42 / CHRONICLESn(nonstop kung fu). This is part of thenpleasure of such places. Having livednat close quarters with New York intellectuals,nI personally treasure their absencenas one of the delights of life innthe islands. Somehow we have to getnby without Andy Warhol, NormannMailer, Duran Duran, the HarveynMilk homosexual High School, andnjournals devoted to black lesbians.nAfter the murder of Bishop, his Ministers,nand pregnant mistress, a shooton-sightncurfew was established duringnwhich our single radio station playednalmost nothing but reggae. Surely thatnis indigenous?nIt is to Jamaica. Reggae—a contractionnof ragged and everyday — wasnlaunched as a national anthem ofnRastafarianism when Haile Selassie Inwas crowned on November 30th,n1930, Ras Tafari, King of Kings, Lordnof Lords, Marcus Garvey’s secondnChrist and first black Messiah (St.nAugustine was of course a black). Reggaencame out of Ska and, before that,nMento (homemade drums, reeds, sonforth). Despite its political braggadocionand commercial success in the handsnof publicity seekers like Ansel Collinsnand Bob Marley (who died of lungncancer brought on by chain-smokingnreefers), reggae cannot be callednmusic.nIt is a sort of audible itch, one thatnmakes it impossible for anyone in thenvicinity to get any sleep. With itsnsteady sequence of Messiahs, each presumingnto be Moses and/or John thenBaptist (Marcus Garvey, LeonardnHowell, Claudius Henry, two ofnwhom were convicted of fraud), Rastafarianismnwould scarcely exist had itnnot received such starry-eyed academicnattention and respect. This is particularlynthe case in Britain now, wherenRastafarianism is institutionalized, seriouslyntaught in schools, one Bajannteacher there, Maureen Stone, callingnit “the only really indigenous religion,nfaith and sect in the Caribbean.” Inwonder. The other day I gave a Rastamanna ride in Grenada. He was thenreal McCoy or, should I say, Dreadlock,nred of eye and reeking of ganja. Inasked him what he thought of thenbrutal treatment of Haile Selassie’snnow-elderly daughters, penned in ansmall room outside Addis Ababa withoutntoilet facilities, one dying ofncancer.n”Who dat?”nHe had not the slightest idea whonHaile Selassie was, the progenitor ofnhis creed, God Himself in humannform (though also said to be descendednfrom Solomon and Sheba). My ridernshould have been pining to repair tonthe paradise of Ethiopia, for, accordingnto the creed (as published by thenUniversity of the West Indies), “Jamaicanis literally Hell for the black man,njust as Ethiopia is literally heaven.”nMaurice Bishop’s flirtation with ournRastas was most instructive. At thenstart he wooed them. In the daysnfollowing his 1979 coup they were allnover St. George’s, directing traffic andnopenly smoking pot. But they desertednhim as he became establishment, refusingnto join his rag-tag-and-bobtailnarmy. Eventually, Jewel turned intonBabylon and Rastas started knockingnoff Bishop’s soldiers in the north. Atnthis point he rounded up 300 of themnand set them to work under the gun onnHope Vale estate. It is clear they wouldnhave ended up like the Miskito Indiansnin Nicaragua. Indeed, Jamaican Rastasntaken to Cuba for terrorist trainingnwere required to shear off their locksnfirst.nStill., the half-Ghanian, half-nScottish ex-policeman, and now BritishnMP, Paul Boateng, has laudednRastafarianism on the BBC as a faithnfilled with peace, love, and the rest.nGLC (Greater London Council)nschools teach Jamaican Rasta as anlanguage, with ludicrous results.nThere have been cases of West Indiannparents in Britain sending their childrennback to school in the islands, innorder to obtain more disciplined instruction.nMost Grenadians makenstrict and pious parents. To dredge thengutters for drug addicts and thieves andnhold the result up as something callednBlack Culture is the height of condescension.nWe do not adulate the lowestnelements of our northern cities asnWhite Culture.nIf, in America, Rastafarianism continuesnto epater ambitious assistantnprofessors, in politics it takes us intonthe jungle, to the racial insanity ofnHitler. God is black and chose thenblack race. For their presumption tonthe contrary, the Jews have been wellnpunished. The Pope is head of the KunKlux Klan. Una noche cultural of thisnsort of thing must be enough to sendnnnanyone round the bend, without benefitnof “de weed.” Blackness becomes an.ninstrument for mental suicide, a cari-“ncature of a delirium, a brew intonwhich anything may be stirred. As thenlate Shiva Naipaul put it, “There is nonchurch; there are no scriptures; there isnno ordained leadership. Each Rastafariannhas his own version of the thing.nYou become a Rastaman by declaringnyourself to be such.”nBut to be so permanently impermanentnis scarcely to exist. Marcus Garveynno longer does so, yet is constantlvnrecreated by the likes of Boateng. AllnGarvey’s absurd disasters with hisnBlack Star Line for repatriating Jamaicansnto Africa, his fantasies of a NegronEmpire, were forgotten in 1965 whennhis remains were reverentiy disinterrednand returned from England to Jamaica.nTo many he remains a holy hero.nSo does Maurice Bishop. He tried tonget Grenadian schools to adopt a curriculumnof reggae, African basketweaving.nReader’s Digest anthropology,nand hair-braiding, basing ournculture on the new version of the threenR’s—Reggae, Rasta, and Revolution,nThis is what every parent in the realnworld of the islands hopes will not bentaught their children.nWhat, finally, of calypso? It is Trinidadian,nas narcissistic reggae is Jamaican,nthough the most famous calypsoniannof all. Mighty Sparrow (SlingernFrancisco), was born in Grenada, asnwas “Boogsie” Sharp, the world’snnumber one steel pannist. V.S. Naipaulntells us that “the calypso is anpurely local form.”nMaybe so, but its monody still cannotnbe called music. Most calypsosnsound the same. However, they arenverbal and partake of topical socialnsatire, none of which seems to last verynlong. The University of the West Indies’nongoing “Calypso Research Project”nhas never, so far as I know,nanswered the charge of ephemeralitynin the form, being chiefly concernednwith internal debates such as whethernEast Indians influenced calypso (anloud No!) or whether the lyrics arenprejudicial to women (a loud Yes!).nWhen he seized power. Bishopnasked Sparrow, who like Antigua’snKing Short-Shirt can be counted on tonbe routinely revolutionary, for a calypso,nand got one — Gairy, Dead ornAlive, virtually a plea for extradition ofn