A leader of the local Rastafarian movement has argued that the religious movement is not in decline in the country.

Franklyn “Ras Frank I” Francis argued that critics suggesting the movement is in decline fail to see the full picture.

“Far from having dwindled in any way, we see that it has been given a certain amount of accommodation in the wider society which initially had had a very antagonistic approach and a number of the cultural traits have been adopted by the society at large on a very wide scale,” Francis said.

The Rastafarian leader pointed to the contributions of several Rastafarian leaders at the University of the West Indies (UWI).

“Several academics have in very recent times been lauding the whole philosophical aspect and the contribution of Rastafari to the whole development of Caribbean thought and philosophy,” Francis said.

“I don’t think we can look at it in any light as having dwindled. I think that now even more the Rastafarian message towards ‘naturality,’ ital food etc is even becoming even more and more recognised and adopted by conventional society,” Francis added.

(More in today’s Daily OBSERVER)

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