The Rastaman’s Concepts Of Equality And Freedom As Reflected In Bob Marley’s Selected Songs

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 coronation of Haile Selassie I, the title of Ras Tafaria after the coronation. Haile became new

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 city and its capital, with a population of 937,700. Jamaica is a Commonwealth realm, with

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 says,

“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 evils, called as Babylonians. Campbell (1987:230) states, “The Babylon is the symbol 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 oleh bangsa Babylonia dan Romawi. (For Rasta people, razor, scissors and combs are three

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 the answer of Blacks people on poverty, despair, and exploitation). From the statement, it

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 many people around the world.

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,

“The search for new trade routes, new lands, and new commodities provided the opportunities for the use of Negro slaves that the Europeans had been looking for. It was the New World with its vast natural resources

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 without any benefit for them but only oppression and violence treatment. Hope (1947:29)

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 same elements of freedom for which the Frenchmen at home were fighting”.

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,

“The Industrial Revolution in England, the invention of cotton gin, the extension of slavery into the new territories, and the persistence of the slave trade into the nineteenth century all had the effect of establishing slavery in the United States on a more permanent basis than ever before.

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 or social origin, property, birth or other status.

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 the worst-case abuses, while others see it as a higher standard.

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 literature.

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 actually called lyrics such as the sonnet, the ode, and the elegy.

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 Milton), reflections on art (by Keats or Shelley) or even the war experience (by Brooke or

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 poetry based on his feeling, so it is about writer’s heart situation.

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 that which occurs at the end of a poetic line. In defining terminal rhyme, the

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 effect that describes a harsh and heavy praising.

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 actually called lyrics such as the sonnet, the ode, and the elegy.

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 Milton), reflections on art (by Keats or Shelley) or even the war experience (by Brooke or

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 poetry based on his feeling, so it is about writer’s heart situation.

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 that which occurs at the end of a poetic line. In defining terminal rhyme, the

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 effect that describes a harsh and heavy praising.