WI - Rastafarians against the Red Menace

Probably not very. Rastafarianism has always had a sort of countercultural, resistant ambience, but fighting against a Communist regime in Ethiopia is going to put them on the same side of the Cold War as the US military, the CIA, and, horror of horrors, the Antichrist(aka the Pope). Unless that aspect of the struggle was kept on the down low, I think it would alienate most of the people who were drawn to the faith.

That said, I've never known any Rastafarians personally, so I don't know how deeply they analyzed the political implications of Ethiopian politics. Was there widespread outrage among them when the Emperor was deposed in '75, to the extent where some of them would have been willing to take up arms to get him back?
 
That said, I've never known any Rastafarians personally, so I don't know how deeply they analyzed the political implications of Ethiopian politics. Was there widespread outrage among them when the Emperor was deposed in '75, to the extent where some of them would have been willing to take up arms to get him back?
Reactions to his death were mixed - some thought that his spirit was still alive and whatnot. If Haile Selassie can be successfully evacuated from Ethiopia, then he - or Amha Selassie - can mobilize the more militant Rastafarians to establish an Ethiopian Army in exile so I don't think its too implausible but its quite unlikely to me.
 
Reactions to his death were mixed - some thought that his spirit was still alive and whatnot. If Haile Selassie can be successfully evacuated from Ethiopia, then he - or Amha Selassie - can mobilize the more militant Rastafarians to establish an Ethiopian Army in exile so I don't think its too implausible but its quite unlikely to me.
The problem was that either of them would be laughed out of the room if they relied on the Rastafarians. Both Haile Selassie and Amha Selassie were rather conventional Miaphysite Christians (Haile Selassie even sent the Rastafarians priests to bring them back to Christianity).
 
The problem was that either of them would be laughed out of the room if they relied on the Rastafarians. Both Haile Selassie and Amha Selassie were rather conventional Miaphysite Christians (Haile Selassie even sent the Rastafarians priests to bring them back to Christianity).
I'm aware of their religion - what if this Rastafarian Army became Orthodox Christians?
 
I'm aware of their religion - what if this Rastafarian Army became Orthodox Christians?
That might be difficult, no? Especially since Rastafarianism was in part a reaction to Christianity as "the white man's religion." Not to mention that the clergy may not like their reliance on cannabis...

But if they did convert en masse, then it wouldn't be a Rastafarian army, just an army of really pissed off Orthodox Christians. Which would kind of put a damper on the countercultural image, as they start looking less like revolutionaries and more like black Vendeens in the minds of the sort of people who were attracted to Rastafarianism.
 
Which would kind of put a damper on the countercultural image, as they start looking less like revolutionaries and more like black Vendeens in the minds of the sort of people who were attracted to Rastafarianism.

Or Miami Cubans, for a more contemporaneous parallel.

That said, the Dalai Lama has managed to maintain some degree of hipster cred, even though he and the broader Tibetan movement were known to have western military-intelligence connections all over the place. But I think most of his fandom emerged after the early 1970s, when the US stopped its military support for Tibetan independence.
 
According to some informal sources I've been looking at on-line, the reason for Rastafarian animosity toward the Pope was that Pius XI blessed Italian troops before the invasion of Ethiopia. I guess that would make sense.

The more you read about it, the more Rastafarianism's attitude toward Haile Selassie resembles that of a cargo cult, ie. taking certain things about the man out of context, and putting them together to make an object of veneration. (Seinfeldian "Not that there's anything wrong with that" inserted here)
 
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