CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1. Rasta and Resistance by Horace Campbell
In the very beginning of Rastafari was existed in underground scene among the
sympathizers of Marcus Garvey in Jamaica in 1930s. Baskara (2008:39) states that gerakan
Rastafari berasal dari suatu penafsiran terhadap Alkitab, aspirasi sosial dan politik kulit
hitam, serta ajaran Marcus Mosiah Garvey, tokoh kulit hitam yang berprofesi sebagai
penerbit dan organisator di Jamaika. (Rastafari movement came from an interpretation of the
Bible, social and political aspirations of Blacks, as well as the teaching of Marcus Mosiah
Garvey, Blacks leaders, who works as a publisher and organizer in Jamaica). From the
statement above, Rastafari not only the development of old religious, but the long story of
Blacks people affected to the rise of the Rastafari. In this case, the figure of Jamaican
movement who take part in the struggle of Blacks people, namely Marcus Garvey, is the
important figure of the Rastafari.
Garvey was Jamaican who introduced repatriation movement among Blacks people
and the founding father of Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in 1914.
Baskara (2008:39) states that Garvey pula yang melontarkan gagasan ‘Afrika untuk Bangsa
Afrika’ dan menyerukan gerakan repatriasi (pemulangan kembali) masyarakat kulit hitam di
luar Afrika. (Garvey also floated the idea that 'Africa for the African Nations' and called for
the movement of repatriation -coming back- Blacks community outside of Africa). In 1916,
Garvey left Jamaica to build UNIA in Harlem, New York. UNIA has more than seven million
followers until 1922. His movement supported by many Blacks people who became
sympathizers and volunteers in the Garveyism movement. Garvey wrote The Blackman in
1930, it was an article about the Blacks movement and contain of forecast about an emperor
of Ethiopia who would led the Blacks people to get their liberation of their own land, Africa.
The forecast later become a prophecy of Rastafari followers, and Garvey is claimed as
prophet who sent the revelation that predicted Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selassie, would lead
the world.
Coronation of King Negus named Ras Tafaria in November 2, 1930 in Abyssinia,
created new history of Africans people. The poor and oppressed people celebrated the
Ethiopian emperor and gave hopefulness for the people. Campbell (1987:150) in Rasta and
Resistance states that the photo show soldiers and Gloucester (Prince of Britain) bowing in
front of Haile Selassie and sends proud news to all African. The coronation also changes the
perspective of Blacks people about the struggle to change their fate and future. The
coronation not only influenced the people in Africa, but also Africans descent or Blacks all
over the world. Campbell (1987:151) says, “The nationalist of Blacks in Harlem celebrate the
coronation, because they see Haile Selassie seems like strong Blacks and he has capacities to
recover respectfulness, rights and dignity of Africa people”.
The emperor did not disappoint his people when many Blacks peoples rely on him as
Ethiopian emperor. Haile gave positive progress to Blacks people proved by his struggle for
anticolonial in Uganda which known as Nyabingi confrontation. Campbell (1987:157) says,
“Ken Post, in his book Arise Ye Starvelings, state a Jamaica local newspaper contributor
wrote in 1935 that the leader of Nyabingi confrontation is taken by Haile Selassie”. Haile also
created programs to help Blacks people get their right. Baskara (2008:41) also says, “Selassie
lalu melakukan banyak hal untuk Ethiopia, antara lain mengadakan land reform (1942),
emansipasi kaum budak (1942) serta revisi dan perluasan konstitusi (1955)”. (Selassie then
do a lot of things for Ethiopia, among others, conduct land reform -1942, the slavery
emancipation -1942- and revision and expansion of the constitution -1955).
Haile’s programs attracted the attention and response other nation which has similar
story of resistant to colonization and discrimination. In Jamaica, the news about Haile’s
program and his political strategy increases sympathy among several Jamaicans who majority
of them was the Garveyism followers who also identified as the first Rastafari’s believers.
Campbell (1987:157) states that the realization get sympathy from Jamaicans (whose
proclaims that Haile Selassie I was crowned emperor who would free Black people) who
reads news in local newspaper about Nyabingi. Nyabingi was a rebellion movement of
Blacks people in Africa in the nineteenth century. (Baskara, 2008:38)
Jamaica is an island country lies in the Caribbean Sea and has an area approximately
10.990 km2. Jamaica region is neighbor of Haiti in east, some America country in west and
south, and Bahamas Island in north. Jamaica got freedom from England colonization in
August 6, 1962 and now has 2.8 billion people. It is the third most populous Anglophone
country in the Americas, after the United States and Canada. Kingston is the country's largest
Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch and head of state. Her appointed representative in the
country is the Governor-General of Jamaica, currently Patrick Allen. The head of government
and Prime Minister of Jamaica is Portia Simpson-Miller. Jamaica is a parliamentary
constitutional monarchy with legislative power vested in the bicameral Parliament of
Jamaica, consisting of an appointed Senate and a directly elected House of Representatives.
(Baskara, 2008:55)
When Christopher Columbus arrived in Jamaica in 15th century, the land was
inhabited by Indian Arawak tribes. The Arawak indigenous people, originating in South
America, settled on the island between 4000 and 1000 BC. The name Jamaica itself came
from Arawak word ‘xaymaca’ means jungle and water island. Christopher Columbus claimed
Jamaica for Spain after landing there in 1494. But, in 1655 English led by Sir William Penn
and General Robert Venables, took over the last Spanish fort in Jamaica. The Spanish and the
English colonist killed the Arawak tribe because they were perceived as a threat and pests. In
the era of colonization, Jamaica potential as a good plantation land in an agricultural system
that became seizure by European colonist. (Baskara, 2008:55)
When Arawak tribe was extinct, the colonist bought slaves from Africa and placed
them in Jamaica. The slaver worked at sugar plantation. In 1660, the population of Jamaica
was about 4,500 Whites and 1,500 Blacks, but by as early as the 1670s, Blacks people formed
a majority of the population. Hope (1947:42) states, “The problem of labor became acute and
the planters turned more and more to the use of slaves and thus, in the middle of the
seventeenth century, the importation of Africans into the Caribbean islands began in earnest”.
By the beginning of the 19th century, Jamaica's dependence on slave labor and a plantation
economy had resulted in Blacks people outnumbering Whites people by a ratio of almost 20
to 1. It is the roots of Africans descent in Jamaica.
The interested of Jamaicans people are more increase after Howell joins to persuade
people to support Haile Selassie I. Campbell (1987:151) says, “Howell began to teach people
to prove their loyalty for the emperor of Ethiopian, not the King of British”. Leonard P.
Howell was first propagandist of Rastafari movement. He built Pinnacle Encampment in
Kingston and Spanish Town, Jamaica, as the protest movement which adopted from old
history of Maroons, the escaped slave who was punished his master. They planed the strategy
in the mountain with many fugitives. Hope (1947:45) tells some story about the Maroons, he
“When the British took Jamaica in the middle of the seventeenth century, most of the slaves promptly escaped to the mountains, where they were frequently joined by other fugitives. These runaways, called Maroons, continuously harassed the planters by stealing, trading with slaves, and enticing them to run away”.
The interested of some Jamaican was rapidly transformed into an apotheosis to the
emperor. Campbell (1987:147) says, “Some of Jamaicans argued Haile Selassie I was ‘God
and Men’ and caused religious controversial between West Christian Church and other
Orthodox”. For Rastafari followers, Haile Sellasie I is an answer of Garvey’s prophecy which
then became their sacred message. Baskara (2008:41) also says, “Ketika Ras Tafaria
Makonnen dinobatkan sebagai raja Ethiopia dengan gelar Haile Sellasie I, maka para
pengikut ajaran Garvey menganggap Ras Tafaria sebagai tokoh pembebas”. (When Ras
Rafaria Makonnen was crowned as King of Ethiopia entitled Haile Sellasie I, then Garveyism
follower considers Ras Tafaria as liberators figures).
The Rastafari starts to show its existence as a religion among the people in Jamaica
and had many followers. Until 1965, the main support came from poor people in Jamaica.
Rastafari follower is called Rastaman, and they call Haile Sellasie I as Jah. The title ‘Jah’ is
come from ‘Jehova’. Baskara (2008:42) states, “Istilah ‘jah’ sendiri merupakan bentuk
singkat dari Jehova (Yehovah, Yahweh) yang ditemukan dalam Mazmur (68:4) dalam kitab
versi Raja James”. (The term 'jah' itself is a abbreviation form of Jehovah -Jehovah,
Yahweh- that is found in Psalms -68: 4- in the bible version of the King James). They also
identified themselves into “I and I”, it refers to we or us, the connectives of men and Jah.
(Baskara, 2008:49). The existence of Ratafari in Jamaica is close related to nationalism of
Africa. Campbell (1987:231) states that the Rastaman becoming part of Pan-Africans which
has great desire to liberate Africa.
As religion, Rastafari has rules of life or basic belief and also has religious rituals
which are held by its followers. Rastafari is also the religious phenomenon that is difficult to
categorize, but seen from their interpretation of the bible and history of offspring they
believe, can be said that the Rastafari as a form which combines Judaism and Christianity.
(Baskara, 2008:38). They believe that Zion is the holly place as a heaven lies in Ethiopia.
Rastaman believe that all oppressor, discriminator, and colonialist are an embodiment of
oppression. It related to downpressors power of imperialism”. Baskara (2008:38) give his
statement that says,
“Secara sosial, Rastafari adalah respons orang-orang kulit hitam atas perlakuan diskriminatif oleh orang kulit putih. Diskriminasi itu terjadi di Jamaika ketika pada tahun 1930an orang-orang kulit hitam berada pada tingkat tatanan sosial paling bawah, sementara orang-orang kulit putih dan agama mereka -umumnya Kristen- berada di tingkat teratas”. (Socially, Rastafari is a response to the blacks over discriminatory treatment by whites. The discrimination occurred in Jamaica in the 1930s when the blacks are at the bottom level of the social order, while the white people and their religion -commonly Christian-at the top level).
Furthermore, Baskara (2008:38) also states that Rastafarian juga merupakan
perlawanan atas warisan kesombongan Babylonia (Babel), seperti yang tercermin dalam
otoritarianisme fasis Mussolini yang menjajah tanah suci kaum rasta, Ethiopia, pada tahun
1935. (Rastafarians also a resistance against the arrogance of Babylonia – Babel – such as
reflected in fascist authoritarianism of Mussolini who colonize the sacred land of Rastaman,
Ethiopia, in 1935).
The Rastaman identified himself into natural approach such as Africa culture. It is
why symbols of Rastafari are identic with nature and wild endemic animal of Africa. Baskara
(2008:75) says, “Hidup dekat dan menjadi bagian dari alam dianggap sebagai sifat Afrika.
Pendekatan Afrika terhadap hidup dengan alam ini terlihat dalam simbolisasi dreadlock,
ganja, makanan, upacara keagamaan, dan segala aspek kehidupan”.(Living close to and
become a part of nature regarded as properties of Africa. African approach to living with
nature is seen in symbolization dreadlock, marijuana, food, religious ceremonies, and all
aspects of life). It is why Rastafari doctrine is very different from the norms of the Whites, in
some case it also a rejection to Whites people’s habits.
Based on the statement above, it can be said that Rastaman also have their own rules
about lifestyle. Rastaman has hairstyle characteristic known as Dreadlockand they didn’t eat
fish and pork, and some of them live as vegetarian. The Dreadlock of Rastaman hairs
intended to respect Jah, in other hand, it is also based on their interpretation to the bible.
Other reason, they claimed that their bodies is sacred and hair shave is prohibited, for them
shaving hair is the common think of Whites, they called Baldheads. Baskara (2008: 80) states
that bagi orang-orang Rasta, pisau cukur, gunting, dan sisir adalah tiga alat yang ditemukan
tools invented by the Babylonians and Romans). Rastaman also use marijuana as a ritual or
pray and they didn’t drink alcohol. In addition, Baskara (2008:76) says,
“Rastafari juga mengenal tipe-tipe upacara keagamaan.Upacara ini biasanya berupa acara sederhana di mana orang-orang Rasta berkumpul, menghisap ganja, dan berdiskusi soal isu-isu etika, sosial, dan keagamaan. Orang yang menghisap ganja menyebut aktivitasnya itu sebagai doa”. (Rastafari is also familiar with the types of religious ceremonies. The ceremony is usually a simple event where the Rasta people gather, smoke marijuana, and discuss the issues of ethical, social, and religious. People who smoke marijuana refer to this activity as a prayer).
2.2. Bob Marley: The Spirit of Freedom by Nando Baskara
Reggae is a combination of traditional music and modern music develop in Jamaica.
The word ‘reggae’ came from Africans language ‘ragged’ means move or beat. Reggae rise
in ghetto or poor people in Kingston, Jamaica, when many social problems and protests
occurred in 1960s. Nando Baskara (2008:58) in Bob Marley: The Spirit of Freedom states
that faktor utama lahirnya reggae adalah soal kondisi ekonomi Jamaika. (The main factor of
reggae’s arise is about Jamaica economic condition)
The music of reggae is influenced by rocksteady, ska and bluesbeat. Baskara
(2008:57) states that musik reggae lahir karena pengaruh-pengaruh Ska, R&B, music
Karibia, music rakyat, musik gereja Pocomania, Jonkanoo, upacara-upacara petani, dan
Mento. (Reggae music was born because of the effects of Ska, R & B, Caribbean music, folk
music, church music Pocomania, Jonkanoo, ceremonies farmers, and Mento). From the
statement, it is clear that reggae has close relationship with Africa culture, it is proved by
Poncomania and Jokanoo which are traditional ceremonies of Africans while practice of
slavery occurred. Characteristically reggae has slow beat and make its listener dancing.
Reggae developed into Roots Reggae and Dancehall Reggae in 1970s. Baskara (2008:62-63)
explains that nama roots reggae diberikan oleh kalangan Rastafarian, yang berarti sebuah
musik spiritual yang diperuntukan bagi Jah, tuhan kaum Rasta. (The name of roots reggae is
given by Rastafarian, which means a spiritual music for Jah, God of Rasta people).
Reggae is kind of music which has special history about horrible experience of Blacks
people and its struggle for liberation and freedom. Baskara (2008:67) says, “Reggae menjadi
jawaban orang kulit hitam atas kemiskinan, keputusasaan, dan eksploitasi”. (Reggae became
proves that Reggae not only an entertainment music played by Jamaicans, but it has deeper
meaning about the struggle and the resistance. Campbell (1987:351) says, “Bob Marley
focused in reggae session named Reggae Sunsplash, which alwayspromotes his arguments
about liberation and struggle”. Reggae Sunsplash firstly introduced by Bob Marley in his
several songs which were contain of critical and protest lyrics, it is why reggae cannot be
separated with rebellion. Baskara (2008:63) concludes, “Jadi, dapat dikatakan bahwa music
Reggae merupakan sebuah music bagi para pemberontak”. (So, it can be said that Reggae
music is music for rebels). In addition, Campbell (1987:299) states, “Not only consists of
idealism aspect and liberation, those songs also criticize the racial hierarchy among people”.
In fact, reggae is familiar with one name, he is Robert Nesta Marley, or famous with
Bob Marley. Baskara (2008:58) says Marley memang menjadi sosok awal yang berpengaruh
dalam perkembangan music reggae karena gaya bermusik dan aksi panggungnya yang
kreatif. (Marley has become an early influential figure in the development of reggae music
because music style and creative action stage). Marley introduced the Reggae Sunsplash in
reggae music which are consist of brave lyric about protest and rebellion for liberation, and
he also adopted many Rastafari’s beliefs in his song lyrics or known as Roots Reggae type. It
is why Bob Marley regarded as the prophet of Rastaman. Baskara (2008:58) says, “Marley
kemudian menjadi superstar internasional dan dianggap sebagai nabi oleh para penganut
keyakinan Rastafari”. (Marley became an international superstar and is regarded as a prophet
by followers of the Rastafari faith).
Even though Marley is dead in 1981, reggae develops broadly. Now, reggae is not
always identic with Jamaica musician, such as Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, etc. Baskara
(2008:59) says, “Reggae berkembang di Skandinavia, Jerman, Inggris, dan Jepang, juga di
negara-negara lainnya”. (Reggae develops in Scandinavia, German, England, and Japan,
also in other countries). The international superstar such as Eric Clapton and Paul Simon
begin collaborate his music with reggae in 1980s. Besides, Reggae is growing rapidly among
the people in Indonesia now. Reggae musicians began to appear in Indonesia as Tony Q, Ras
Muhammad, Steven n Coconut Treez, etc. It shows that reggae is received and enjoyed by
2.3.From Slavery to Freedom by John Hope Franklin and Alfred A. Moss, Jr
Theoretically human rights are something absolute owned by everyone. But in fact,
human rights are only powerful at theoretical but does not have a strong basis for
implementation to some certain groups. Some groups do not absolutely be able to feel equal
rights that causes inequalities in social and political among people. They should be treated
with the divergence rights and inequality.
Africa is the third largest continent after Asia and America and this continent has
abundant wealth of natural resources. On the mainland, Africa has a mountain named
Kilimanjaro (5.895 meter above sea level) in Tanzania, and a desert named Sahara, the
largest in the world, and the longest river in the world, named Nile. Besides, Africa is also
flanked by two oceans, the Atlantic and Indian. Based on the history of civilization, Africans
has worst experience that occurred long time ago.
Africans have horrible story about the practice of the slavery for long time. Recorded
in the history when ancient kingdom in Africa has a regulation about the slavery system, it is
based on some traditional culture like the slavery for prisoner of war and sacrifice ritual for
God. John Hope Franklin and Alfred A. Moss, Jr. in From Slavery to Freedom (1947) explain
many information and portrayal of Africans slavery. Hope (1947:28) says, “Long before the
extensive development of the slave trade in the hands of Europeans, many of the basic
practices of the international slave trade had already been established”. Further, the system of
slavery develops largely in life of Africans after European arrived and colonized the people
and then caused the slave trade of Blacks people.
The colonization in Africa region is done by some European nation after their each
sailor found and landing there about fifteenth century. In Africa, the colonist exploited
natural resources and commodity beside looked for opportunity will find another advantages
included slaves. The necessary of labor which cheaper, stronger and can be obey their rules
easy are the reasons of Europeans trading the slave. The last half of the fifteenth century may
be considered as the years of preparation in the history of the slave trade. Hope (1947:30)
says,
and its undeveloped regions that could make slavery and the slave trade profitable, if indeed it could be profitable anywhere”.
The Blacks who regarded as slavery would be exported to foreign especially Europe.
The slave trade was a horrible story for the Blacks people when they were be sold and sent to
other island by ship sailed crossed Atlantic oceans. Hope (1947:36) states, “At the post and
from the Africans the traders obtained supplies for the western voyage across the Atlantic”.
Many the people dead in the ship before arrived to destination place and only stronger people
can survive. Hope (1947:37) also states,
“Perhaps more than half the slaves shipped from Africa ever became effective workers in the New World. Many of those that had not died of disease or committed suicide by jumping overboard were permanently disabled by the ravages of some dread disease or by maiming, which often resulted from the struggle against the chains”.
The slave ship was also like a nightmare for the Blacks people, considering they
faced reality to be sold as slaves into stranger land and also struggled to save their life in the
horror ship from disease and breathing trouble among the people because overcrowded. Hope
(1947:36) states that the voyage to the Americas, popularly referred to as the middle passage
was a veritable nightmare. Overcrowding was most common. It would be imagined by us
about the situation in the ship from Hope (1947:36) statement that says, “There was hardly
standing, lying or sitting room. Chained together by twos, hands and feet, the slaves had no
room in which to move about and no freedom to exercise their bodies even in the slightest”.
The survive Blacks would be placed in various sectors based on slave’s master who
bought the slaves, and commonly they works as servants in a plantation, industry, and house.
Hope (1947:50) explains,
“The urban slaves worked as servants in the town homes of planters, in shops, at the docks, and in numerous other capacities. On the whole, their lot was not difficult. Some were especially skilled in arts and craft and performed invaluable services in helping to improve living condition in the urban areas. Others were kept in the homes to render personal service”.
As a slave, Blacks worked without salary and payment and sometimes got worse
treatment and oppression, either physic or psychology violence. In fact, the slave trade is the
main factor for many Africans people spreads around the world. It is certainly very tortured
live of the Africans, considering they separated from their origin place and should work
states that there was never any profitable future for Negro slavery in Europe. Besides, Hope
(1947:44) also reinforces the fact of the situation by his statement that says, “In the famous
investigation of 1790-1791 no plantation was found where a slave received more than nine
pints of corn and one pound of salt meat per week”. In reality, when the Blacks people didn’t
get profit, it was differ to Europeans. In addition, Campbell (1947:37) also says, “The slave
trade was still one of the most important sources of Europeans wealth in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries”.
The master of slaves is often provide some crazy rules for slaves, like Hope (1947:44)
explanation that says, “The investigations brought out the fact that pregnant women were
forced to work up to the time of childbirth and that a month was the maximum amount of
time allowed for recovery from childbearing”. Food was, on the whole, not sufficient for
slaves. In some case, the landlord did not often encourage any type of diversified agriculture
which would have provided food for the workers. It was the landlordism that constituted one
of the most important factors in the development of practice that are manifestly destructive of
health and life among slaves. Hope (1947:44) also says, “Another favorite type of
punishment was to suspend the slave from a tree by ropes and tie iron weights around his
neck and waist”. In West, slaves were sent to the farm at daybreak and they labored all day
except for a thirty minutes period for breakfast and two hour period in the hottest portion of
the day. From the statements, we found a fact that slave mostly live oppressed and not only
for men felt it, but also for women. These atrocities caused rebellion among the slave and
begin emergence much reactions and protest to stop the slave trade.
The struggle of Blacks people to abolish the Africans slave trade and slavery’s
practice itself were take a long time. In the beginning, the struggle done personally by slave
who shows revenge to his master, they escapes and steal and in some case they tries to fight
his master as a rebellion. But, the struggle develops became structured and planned after a
few free and intelligent Blacks joined for the struggle, they are known as antislavery. The
slaves who are spread to different regions especially Europe and America causes the struggle
more difficult among antislavery. French Revolution in 1789 also impacts to Blacks in other
region. Campbell (1947:83) says, “When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, the
Negroes in the French possessions looked toward the prospect of securing for themselves the
Early in the nineteenth century antislavery group resumed their efforts to secure
stringent federal legislation against the slave trade in United States. Campbell (1947:85) says,
“In January 1800, the free Blacks of Philadelphia led the way by requesting Congress to
revise the laws on the slave trade and on fugitives”. From the statement above, we know that
there was serious effort to abolish the slave trade in the Congress, but the fact proved that the
practice of imported from Africa to Europe and America still done. It can be proved by
statement of Campbell (1947:85) that explains, “When South Carolina reopened the ports to
the trade in 1803, the antislavery forces began to press for action”. Resolutions were
introduced in the Congress condemning the slave trade, but no conclusive steps were taken.
Campbell (1947:85) also says,
“The question of the slave trade was brought dramatically before the country in December 1805, when Senator Stephen R. Bradley of Vermont introduced a bill to prohibit the slave trade after January 1, 1808. In February 1806, Representative Barnabas Bidwell of Massachusetts introduced a similar measure, but nothing was done about it”.
Antislavery interests both in England and United States rejoiced in the year 1807.
England had outlawed the slave trade; and in the same year United States had followed.
There was little real reason for rejoicing in the United States, however, for from the
beginning, the law went unenforced. Campbell (1947:85) states,
“In his message to the Congress, December 2, 1806, President Jefferson called the attention of the Congress to the approaching date on which the slave trade could be prohibited. On March 2, 1807, the law prohibiting the African slave trade was passed. Persons convicted of violating the act were to be fined and imprisoned. The fines ranged from $800 for knowingly buying illegally imported Negroes to $20,000 for equipping a slaver”.
The practice of slave trade had agreed to be closed by government in Europe and
America, included stop imported-exported Africans slave trade. But, the practice of slavery is
not finish in that time. There remains the practice of import-export of slaves illegally in the
small port of United States. Dependence on slave assessed as a trigger for slave traders take
advantage of the situation without regard to existing regulations. It reinforces the fact that the
struggle of Black people still long and winding. Campbell (1947:85) states,
Even in the New England states, where laws were putting an end to the institution, the Negroes could not express much optimism or any great faith in the future, for it was well known that New England merchants were still taking slaves into the South and there was still no great moral indignation against the institution except in isolated areas and groups.”
Until at the late nineteenth century,there were still indications of the practices of
slavery against the Blacks. In 1926, Slavery Convention, an initiative of the League of
Nations, was a turning point in banning global slavery. And the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, adopted in 1948 by the UN General Assembly, explicitly banned slavery.
After the closing era of slave trade or in early 20th century, arose new problems for the
people all over the world throughout racial cases such as discrimination and segregation of
human race. This fact proved that the human rights has longer story on the world.
Contemporary international human rights law and the establishment of the United
Nations (UN) have important historical antecedents. Efforts in the 19thcentury to prohibit the
slave trade and to limit the horrors of war are prime examples. In 1919, countries established
the
to their rights, including their health and safety. Concern over the protection of certain
minority groups was raised by the League of Nations at the end of the First World War.
However, this organization for international peace and cooperation, created by the victorious
European allies, never achieved its goals. The League floundered because the United States
refused to join and because the League failed to prevent Japan’s invasion of China and
Manchuria (1931) and Italy’s attack on Ethiopia (1935). It finally died with the onset of the
Second World War (1939).
2.4. Education, Equality and Human Rights; Issues of Gender, ’Race’, Sexuality, disability and Social Class by Mike Cole
In a book entitled Education, Equality and Human Rights; Issues of Gender, ’Race’,
Sexuality, disability and Social Class ( 2000) by Mike Cole, we found many explanations
about human rights and its history. Cole (2000:1) said that all human beingis born free and
equal in dignity and rights. In article 2 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that
everyone is entitled to all rights and freedom set forth in this declaration, without distinction
of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political, or other opinion, national
Human rights are moral principles or norms that describe certain standards of human
behavior, and are regularly protected as legal rights in municipal and international law. They
are commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights. (Cole, 2000:23). They are
applicable everywhere and at every time in the sense of being universal, and they are
egalitarian in the sense of being the same for everyone. They require empathy and the rule of
law and impose an obligation on persons to respect the human rights of others. They should
not be taken away except as a result of due process based on specific circumstances, and
require freedom from unlawful imprisonment, torture, and execution.
Documents asserting individual rights, such the Magna Carta (1215), the English Bill
of Rights (1689), the French Declaration on the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789), and the
US Constitution and Bill of Rights (1791) are the written precursors to many of today’s
human rights documents. Yet many of these documents, when originally translated into
policy, excluded women, people of color, and members of certain social, religious, economic,
and political groups. Nevertheless, oppressed people throughout the world have drawn on the
principles these documents express to support revolutions that assert the right to
self-determination.
The doctrine of human rights has been highly influential within international law,
global and regional institutions. Actions by states and non-governmental organizations form
a basis of public policy worldwide. The idea of human rights suggests that if the public
discourse of peacetime global society can be said to have a common moral language, it is that
of human rights.
The strong claims made by the doctrine of human rights continue to provoke
considerable skepticism and debates about the content, nature and justifications of human
rights to this day. The precise meaning of the term right is controversial and the subject of
continued philosophical debate, while there is consensus that human rights encompasses a
wide variety of rights such as the right to a fair trial, protection against enslavement,
prohibition of genocide, free speech, or a right to education, there is disagreement about
which of these particular rights should be included within the general framework of human
rights, some thinkers suggest that human rights should be a minimum requirement to avoid
Many of the basic ideas that animated the human rights movement developed in the
aftermath of the Second World War and the atrocities of The Holocaust, culminating in the
adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Paris by the United Nations
General Assembly in 1948. Ancient peoples did not have the same modern-day conception of
universal human rights. The true forerunner of human rights discourse was the concept of
natural rights which appeared as part of the medieval natural law tradition that became
prominent during the Enlightenment with such philosophers as John Locke, Francis
Hutcheson, and Jean Jacques Burlamaqui, and which featured prominently in the political
discourse of the American Revolution and the French Revolution. From this foundation, the
modern human rights arguments emerged over the latter half of the twentieth century,
possibly as a reaction to slavery, torture, genocide, and war crimes, as a realization of
inherent human vulnerability and as being a precondition for the possibility of a just society.
As currently formulated, the concept of human rights is a comparatively recent
phenomenon. The President of The United Nations General Assembly, Dr. E.H Evatt,
observed at the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December
1948 that this was the first occasion on which the organized world community had
recognized the existence of human rights. The
although eight nations choose to abstain.
The UDHR, commonly referred to as the international Magna Carta, extended the
revolution in international law ushered in by the United Nations Charter, namely that how a
government treats its own citizens is now a matter of legitimate international concern, and
not simply a domestic issue. It claims that all rights ar
Preamble eloquently asserts that,“Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and
inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice,
and peace in the world”. (www.human rightshistory.com, accessed on June, 2015)
With the goal of establishing mechanisms for enforcing the UDHR, the UN
Commission on Human Rights proceeded to draft two
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and its optional
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Together with
the Universal Declaration, they are commonly referred to as the
and voting. The ICESCR focuses on such issues as food, education, health, and shelter.
Bot
of 1997, over 130 nations have
ratified only the ICCPR, and even that with many reservations, or formal exceptions, to its
full compliance. (Cole, 2000:3)
In addition to the covenants in the International Bill of Human Rights, the United
Nations has adopted more than 20 principal treaties further elaborating human rights. These
include conventions to prevent and prohibit specific abuses like torture and
protect especially vulnerable populations, such as refugees (Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees, 1951), wome
1989).
In Europe, the Americas, and Africa, regional documents for the protection and
promotion of human rights extend the International Bill of Human Rights. For example,
African states have created their own Charter of Human and People’s Rights (1981), and
Muslim states have created the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (1990). The
dramatic changes in Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America since 1989 have powerfully
demonstrated a surge in demand for respect of human rights. Popular movements in China,
Korea, and other Asian nations reveal a similar commitment to these principles.
2.5. Poetry as Literature
Literature is concerned with all aspect of human life and the universe in their entirety,
surely every work of literatures is about something, and the more of a person reads, the better
stocked will his mind be with knowledge. The writers of literature express their thought,
feelings, emotions, and attitudes towards life. According to Wellek (1991:23), literature is the
criterion is either aesthetic worth alone or aesthetic worth in combination with the general
intellectual distinction. With lyric poetry, drama, and fiction, the greatest works are selected
on aesthetic ground; style, composition, general force of presentations is the usual
characteristics single out. Literature is the class of writings in which imaginative expression
aesthetic form, universality of ideas, and permanence are characteristic features, as fiction,
poetry, romance, and drama. From all explanation above, it is that poetry is a kind of
The words of poetry derived from the Greek word, ‘poiein’ means to make or to
construct. According to Robert Frost, poetry is rhythmical composition of words expressing
attitude, designed to surprise and delight and to arouse an emotional response. Wordsworth in
Peck and Loyle (1984: 11) states that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling,
expression of emotion, and it is always concerned with ordinary human concerns, with the
daily matters of one’s life.
2.5.1. Song – Poetry Connection
We know that song has some major elements, they are lyric and melody. A singer
combined lyric and melody to express his feeling in term of music. In some case, lyric of the
song are adapted from a literary work like poem. For example, there is song of Bob Marley
entitled War which adapted from Haile Selassie’s speech and Iwan Fals’s song entitled
Condet is adapted from poetry of Ronggo Warsito.
Characteristically, lyric and melody of song are similar to stanza and rhythm of
poetry. A singer and a poet in common use selected words of their work, like song has words
in the lyric and poetry has words in stanzas. In Literary Terms and Criticism (1984) by Peck
and Coyle, it explains that poetry has specific structure usually written by a poet. Peck
(1984:12) states, “Most poems are written in lines of the same length; usually these lines are
arranged into the symmetrical groups we call stanzas; often the poem has a repeated rhyme
pattern running through each stanza which is usually fairly conspicuous”.
The relation between song and poetry can also be proved by one kind of poetry called
ballad. Peck (1984:21) states, “The traditional ballad is a song that tells a story”. The
statement proves that sometime poetry is written to be sung. Beside, lyric is known as the
basic type of poetry, Peck (1984:13) says, “We can, in fact, reduce poetry to two basic types:
narrative and lyric”. A narrative poem is a poem that tells a story, the main kinds are the epic,
the ballad, and the romance. The vast majority of poems are lyrics. There are poems that are
2.5.2. The Kind of Poetry
There are ten kinds of poetry; they are ballad, ode, elegy, pastoral, sonnet, epic,
dramatic monologue, satire, confessionals, free verse, (Kasim, 2007). Martha Pardede in her
book Understanding Poetry (2007) also wrote many of information about poetry
explanations. The poetry has characteristic based on each kinds.
Ballad is a short narrative song preserved and transmitted orally among illiterate or
semiliterate people. Some characteristics of ballad are: first, ballad focus on a single crucial
episode or situation. The ballad begins usually at a point where the action is decisively
directed towards its catastrophe. The second, ballads are dramatic. We are not told things
happening, we are shown them happening. The third, ballads are impersonals. The narrator
seldom allows his own subjective attitude toward the events to intrude ballads often contain
dialogues between characters.
Ode is a lyric adopted from the Greek but altered greatly in form by various English
poets. It tends to be rather formal and elevated and is often to a prominent person.Ode is the
most formal, ceremonious, and complexly, organized form of lyric poetry, usually of
considerable length. It is frequently the vehicle for public utterance on state occasion, such as
a ruler’s birthday, accession, etc.
Elegy is the words derive from the Greek word “elegeia” which means “lament”.
Elegy is formal in tone and diction; it usually contains the commemoration of the death of
actual person or the poet’s contemplation of the tragic aspects of life. Elegy is also written to
express felling of sorrow or loss.
Pastoral is a type of poetry that describes rural life. It often deals with the love of
shepherd and shepherdesses.
Sonnet is a poem that consists of fourteen lines. It rhyme scheme has, in practice,
been widely varied. The sonnet was originally a love poem which dealt with the lover’s
sufferings and hopes. It originated in Italy and became popular in England in the
Renaissance, when Thomas Wyatt and the Earl of Surrey translated and imitated the sonnets
written by Petrarch (Petrarchan sonnet). From the seventeenth century onwards the sonnet
was also used for other topics than love, for instance for religious experience (by Donne and
Owen). The sonnet uses a single stanza of (usually) fourteen lines and an intricate rhyme
pattern.
Epic is the most ambitious kind of poetry which deals with great heroes whose action
determines the fate of their nation or of mankind. Epics usually operate on a large scale, both
in length and topic, such as the founding of a nation (Virgil’s Aeneid) or the beginning of
world history (Milton's Paradise Lost), they tend to use an elevated style of language and
supernatural beings take part in the action.
Dramatic monologue is a type of poetry in which a person expresses the though and
feeling which are uppermost in his mind to another person who keeps silent all the time with
a view to convincing to hearer of what he thinks. It is essentially a study of character, of
mental states or moral crisis, made from inside. It is predominantly psychological, analytical,
meditative, and argumentative. In a dramatic monologue, the speakers speaks and addresses
his argument to another person who generally keep mum, which infuses great dramatic
quality into it.
Satire is a type of ridicule and criticism, and it can be erected against many different
object universal human vices of follies, social evils or political short coming. It is often
engendered by the desire to improve society, to right a wrong.
The confessional poems are basically autobiographical in nature. It is the poet
speaking specifically about himself. And free-verse it is the kinds of poetry an author doesn’t
use either rhyme- scheme or metrical devices.
2.5.3. The Aspects of Poetry
Poetry has four main aspects. Pardede (2009:11) says, “The aspects of poetry are
sense, feeling, tone, and intention”. The fourth aspect is important one of poetry.
Sense is the subject matter of poetry. A sense related to a poem’s meaning conveyed
by its author. Sometimes, poetry’s tittle gives some indication of its general meaning or the
theme.
Feeling is the attitude of the author toward the subject matter. The author writes
Tone is the attitude of the writer toward the reader. We can understand it by giving
our attention to the writer’s words or diction used in his poetry.
Intention is undoubtedly a writer writes certain poetry for he has a special intention. It
is about motivation of the writer, at least for himself to express his feeling.
2.5.4. The Devices of Poetry
There are some devices used in poetry. Pardede (2009:18) states, “In writing a poem,
a poet uses three devices, they are structural devices, sense devices and sound devices”. The
third devices would be described as follow:
1. Structural Devices
a. Repetition
A Poet often repeats single lines or whole stanza at intervals to emphasize a
particular idea. Repetition is found in poetry which is aiming a special musical
effect or when a poet wants to pay very close intention to something.
Example: water, water everywhere (the Ancient Mariner)
b. Contrast
This is one of the most common of all structural devices. It occurs when the
readers find two completely opposite pictures side by side. Sometimes the
contrast is immediate obvious and sometimes implied.
Example: Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away
c. Illustration
This is an example which usually takes the form of a vivid picture by which a
poet may make an idea clear.
Examples: the picture given in Ozymandias illustrates the idea of the vanity of
human wishes. The description of the broken statue of a cruel and powerful
king gives the lines
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!
3. Sense Devices
a. Imagery
Imagery is a description which makes the reader imagines how things, sounds,
or even smell feel like. Imagery refers to the pictures that the readers see in
their minds as they read. Good images are created by using specific details that
appeal to the sense and make a dominant impression. The ability to uses
imagery stems from being a good observer of the world.
b. Symbol
Symbol is a trope that combines a literal and sensuous quality with abstract or
suggestive aspect but it is not literal meaning but uses that meaning to suggest
another. A symbol is something that is itself and also stands for something else
as the letters.
c. Figures of Speech
Figures of speech are phrases or words that compare one thing to another
unlike thing. Figures of speech can enhance style and make ideas distinct.
There are some kinds of figures of speech, they are Simile, Metaphor,
Personification, Metonymy, Antithesis, Irony, Allegory, etc.
4. Sound Devices
a. Rhythm
Rhythm is essentially a mother of repetition. Rhythm is achieved by repeating
some combination of intervals between sounds or of light and strong beats. In
other words, rhythm is the pulse or beat felt in a line of poetry.
Example: Day by day, day after day
We stuck, nor breath nor motion (The Ancient Mariner)
Another repetition which is also a part of prosody is the repetition of sounds.
The most familiar version of this device is rhyme. The most familiar rhyme is
readers use letter to indicate a sound that is repeated a b c d. Rhyme can point
up certain words and make these key terms strike.
b. Masculine Ending
Masculine ending is a line which has a final stressed syllable.
c. Feminine Ending
Feminine ending is a line which has a final unstressed syllable.
d. Alliteration
Alliteration means that the repetition of initial consonant in another word is
the repetition of the same sound at frequent intervals.
Example: O Wild West Wind
e. Assonance
Assonance is the repeating of stressed vowel sound.
Example: In behind you auld fail dyke
f. Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia imitates actual sounds being described.
Example: hiss, buzz, whirr, sizzle, cuckoo.
g. Euphony
Euphony is a pleasantness of sound which describes light and graceful.
h. Cacophony
Cacophony is a sounding language that reads easily, referring to another sound
