Truth(s) and Right(s)

In reality, it is part of what is called “Rasta speech”: the term/combination “truth(s) & right(s)” (singular/plural variates). Rasta speech is a term for specific terminology and vocabulary that the Rastafari movement, that arose in Jamaica since the 1930s, originated and created, to fit their worldview and spirituality. Other such terms are “I and I” –perhaps more enigmatic than “truth and rights” , “Livity”, “Nyabinghi”, and more derived yet original terms, like “Inity”, “Ital”, “Heartical” and “Churchical”, or wordplay to accentuate meaning, such as “downpression” instead of “oppression”, etcetera, etcetera..

Among this own developed Rasta speech, there is thus also “truth(s) and right(s)”. Of course this seems derived from common English words with apparently clear meanings. For some reason, though, it got special significance among the Rastafari movement: the search for truth and human rights. Who know something about Black and Caribbean history can guess why.

It represents certainly a moral stance: no more lying and trampling of rights, is the call. The term “truth(s) & right(s)” found its way from the beginning into Rastafari’s Nyabinghi drumming chants, and later and before into mostly Rastafari-influenced Reggae music.

With the strong Biblical influence on Rastafari, I wondered whether the term as such was originally from a Bible quote or phrase, taken to another context by the Rastas. I could not find it. Some religious scholars argue that the main aim in the Old Testament is “justice”, in the New Testament “love”, and some Islamic scholars argued that the historically later Islam sublimated those two in having “compassion” as its main aim.

Interesting, but not even in the “justice”-focused Old Testament that combination of words, truth AND rights, is found as such. As singular (the) Right, perhaps separately from the Truth, though what we later came to understand as (human) rights is of course implied in the stories about slavery, liberation, but so are “love” or “mercy/compassion”.

As a word combination, it can be found among some social activists in Western countries, and some philosophers, like Michel Foucault, having used the two terms combined in some writings.

In the time of the Bible, terms like “rights” or even the “truth” did not have those meaning they would obtain after several freedom struggles of oppressed peoples, up to modern times, with an upsurge in the relatively rebellious 1960s and 1970s.

PEACE AND LOVE

In those same decades another term became more known, that entered into Rastafari’s idiom: “peace and love”, associated with hippie-like youth and anti-war protests in the US, later internationalizing. Much like “truth and rights” it is a combination of common words with clear meanings, as well as a moral (pacifist) stance. It (or turned around: “love and peace”) became a well-known, international catchphrase, associated stereotypically with pacifist, hippie movement origins.

Interestingly, another “catchphrase”, “truth and rights”, internationalized or widened its audiences less, and maintained its popularity mainly within Rastafari or related circles. It was not used as much by White hippies (when compared to Peace & Love) is one obvious explanation , but what intrigues me overall is the difference in meaning and aim.

It reminds me of the song of Reggae artist Peter Tosh, Equal Rights & Justice, singing about how everyone sings about “peace”, but none is crying out for “justice”, and in the same lyrics: “I don’t want no peace.. I want equal rights and justice”.

Again, obvious and easy explainable as the difference between the privileged (White youth in a rich country) and the underprivileged. Different situation, different rebellion.

I think oppressed and discriminated Black and other people, feel the need for respected “rights” much more: rights to freedom as a human being, as these are trampled on. This message needs to be expressed, and not all voices are heard, oppressors hide the truth from the world, also easily explains the combination of Truth and Rights in one common expression or catchphrase, common throughout Reggae lyrics.

The terms therefore carries a strong cultural, even “carrying” or “defining”, meaning within Rastafari. Its meaning is wider, however, than partisan or esoteric (“in-crowd”) concerns.

COVID 19

I notice this also with the current Corona crisis, with mass quarantines of entire populations globally, because of the outbreak of the dangerous – easily transmittable - Covid-19. Such drastic measures leave quite some answers to be answered, especially since the morbidity and mortality degrees and levels of this disease, are not that high when compared to, e.g. the common flu, and even less than diseases we know longer, and still have more fatalities, such as malaria, cancer, etcetera.

Also its origins, from bat-to-man contact, does not seem so plausible as one might think: viruses from one type of animal (or host) to another type require much more adaptation, gradually over time, mostly generations, to do as much damage to the new host, poisoning its cells, etcetera.

These unresolved, yet reasonable, questions, awaken the demand for “Truth”, whereas the forced “quarantine”, with governments ordering us to “stay home”, i.e. be confined, tramples our basic human “rights”. This would be lambasted more, of course, if it was not motivated by public health concerns, and the fear of infection/contagion, spread throughout the media (“truth?”).

Still, I wonder: is “confinement” of citizens on such a mass scale really the only way? If the coronavirus affects the elderly and sick much more, why not isolate, protect and test them specifically more. Also here “human rights” issues.

Temporarily, we cannot use our right to move freely, so long taken for granted in Western democratic societies, especially after the fall of Fascism in the mid-1940s. Especially the “totalitarian”, global character of this quarantine during the corona crisis is kind of “shocking” as a change, to me and many people. We heard about “oddities” in countries like Iran – with the added discrimination of women - and the absurd, “privacy-denying” state interference in private life in China, still going on today, using modern technology to regulate citizen behavior. An extended military and police apparatus tends to back such repression up, rendering the notion that, as a Spanish Fascist regional governor once said in response to street protests in Spain, beaten down (some say: “too”) harshly by authorities he commanded: “the street is mine/ours” (i.e. “of the state”), and not the people.

I personally find it a frightening prospect when the “street belongs to the state/government”, preferring it to stay “free for all equally”’.. With this quarantine: the street has become more of the state/government. Necessary to protect our health? Perhaps so, perhaps not.

I would not be surprised, anyway, if all this serves a “hidden agenda” of powers that be. While I am not really a “conspiracy thinker”, some of these explanations (G5 rollout facilitation, stopping protest gatherings, or vaccine promotion) seem quite probable and credible. Far-fetched, because this would be a scam of an absurdly massive, unprecedented scale, people like Hitler, Stalin, Osama Bin Laden, Mao Tse Toeng, or Mussolini, could only dream of: telling/ordering half of all inhabitants of this whole world (billions of people) what to do, limiting their rights, and confining them. It is the work of psychopaths, using modern technology.

This might well be the case, yet cannot be sure, mainly because vested interests of the rich and powerful in this world, are by definition - and by necessity - hidden. If it was all known and “open”, those people would not be rich and powerful.

In that sense the Rastafari expression: “Truth and Rights’ is certainly relevant here, as it represents the demand for human and equal rights, interconnected with “knowing the truth”, by the poorer masses, of the wealthy and powerful few in this world.

Though remarkably massive media campaigns like “Let’s all stay at home, so we protect our fellow-citizens”, gives this corona quarantine a semi-emphatic community or “good citizenship”-feel, we must still not forget that all these quarantines, have been ordered, enforced upon us by higher authorities. There was no consultation, fear seemed largely enough, and little causes more fears than “death”, or at least “disease”? As we all subconsciously or consciously know: ultimately our health, our body is all we have, even when we lose all our material possessions, or even all our friends and family. If healthy, we at least have the energy to start anew, from scratch or nothing.

If this is all a scam by elite forces, like e.g. Bill Gates c.s. or the G5 proponents (I myself as yet reserve my judgement until all facts come out), than it certainly is a wicked, crafty and effective one.

Anyway, we all now sense the need for “truth and rights”, even if most people of course do not want more people to die from this virus, young or old. Yet do we know all that there is to know? British journalist David Icke said he found after long research that Covid-19 does not really exist, but Icke is known as a “conspiracy thinker”. He sees a relation with the need for a G5 rollout, vaccination, microchips, and ultimately global control of the population through artificial intelligence, enabling through the chips what citizens should do, as robots or slaves. An elite around Bill Gates has this as plan, Icke argues. Absurd as this may sound, when I heard David Icke explain it, I considered some elements quite plausible.

On the one hand I thought: no psychopath would go that far, ultimately being a human too, and less so in this age of openness and more democratic control. On the other hand, I recognized how elites with large “vested interests” and power and wealth to defend, can go far to maintain this superior, dominant position, hereby forgetting basic humanity, driven by greed and vanity. Not totally unthinkable, as much injustice prevailed in human history, because some found themselves more worthy to be free than others (hence slavery, feudalism, servants, employers versus employees, exploitation, etcetera, etcetera).

"Truth and rights" is relevant also here. It shows this Rasta term's wider progressive and humanitarian scope and (universal!) possibilities, from its departure from poor, disadvantaged Afro-Caribbean ghetto dwellers, among which the Rastafari movement developed. It is perhaps just a matter of scale or time. What the world needs now, I argue, is “truth and rights”, besides “health”.

What the powers that be, and the mass media are doing now during this coronacrisis – and that’s what I find most odd – is that they sacrifice the one for the other: one needs dignity (freedom, rights) AND health and long life, not just one of these options. That is one of the reasons why I doubt that the coronavirus is truly of a natural origin: anything nature creates, it resolves/heals itself (via our immune system), for nature is always cyclical, as is life. Not so this coronavirus, seeming therefore man-created/manipulated..

CONSCIOUSNESS

It is my own philosophical reasoning and thinking that got me to this (tentative) conclusion, not (just) some convincing articulate conspiracy thinker I heard or read talk about it. We must after all keep thinking for ourselves, even in this stressful situation. As Marcus Garvey (important for Black history and Rastafari) once said: “you can enslave the body of men, but not their minds”..

This is what the Rastafari call “consciousness”, another term common in Rasta terminology, but of course also just a word in English. The Rastas recontextualized the meaning, though. In English “come to realization” or, colloquially, “waking up” or “opening your eyes”, come closer in meaning than how Rastafari mostly intend the term “consciousness”. It is related to “truth(s) and rights”, perhaps even a needed step before “truth and rights”.

REGGAE SONGS

Expectedly, there are quite a few Reggae songs with “truth(s) and right(s)” (either singular or plural) as or in their title. I would not so “countless”, but rather “quite some”. If one would include all Reggae songs with “truth(s) and right(s)””as expression somewhere in their lyrics, we would probably end up with countless Reggae songs.. too much to count.

Not so much outside of Reggae, - I found out after Internet searches - showing how the expression is most related to Rastafari and Reggae, to a higher degree than “Peace and Love”, an expression also used a lot in Reggae, but also in other music genres.

I think it is interesting to analyze how the “Rasta expression/”catchphrase, “Truth(s) and Right(s)” actually figures and is used in those lyrics, especially in songs having it as main theme.

The best known of all Reggae songs with it as title is Johnny Osbourne’s Truth and Rights from 1979. It can be deemed a Reggae “classic” and in a sense a “big hit” (within the international Reggae scene). It is covered a lot by other artists, up to recent times..

Always intriguing why such one song appeals to so much people, but it can be for a variety of reasons, including musical, artistic ones, but also social or content/lyrics reasons. For Johnny Osbourne’s Truth and Rights, also giving the name to his debut album for Studio One, both aspects apply. A strong, catchy Studio One riddim (instrumental part, used before on Al Campbell’s also nice Take A Ride),a good melody, and nice, soulful singing of Johnny. In addition, the lyrics are conscious, addressing social issues and rebellion, attracting many people, and moreover in a “to the point” way. It does not go overly deep, partly just including common (including Biblical) expressions, but deep enough, and expressing a sincere sentiment.

Its line “the truth is there for who has eyes to see”, expresses the link with consciousness. Osbourne had by then already “sighted” Rastafari, he later told interviewers, despite his still short hair (baldhead)..

A great song, and the biggest hit, but there are other songs with (in) the title “truth(s) and right(s)” that stand their own. Due to some strange coincidence (because a less-known song within Reggae), I think Ras Michael’s Truth and Right was the first song I ever heard with that title, shortly thereafter Johnny Osbourne’s one, but this one earlier. I liked Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus song a lot, but had a “rawer” vibe than Osbourne’s song, with also more spiritual, Nyabinghi echoes of Ras Michael. It sounds less “tight” and “catchy” than Osbourne’s song, but is good nonetheless.

The lyrics of Ras Michael’s song are also not very extensive, and rather straight-forward, though go a bit deeper lyrically than Osbourne’s. The basic message “how long can you hide from the truth and right” expresses that.”It swims on top like oil” in those lyrics, remind of what Spanish writer Cervantes once said, about the “truth”, that it like oil (I suppose olive oil, back then in Spain), always comes out on top in water. In Ras Michael songs Truth and Right is connected with spirituality.

Another song is also not so well-known, but is coincidentally (or not?) another great song with that title: Barry Brown’s Truths & Rights. On a very nice, groovy Riddim with a crucial bassline, Brown sings effectively, in his own way. I got to love this song, but had to grow into it a bit longer, especially the vocal part. With Osbourne and Ras Michael I loved the singing immediately too.

With Barry Brown it took some time for me, to conclude he also has a nice, but original singing style. In fact, you can somehow say that he is in the Burning Spear school of singing, but with a different voice and timbre. Both Burning Spear and Barry Brown employ seemingly simple semi-rhythmic “chant” lines, repeating these on different parts of the Riddim, thus “playing” with the underlying rhythm, and keeping it so interesting and appealing. That is an underestimated art by itself. While Burning Spear surely pioneered or even originated it within Reggae, similar chanting structures go back to the Afro-Jamaican Kumina chants in rural Eastern Jamaica, as well as other, often Congo-derived, song traditions in the African Diaspora.

So, Brown’s song has not that rigid Verse-Chorus-Verse-Bridge –Chorus etcetera structure as in so many pop music genres, and is more “meandering”. Due to repetition and right phrasing the lyrics and message still come across well. “If I would fight, I would not fight for money, but for truths and rights (and morality)”, is one such interesting lyrics in Barry Brown’s song, and that he is out to defend the rights of his brothers and sisters.. “Tired of being down on the ground”. “Truths and Rights and Morality” is further rhymed with “you gotta face reality”.

In these, and other lyrics, the relationship between “truths and rights” and social conditions or woes are emphasized. These relate in part to the situation in Jamaica. Gun violence and crime, are such problems addressed, besides the oppression of powers that be (“Babylon”) keeping poor people down. These are to be blamed, but that consciousness must be raised within the own community too, some lyrics argue.

Johnny Clarke’s song mellow song with the title Truth and Rights simply says “Teach the youths truth and rights, so they can all unite”, ultimately to “overcome the wicked one”.

Dennis Brown’s song (Fight For) Truth & Rights, relates how Dennis’ was taught to “stand up for truths and rights” by his mother. It does not go much further, though it is significant enough, containing further lyrics as “don’t let the pressure get you down”, and “know your enemy”. In broad lines and general terms, what “fighting for truth and rights” includes.

Ernest Wilson’s takes a more poetic, story-telling approach in his nice song Truths And Rights, a main line in its lyrics being “only the truth can justify this day”.

In later Reggae, among newer waves of Rastafari-inspired New Roots artists, the term “Truth(s) and Right(s)” remains common. In the song Truths and Rights by Protoje, ft. Mortimer, there are quite some lyrics, elaborating on the need for truths and rights, including inequality, an oppressive system, and “people living a lie” and youths kept poor.

Bitty Mclean calls for “Truths and Rights”in his song of that name, against crime and inequality, including the lines “we can’t take no more, another Black soul at heaven’s door” and “life is no game of do or die”.

Then there is the early dancehall song by Dickie Ranking called (Let’s Seek) Truths & Rights, calling for serving Jah, but also to “wake up” and stop the fuss and fight.

Jimmy Riley has the song Truth & Rights on the Marcus Garvey Riddim (from a Burning Spear song), calling in its lyrics also for peace, to love your neighbours as yourself, love and respect, and harmony. It is a response to Jamaican conditions, with high murder rates. The truths and rights thus relate in that sense to peace and love, as they ideally of course should.

NETHERLANDS

To make it a bit more international, I will focus also on Reggae outside of Jamaica, specifically the Netherlands, that I know best, and where I reside. I always have “lived" in the Netherlands, but now with the quarantine I really have to “reside” there, haha.

I myself released the song Rastafari Live On in 2012 containing the line “To defend truths and rights, Babylon we fight”, describing Rastafari’s main aims.

Empress Black Omolo is a talented singer and songwriter of a Kenyan background, but like me based and living/residing in the Netherlands. She even went to Jamaica to record a video for one of her songs.

Black Omolo’s song called Truth and Rights, from 2017, is not her best known one “in the scene”, but is a good song. In its lyrics the aim for truths and rights, is toward fighting poverty, being fooled, and “politricks”, while she also mentions the exploitation of Africa, and poor people worldwide. Again, as in other songs, the relationship with equal rights and equality.

IN THIS TIME

That link between “lying” and “inequality” is implied in this Rastafari expression “truths and rights”, and is in fact a quite original, yet sensible, connection.

Like I wrote before, for obvious reasons, wealthy, powerful people in this world, have to hide this as much as possible, to maintain that position.

I reserve my judgement, until I know more, but became skeptical of the world and national powers because of this whole “corona crisis” course of events. I do not know what to believe either, at the present.

Yet, let’s just say, that – as some conspiracy theories go - this whole “pandemic” crisis and global quarantine policy, was a trick or part of it, to obtain global domination through technology, microchips etcetera, by a few wealthy, powerful people, striving toward some global, fascist dictatorship, controlling the world majority.

If that is really the case, even if partly.. then we certainly need a strong degree of “truth and rights” in this time, including equal rights and freedom of information, even more than before. Perhaps we might have to “fight” for it, as articulated also in some Reggae lyrics..

As it now stands, the scale of mass quarantine and confinement globally at present, is extreme and unprecedented in recent world history. Due to fear for an infectious disease that seems to be real. Well, the fear and quarantine is real, about the actual or exceptional danger of this virus we are still not fully sure, are we?.

Until all the facts come out, I am not saying that we all should break the law or start a mass revolution against this ordered quarantine. I am only saying at this stage, that a bit more of the rebellious, critical, and freedom- and human rights-defending spirit inherent in the expression “truth(s) and right(s)” would be welcome. Especially Reggae fans could have known better..

Bredda (and Sista!) Bee

“Last night as I was sleeping, I dreamt—marvelous error!— that I had a beehive here inside my heart. And the golden bees were making white combs and sweet honey from my old failures.”

From poem 'Last Night As I Was Sleeping' (translated from Spanish), by Antonio Machado (about Antonio Machado)

Growing up in the Netherlands, and reading relatively much since young, I encountered the folk figure “Broer Konijn”, Dutch translation of “Br’er Rabbit”. This was in a comic series ‘Donald Duck’, from Walt Disney, sold in several stores (Dutch-language version) . I read this quite regularly, I remember, from between my 5th and 10th age.

I recall I always seemed to partly get the illustrated stories of different figures in that “Donald Duck” comic weekly. I found it overall entertaining, but with some stories even more intriguing, while not always getting all symbolic or contextual nuances, at that young age. The fictional town in the magazine was called “Duckstad” in Dutch, “Duck town”, with nonetheless heavy car traffic: humanized ducks behind the wheels. I did not always get main intentions of centralized figures, in these Disney comic strips: Mickey Mouse, the seemingly more socially clumsy Donald Duck, both with female version of the same animal. Then, there was a big rabbit walking with a bag-on-stick on his shoulder, doing something among other people (or animals, better said): Broer Konijn (Brother Rabbit).

Having done some studying since then, I found out the historical and cultural context of Brother Rabbit or Br’er Rabbit. It is a figure in folk stories in the US South, originated among African Americans, with African origins. The rabbit or “hare” is in those stories mostly a trickster figure, outsmarting competing animals. This historical folk figure was in time more or less incorporated by the Disney company.

ANANSI

Relatedly, I found out about traditional Anansi (or: Anancy) tales in the Caribbean, also of African origin, with the spider being here the protagonist trickster animal. These are usually stories to tell children. The difference in animal stems from the different parts of Africa the stories originate from, related to where slaves ending up in the West came from. Anansi, the trickster spider comes from the Ghana region, whereas the hare (or rabbit) as trickster is found more in Central Africa (Congo) and Southern Africa. In certain parts of the US South there came indeed quite some slaves from the Congo region. The Anansi stories are found in mainly Jamaica, Suriname, and Curaçao, with relatively higher percentages of slaves from the Ghana region.

Having learned more in time, some aspects of it still puzzle me a bit. I guess you can say: left me with mixed (positive and negative) feelings. First of all: why should animals be tricksters?: animals tend to be straight-forward: they just want to eat, play, and rest. I kind of like that about them. Perhaps they need to invent tricks to get the food? I don’t know.. It is understandably related to the past of slavery; some slaves needed to be a trickster to outsmart the oppression and the master during slavery.

Anyway, being a trickster suggests a mental craftiness or “wickedness” not really characteristic of animals, as Haile Selassie I , Emperor of Ethiopia, once said: “It is much easier to show compassion to animals. They are never wicked.”

Another “humanizing” aspect of the Brer Rabbit stories is the addition of Brer, from Brother. This could be a linguistic trait, but just as well a cultural one. Maybe in societies more in balance with nature and animals – such as in Africa historically - , animals are earlier seen as “family” in some sense: a related and biologically connected being, a brother or sister.

Indeed, in many Reggae lyrics (from Jamaica) – and in the Jamaican Creole language in general – “Brother” (as Bredda) is often placed before animals, also outside of animal-based folk stories like Anansi. There are several examples in Reggae, but one is in the Israel Vibration song Vultures, using animals in interesting symbolic metaphors. One must know, though, that the word “bredda” is often also used among Jamaicans in the broader meaning of “friend” or “mate”. But still..

This all came to influence me, as I at times – mostly half-joking – now for some years refer to animals as such, adding Brother, Bredda (or the Dutch “Broer”) to the animal, as in: ”bredda bee on my book”, or “bredda cat (not my own) in my garden”, as happened sometimes when stray cats visited several home gardens in a row.

There is a gender issue, so at times I thought: or Sista Bee, Bredda or Sista Bird?

BEES

Recently I paid more attention to the bee, loving in fact that breddas (or sistas?) bee sensed a free haven in my semi-wild garden.

The bee is after all endangered, and therefore we are endangered. That consciousness has begun to grow in recent times, as the importance of bees for pollination of fruits, plants, and vegetables is emphasized. Without the bees, our diet would have to change for 80%.. if we survive at all. If bees would truly disappear, the birds would be the first to follow in extinction, part of a general decline of our natural environment.

It is a cause for worry. Likewise it is simply part of the gradual man-made environmental destruction taking place since agriculture and industrialization.

QUEEN OF THE SUN

I knew this more or less: the threatened bees and its consequences for the natural world and human kind. I must admit, though, that this knowledge remained mostly quite superficial. A documentary I saw recently (the 23rd of May, 2018), 'Queen Of The Sun : what are the bees telling us?' (from 2009 already), dedicated to the threatened bee, therefore turned out to be quite informative for me. The kind of documentary that answers questions I wanted to be answered, without me being even aware that I had these questions.

A beekeeper working for an organic food store cooperation, Odin, in the Netherlands introduced the documentary film, and told about his beekeeping, and answered questions.

HONEY?

While there are objections from vegan activists and environmentalists regarding beekeeping for honey extraction and sale – after all disturbing the bees’ natural order, especially when the honey is not expensive – this beekeeper said honey profits were not his end goal, but rather bee preservation.

I have some vegan people in my circle, and I heard them say that the only way honey could not disturb the bees is when it was very pricey, as not to impact bee activities too much. Usually, however, the need for cheaper honey is such, that honey is taken away, replaced with sugar water for bees to consume, thereby disturbing more the natural order.

Though I thought I felt a “vegan vibe” among some of the people present to see the film (as often surrounding “organic food stores”), this honey production problematic was not touched so much in the said documentary Queen Of The Sun, but rather the general decline of and threat to the bee population, due to broader agricultural and economic developments, especially in the Western world.

MONOCULTURE AGRICULTURE

The focus of the documentary was on the US, but broadened occasionally to the global situation. One main interviewee was a German activist farmer who went to live in the US, also to stimulate better bee environments (wilder vegetation, certain plants, variation), as part of general farming. This instead of the dominant large scale “mono-culture”, with only one type of crop, tree or plant. They gave the example of almond monocultures in California: bees don’t thrive there, because there is only one type of tree, no variation. As a consequence, they starve out, and become endangered. The German farmer in turn included a special bee haven part with varied, natural vegetation to have a good environment for bees, so necessary for the pollination of whatever crops grows on the rest of that farmland.

In the case of the Californian mass almond monoculture, bees are massively flown in from the entire US and even abroad – to pollinate the almond trees. Figures are staggering: something like 70% of all bees in the US are transported to there for almond production! A mass industrial operation. After that they disappear. Hardly a natural order, and of course disturbing.

Several beekeepers – some inevitably a bit too self-congratulatory – in different countries, US, France, New Zealand, Britain, Italy, talked about their activities with and/or for bees.

VARROA MITE

Also adding to bee disappearance is the issue of the varroa mite, an external parasitic mite that specializes in bees, using bees to reproduce. This parasitic mite has infested and diminished bee populations over time. Once only found in Asian bees, it spread to other bees when Asian bees were introduced on other continents – human interference with nature again! – causing problems.

One argument in the documentary was that this problem was confronted by the industries with chemical pesticide measures, hoping to get rid of the varroa mite. In the documentary was explained – however – that instead the varroa mite became resistant to the “miticide” chemicals, becoming even more resilient in the process. Again, letting nature follow its course: letting the bee endure and over time fight off the mite organically, would be more beneficial for the bees themselves, in the long run. The man-made chemicals only made it worse.

DRONES

I learned more things, such as regarding bee biology. I thought that the honey bees were male, while the leading, large queen bee was their leader. It turns out that those worker bees are females, as also the beekeepers in the film referred to them. So Bredda AND Sista bee, I really should call them. In fact, the leading queen bee goes out the hive on “mating trips”, to mate with several male drones. These are the male bees. She is certainly polygamous, collecting sperm from several drones for laying eggs of new male and female bees. I did not know that in English these sperm-delivering male bees are called “drones”. This gives me a strange feeling about the other airplane-camera-like things, called after all “drones” too. The bee drones’ function is anyway to mate and fertilize. This is what I mean with nature being straight-forward, haha.

Come to think of it, another use of the word “drone” I encountered is as musical one, as sustained sound or note. This goes back to an older linguistic, Germanic and English word meaning “to hum”. The airplane called drone is however named after the male bees (also just for the humming sound.. or so they say).

Most sources seem to separate this fertilizing/mating function from actually “working” as the female bees (outside the queen bee) do. Some may be of the opinion that it is work too. The queen bee tends to test the skill of the drones, anyway, during mating, such as by flying higher, thus selecting the best seed. So, it’s not all fun, haha (I am joking, sorry).

Maybe some humans get sexually aroused by this whole imagery, who knows, haha, but this is not my intention.

Further, in one of the featured cities, New York, there was a female beekeeper active, on a rooftop, pointing out that beekeeping was then (before 2009) outlawed in New York city. This prohibition was however lifted after protests. In London, also a “rooftop beekeeper” was interviewed.

Content-wise, this was more or less the core of the Queen of the Sun documentary, one that I would certainly recommend.

Q & A

Almost equally interesting, though, was the Q and A afterward with the Dutch beekeeper, who was not from Amsterdam, having his bees in another part of the Netherlands (near Tiel).

He worked for the organic food store cooperation Odin, having shops all over the Netherlands, though certainly less than well-known EkoPlaza, for instance: its biggest (organic) competitor store in the Netherlands.

He had some interesting things to tell, giving also useful tips and advice for those wanting to help bees even while in the city Amsterdam, such as by adding certain flora attracting bees to balconies and gardens. He pointed at the extreme natural sensibility of the bees, affected for instance even by explosions on the sun – far from the earth -, triggering their migrations.

The same sensibility applies to the human presence, notably the mobile phones and signals these involve, also crossing nature. This affects bees negatively, reason why the beekeeper keeps the mobile phone off or away from the place where he keeps the bee. These rays of mobile phone communication, by the way, have been proven to affect all nature and beings – not just bees -, including humans, to differing degrees negatively.

He also elaborated on the difficulty in outlawing internationally the chemical means – miticide - to fight the said parasitic varroa mite. This is hindered by certain powerful states (China, US) and big companies, with vested economic interests in either the chemicals or certain crops or honey. Sad and enraging, in some sense.

MENTALITY

In introducing the documentary, the beekeeper – while highlighting the indeed beautiful poem opening the documentary, by Spanish poet Antonio Machado (actually part of a larger poem) – he also pointed out that one of the points made in it, such as by the said German farmer in the US, that a “change of mentality” toward the bees and nature among humans is what is ultimately most important.

Our relationship with animals and the natural environment is what is the issue, here. How to stop further environmental destruction. One might argue that in the Western, industrialized world, the balance with nature has been long lost, gradually since agricultural and industrial expansion, diminished forests and variation in ecosystems, all affecting negatively the bees, being so crucial in our food chain.

The mentioned Brother Anancy/Anansi, or Br’er Rabbit stories, from Afro-American folk culture in that sense seem to point at a more balanced state between man and nature once in Africa, attributing after all kinship to animals, especially by adding “brother”. Animal stories are historically also found in other cultures, such as Europe and Asia, of course, often likewise “humanizing” animals.

FROM QUASHIE AND ANANCY TO RASTAFARI

The “trickster”, cunning figure of the Anancy spider is viewed more critically also within the same culture, such as among the Rastafari adherents in Jamaica.

This is described in the interesting 1998 article: ‘The epistemological significance of ”I-an-I” as a response to Quashie and Anancyism in Jamaican culture’, by Adrian Anthony McFarlane. This article was part of the academic collective volume ‘Chanting Down Babylon : the Rastafari reader’ (Temple University press, 1998), wherein several authors discuss different historical and cultural aspects of the Rastafari movement, that first arose in Jamaica in the 1930s. The Rastafari movement originated among poor Black people, and has a pro-Africa focus, a theological and spiritual nucleus in Ethiopia and Haile Selassie, further combined with a certain “nature-based” practical and spiritual world view, distancing itself thus from the Western system, enslaving them in the first place.

Aiming at emancipation and redemption through Africa, a righteous living, and a moral stance, many Rastas began to object against the Anancy “role model” within Jamaica, known for confusion and cunning. While this tries to escape the system, it neither is a clear, majestic moral stance against this Western, oppressive “Babylon” system, as Rastas call it. They prefer – animal-wise – the majestic African lion as a more moral and prouder model, rather than the trickster spider.

The trickster as hero, in addition, meets also objections among Rastas because of its inherent divisiveness. This trickery and fooling does not stop with actual powerful oppressors (White and Black, including the sell-out Quashies), but causes also internal strive. As also heard in many Reggae lyrics by Rastas, the “false” or “fake” Rastas within the Rastafari movement (often similarly wearing long dreadlocks), are a persistent problem, being not only too ignorant, but often even intruders with evil, selfish intentions against the Rastafari goals, from within.

I AND I

The Rasta expression “I and I” - listeners of Reggae hear this expression a lot - relates to their world view. It is a type of heightened consciousness beyond the trickery of Anancysim, or even more beyond what came before it, the “Quashie” figure in Jamaican folk stories, having lost its African, human soul in the West, and being a mere puppet. This is the line of argumentation in McFarlane’s said article: rising from Quashie, through Anancy, to the Rastafari’s I and I, and eventually heightened consciousness and pride.

This I-an-I philosophy among the Rastafari is actually relevant for this post. The I relates to other I’s (beings), pointing at a communal world view, between all humans, but also other living beings in nature. It is in that sense also an expressed preference of balance with nature, flora and fauna. Including of course the bees, having a crucial pollinating role. This also concerns the fruits, and other natural, vegetable foods from the earth the strictest of Rastas have as diet. Vegetarian and vegan, but really a step beyond it, many Rastas prefer also unprocessed, natural food, called Ital food. The bees are crucial in this, and relatively undisturbed contribute to it.

Rastafari principles and the earlier Rastafari example, I therefore argue, simply help provide directions for a change of mentality beneficial for bee survival, the documentary Queens of the Sun called for, in response to the increased awareness and deploration – also in the Western world - of the threatened bees as part of general environmental destruction.

SYMBOLS?

Since we are dealing with symbols now, one could discern certain symbolism in the documentary Queens of the Sun too, in relation to all I said till now. The already discussed varroa mite belongs to the family of spiders (like Anansi/Anancy!). This inevitable parasitic mite is something the bee has to endure to prosper. Just like Rastas want to move beyond Anancyism. At the very least an interesting symbolic parallel.

Also suggested in the documentary is how certain wasps seem to give bees a bad name, by somehow being among them – looking a bit like them – but with more aggressive, negative behavior among them, and toward humans or other creatures. These can be somehow compared to the mentioned “false Rastas” as wolves in sheep clothing, for bad intentions (jealousy, own gain etc.).

On the other hand, in my experience - getting more of that since I am getting older of course - one must be cautious with “symbolism”: it can seem in your favour, but also later turn against you. This applies to all linguistic issues (as symbols are), after all manipulable and corruptible by self-interested humans.

The truth remains the same, however, and that – unpleasant - truth is that in this time the bees are as a species endangered, threatening humans and the environment.

The documentary Queens of the Sun explained this well and quite factual/educational and convincing, already in 2009. It also increased recently my knowledge of certain aspects, having seen it not long ago.