of Babylon; he shall carry them captive to Babylon,

and shall kill them with the sword" (Jer. 20:4). In a number of other texts (Jer.

21:2-7; 22:25; 25:11-12; 27:6-9,11, 22; chs. 27-29) it is God who raises up

Babylon as a tool of punishment for the sins of Judah. The second view follows

on from the first, where the historical account of the Babylonian assault on

Judah is given, but with open appreciation for their efforts. Included in the

cycle of texts from chapters 34-43 are appeals to regard the Babylonians as

friendly: "Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, as you have been; do not be

afraid of him, says the LORD" (42:11), and an accolade given to Nebuchad

nezzar as servant of God: "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Ί

am going to send and take my servant King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon'"

(43:10).

The third view of Babylon in the book of Jeremiah is the one that serves the

purposes of the Rastafarians. Babylon is viewed as a site for divine destruction

and a place that the faithful need to leave in order to be saved. In this view,

Zion is seen as the alternative site to Babylon. In an oracle against Babylon, set

in chapters 50-51, judgment is pronounced upon Babylon and its collapse is

predicted with glee. In view of the impending destruction of the Babylonian

empire, the prophet issues a call to leave Babylon and to journey to Zion. In

continuing domination over the elect even to this day in the form of the British and American empires." Owens, Dread, 69.



these two chapters the call to leave Babylon does not appear without naming the destination of the journey as Zion. The oracle opens with the destination: "They shall ask the way to Zion" (50:5a), which is then followed by the call to leave Babylon: "Flee from Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans" (50:8).

The movement out of Babylon is seen as retribution upon Babylon: "Listen! Fugitives and refugees from the land of Babylon are coming to declare in Zion the vengeance for his temple" (50:28). The call is repeated in ch. 51 : "Flee from the midst of Babylon, save your lives, each of you!" (51:6) and the destination is given: "Forsake her, and let each of us go to our own country" (51:9b), "let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God" (51:10b). There is only one instance when the call to leave is given and Jerusalem is used instead of Zion. "Come out of her, my people" (51:45) and then: "You survivors of the sword, go, do not linger! Remember the LORD in a distant land, and let Jerusalem come into your mind" (51:50). Further, there are instances when Zion is viewed as the victim and Babylon is the aggressor being justly punished: "I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the wrong that they have done in Zion, says the LORD" (Jer. 51:24). Again: " 'May my torn flesh be avenged on Babylon,' the inhabitants of Zion shall say" (Jer. 51:35).

A reading of these Jeremiah texts can support the notion of repatriation to Zion as held by the Rastafarians. Inserting themselves into the text, they become the continuity of Israel that is called to Zion, i.e. Africa, and the call to Zion has its foundation in the call out of Babylon, an empire destined for destruction, i.e. Jamaica and British colonial society.

Consequently, in a symbolic world where Zion is Africa, in the contextual reading of these texts, Babylon is colonial Jamaican society and the British Empire and its agents. The pairing of Zion and Babylon in the texts as opposite poles for reward and punishment, rehabilitation and retribution, repopulation and destruction, supports the construction of a system of signification, where Babylon is seen as the embodiment of all that is evil. Additionally, the predictive nature of the text suggests that this reversal of Zion/Babylon is yet to come, and therefore the present are appropriately viewed as "Babylonian."

A number of other texts of the Bible reflect similar themes and movements, and together they work to inscribe the trope of Babylon into the Rastafarian discourse, via the notion of Zion. The usage of Babylon in the book of Isaiah is located between chapters 13 and 48 and is concentrated in chapters 13-23 (the Oracles Against the Nations), 36-39 (Hezekiah narratives), and 40-48 (Jacob/Israel passages).



In the book of Isaiah the vitriol against Babylon is as strong as in the book of Jeremiah, and even stronger, in some regards. Similar to that of the book of Jeremiah, the offensive against Babylon is balanced by restoration for Zion on the other hand; except that the book of Isaiah chooses to use the symbolic name of Jacob/Israel rather than Zion. However, the concept of restoration to a homeland in the text follows upon the destruction of Babylon. In chapter 13 the collapse of Babylon is predicted: "And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them" (Isa. 13:19). This is followed by the promise of restoration in chapter 14: "But the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land" (Isa. 14:1).

Later, in chapters 47-49, the prediction of the downfall of Babylon is followed bywords of comfort and assurance to Zion: "Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter Babylon! Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter Chaldea!" (Isa. 47:1). This is followed by the words "Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it forth to the end of the earth" (Isa. 48:20). The antithetical shift in focus follows, with reference to Zion, which is seen the words, "But Zion said, The LORD has forsaken me, my LORD has forgotten me'" (Isa. 49:14), which is then balanced with the reply: "Surely your waste and your desolate places and your devastated land—surely now you will be too crowded for your inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away" (Isa. 49:19).

Essentially, the Isaiah readings function in two ways to support the Rastafarian discourse on Babylon. First, they show that the destruction of Babylon is, in Franke's conception, the precursor to the rehabilitation of Zion22 or as Richtsje puts it, the text of Second Isaiah moves between Babylon and Zion like a "switching camera."23 Secondly, the Isaiah texts help to fill out the negativity against Babylon in the conceptualization of the city as a virgin daughter disgraced (Isa. 47:1).

22. Franke conceptualizes the relation between Babylon and Zion this way: "the downfall and deposing of Virgin Daughter Babylon was a foil to the elevation and restoration of Virgin Daughter Zion. As Babylon was deposed, was sent from her throne into exile, indeed descended to death, conversely Zion was released from exile, and was restored once again to a position of honour. " Chris A. Franke, "Reversals of Fortune in the Ancient Near East: A Study of the Babylon Oracles in the Book of Isaiah," in New Visions of Isaiah, eds Roy F. Melugin and Marvin A. Sweeney (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996), 105.

23. Abma Richtsje, "Travelling from Babylon to Zion: Location and its Function in Isaiah 49-55," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 74 (1997): 4.



The interplay between Babylon and Zion, where the restoration of Zion is predicated on the downfall of Babylon, is carried over into other prophetic texts such as Micah 4:10: "Writhe and groan, O daughter Zion, like a woman in labor; for now you shall go forth from the city and camp in the open country; you shall go to Babylon. There you shall be rescued, there the LORD will redeem you from the hands of your enemies" and Zechariah 2:7: "Up! Escape to Zion, you that live with daughter Babylon."

Another important text is Psalm 13724 where the poetry reflects the geographical contrast between Babylon and Zion. The location in Babylon invokes memories of Zion. The songs of Zion become difficult to sing in Babylon. The geographical locations function as referents for the execution of retribution and recall. These texts reemphasize how the Bible serves as a fruitful symbol world for the Rastafarians to nurture conceptions of Babylon that were applied to the British Empire.

The other major text that fuels the usage of the trope of Babylon is that of Revelation. While scholars are agreed that the referent of Babylon in that work is to the Roman Empire, to assert that a fundamentalist reading of the text will also come to this view is somewhat doubtful. The contribution of the Revelation text is seen in the reusing of the images from Jeremiah and Isaiah, in even more symbolic ways. The dirge "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great" in 14:8 and 18:2 reflects Isa. 21:9 "Fallen, fallen is Babylon." The notion of Babylon causing drunkenness in the earth: "She has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication" (Rev. 14:8) is suggested by Jeremiah: "Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD'S hands, making all the earth drunken; the nations drank her wine, and so the nations went mad" (Jer. 51:7). The laments about the downfall of Babylon are similar to those in Jeremiah and Isaiah. The notion of virgin daughter Babylon in Isaiah (47:1) is intensified in Revelation to Babylon the whore: "Babylon the great, mother of whores and earth's abominations" (Rev. 17:5). Like the prophets there is a call to "Come out of her" (Rev. 18:4) but with no clear destination indicated, except, perhaps, in a general way as suggested by the rejoicing in heaven by the great multitude in chapter 19.

The appeal of "Babylon" in Revelation for Rastafarians is not so much in the fact that it represents a symbolic usage of the term for an actual empire but that it takes the vitriol of the prophetic texts to another level. Revelation would have provided for the Rastafarians the necessary power to fuel the critique of colonial Jamaican society.

24. This is the only Psalm apart from Psalm 87 that mentions Babylon. In Psalm 87, Babylon is listed with other cities that can attest to the fame of Zion.



The prevalence of the trope "Babylon" in Rastafarian discourse needs to be accounted for by more than just the social conditions created by the British Empire. Rather, this usage evolved from the notions of repatriation, to an ancestral homeland articulated as Zion, in the discourse inherited from Garvey and through an Africa-centered reading of the Bible. As a struggle for Black liberation it is interesting that the Rastafarians do not make more of the exodus like African Americans and South Africans do in their own struggles. This usage indicates an affinity for the exile as more appropriate to the experience in Jamaica and British colonial society than is the exodus.

This must give us pause to ask what it is about "Babylon" that arrests them in their reading of the Bible that enables them to use it to reflect their experience of oppression, alienation and deprivation. In part the Garvey movement's invocation of a "Black Zionism" paves the way for the Rastafarian usage of "Babylon" and possibly answers that query. Partly too, the biblical texts give expression to the aspirations of the Rastafarians to shake off colonial oppression in the symbol of Zion as the homeland for displaced and oppressed people in Babylon.

Zion as Counter-Empire of Babylon

The significance of this examination of "Babylon" in Rastafarian discourse serves to complexify our analysis of counter-imperial moves in the Rastafarian movement. These counter-imperial moves are known as "Chanting down Babylon" and function in ways similar to the oracles against Babylon in Isaiah and Jeremiah. In keeping with the stated purpose of this article, an examination of the discourse against "Babylon" shows that the destruction of "Babylon," as exemplified in the British Empire, is not only predicated on the presumed wickedness and oppression experienced in Jamaican society, but also located in the idea that another empire exists to which the Rastafarians belong.

As in the biblical narrative, and equally so in portions of Rastafarian discourse, "Babylon" functions as a foil for Zion. It is the negative for the full-color photo that is Zion. The critique inherent in the term is not only an attack on imperial power but also a signal to build a counter-imperial movement. Owens points out that the symbol world of the Rastafarians is basically geographic; it is "the promised land and the land of exile, the deportation and the return"25; it is Babylon and Zion.

25. Owens, Dread, 229.



The attacks against Babylon as a system of oppression is evident in Rastafarian discourse. It picks up the same venom that is witnessed in the Bible. Owens quotes a hit song from 1972 as representative of Rastafarian thought:

Rastafari burn down Babylon (twice) Rastafari smite down Babylon (twice) Rastafari crash down Babylon.

See what Babylon a do we down here (three times) Babylon is a wicked men (three times)

The tradition evident in this song informs the work of Reggae Superstar, Bob Marley. Marley's "Babylon System" uses the vampire descriptor for Babylon to represent the parasitic power of the Empire upon the society: "Babylon system is the vampire." Another song that also expresses the distaste for Babylon and its referent the British Empire is "Rastaman Chant." Marley chants the refrain "Babylon your throne gone down," which takes its inspiration from Revelation 18, as also seen in the reference to the "angel with the seven seals" (Rev. 6:1-17; 8:1-5). However, to regard these as the samples of an approach to Babylon that only pours vitriol against the empire does not take seriously the breadth of the Rastafarian discourse.

To use the lyrics of Bob Marley as representative of the Rastafarian discourse shows how Babylon is paired with Zion in the rhetoric of "chanting down Babylon." When he sings in "Rastaman Chant" the rant against the empire "Babylon your throne gone down," he goes further and states: "Fly away home to Zion/One bright morning when my work is over/I will fly away home." In this way, he invokes the notion of Zion as homeland and counter-imperial space to Babylon. In his invocation of the exodus motif he follows the model laid out in Second Isaiah and views repatriation and return as another exodus. Yet he is careful to point that it is not Egypt that is the space of oppression but Babylon:

Exodus movement of Jah people We know where we're going We know where we're from We're leaving Babylon We're going to our fatherland.

He then adds a subtle undertone to heighten the imagery and the spatial differences: "Send us another brother Moses to cross the Red Sea." The spatial

26. Owens, Dread, 69.


Davidson Leave Babybn 59

differences invoke the image of a journey but are also markers of power, as the desired space of Zion stands in contradistinction to Babylon. The face-off between Babylon and Zion, though, is not seen in militaristic or antagonistic terms, since they are not set in direct opposition to each other. Rather, Zion is that destination that is outside the reach of imperial power, which does not threaten imperial power, but holds its own power on a different plain that raises it above earthly empires. Marley sings of being persecuted by holding on to the vision of strength that emerges from Zion: "I'm gonna be iron like a lion in Zion."

Conclusion

In Rastafarian discourse, the construction of the notions of repatriation and exile is expressed in the symbol language of "Babylon." The necessity of another space that transcends the oppressive structures of colonial society is the underlay of the symbolic thought world of Babylon and Zion as it appears in Rastafarian theology. This structured thinking is gleaned from biblical texts, but also replicated in the thinking of several Black liberationists, such as Garvey. It is the Rastafarians who give full flower to these ideas and package them in ways that represent resistance to ancient and modern forms of empire.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barrett ST., L. £. The Rastafarians: Sounds of Cultural Dissonance. Boston: Beacon, 1988. Chevannes, B. Rastafari: Roots and Ideology. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1994. Edmonds, £. B. "Dread Τ In-a-Babylon: Ideological Resistance and Cultural Revitalization." In

Chanting Down Babylon: The Rastafari Reader, eds N. S. Murrell, W. D. Spencer and A. A. McFarlane. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998.

—-Rastafari. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Erskine, N. L. From Garvey to Marley: Rastafari Theology. Gainesville, FL: University Press of

Florida, 2005. Franke, C. A. "Reversals of Fortune in the Ancient Near East: A Study of the Babylon Oracles in

the Book of Isaiah." In New Visions of Isaiah, eds R. F. Melugin and M. A. Sweeney. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996.

Hill, R., ed. The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers. Vol. VII. November 1927-August 1940. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995.

—The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers. Vol. DC Africa for the Africans 192Í-Í922. Berkeley, CA: University of California Pressl995.

Jackson, M. "Rastafarianism." Theology 83 (1980): 26-34. Murrell, N. S., and L. Williams. "The Black Biblical Hermeneutics of Rastafari." In Chanting

Down Babylon: The Rastafari Reader, eds N. S. Murrell, W. D. Spencer, and A. A. McFarlane. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998.



Owens, J. Dread: The Rastafarians of Jamaica. London: Heinemann, 1984. Potter, P. "The Religious Thought of Marcus Garvey." In Garvey: His Work and Impact, eds R.

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Leave Babylon: The Trope of Babylon in Rastafarian Discourse

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