| Reggae Month presents: Webinar Honouring Queen Mother Rita Marley |
 In continuation of our celebrations of the 90th Anniversary of the Coronation of Emperor Haile Selassie I & Empress Menen Asfaw and the observation of Reggae Month in Jamaica, The Iniversal Development of Ras Tafari, Inc (IDOR) and SOSACRU present its 3rd webinar which honours Queen Mother Nana Rita Marley on Sunday, February 21, 2021, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm. The discussants are Professor Carolyn Cooper, Dr. Desta Meghoo, Dr. Eleanor Wint and Sis Lorna Wainwright. The event will be hosted by Dr. Imani Tafari Ama and Dutty Bookman. Nana Rita has been one of the most visible and consistently engaged Rastafari out of Jamaica since her emergence on the local and the international scenes in the early 1970s. Through her visibility within the musical group the I- Threes, as well as her marriage to reggae King Bob Marley, she became one of the key women in the Pan-African world spotlights. She fashioned a uniquely ordered system to continue the Rastafari mission as founded around the principles taught by the elders in Trench Town and has magnified the ‘I-Free principles of the Rastafari Movement enabling expressions of her own femininity, ingenuity, and business acumen. These she uses to direct and preserve the legacy of Bob Marley, and to open the way for large scale Rastafari missions to impact continental African development. Nana Rita is one of the most engaged individuals in the Pan-African situation and best organized and far-reaching sponsors in anticipating the direction and needs of the Family. She has been a key facilitator of almost every major international Rastafari assembly since the early 1980s. With a history of discrimination as a community, Nana has ensured for the development of Rastafari spaces including recording studios, museums, merchandising outlets, tabernacle, children and elders care and even burial sites for venerated elders. She remains active in this work and is supported by her own well-developed organisation, The Rita Marley Foundation, whose tentacles reach across the length of Jamaica and beyond. Rita Marley embodies the courage of Mary Seacole on the contemporary battlefield as she tends to the vulnerable from the cradle to the grave; with the diligence of the Garvey wives, she has woven the opinions and philosophy of Rastafari in her mission; and, with the bravado of Miss Lou, she is the first woman to introduce the conversation surrounding the good for all in ganja demanding “One Draw.” Only a handful of individuals (male or female) have risen to global recognition for the enduring impact of their life commitment and works. Even fewer individuals emerge from humble beginnings, from Cuban birth, to a Trench Town development that resulted in the production of an internationally respected Jamaican brand, with the organisational agencies to self-finance and direct Pan- African agendas wherever required. As we celebrate the rise of the feminine energies within Rastafari and indeed our world, and engage in the ‘Birthing of a New African Identity, likewise, we celebrate Nana Rita Marley – a luminary by way of her work safeguarding futures for African peoples near and far. Zoom Details for the event are: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87049586983 Meeting ID: 870 4958 6983 or on Face Book@sosacruedu InI are invited to attend and share in this important event!!! For more information: Email: sosacruedu@gmail.com IDOR Dr. Ras Wayne A. Rose, Dr. Deena Marie Beresford Contact Details: info@idorhim.com, idorhim20@gmail.com or 1(443)873-2279 SOSACRU Dr. Ras Jahlani A. Niaah, Coleen Douglas – Rastafari Studies Initiatives & Global Rastafari Coronation Coalition – zionvillageja@gmail.com or 876 468 5409. |
