What Is Bob Marley’s Rise Up Movement?
The Rise Up Movement by Bob Marley
In the whole of cannabis culture, there are few individuals as iconic as Bob Marley. Known legally as Rovert Nesta Marley, and to the world as Bob Marley, this individual represents the greatest Jamaican reggae singer and songwriter the nation has ever seen.
Considered a pioneer of the genre his musical career, his career blended with deep spiritualism (Rastafari) and contributed heavily to the world’s perception of Jamaican culture and identity.
The Rise Up movement, a tribute to the values Marley himself stood for, is a powerful charity organization that positively impacts the lives of people across the world. Read on to discover their amazing work.
Who Is Bob Marley?
Do we even need to answer this question? In case you don’t know (where have you been?!), we’ll give you a quick lowdown on the great man himself.
Bob Marley was a Jamaican singer, songwriter and an advocate for social change. His music blended reggae, ska and rocksteady to form a distinctive style with huge hits such as ‘One Love’, ‘Exodus’ and ‘Jammin’’ gaining a popularity that has endured the test of time. Marley was a committed Rastafari and he became a symbol of Jamaican culture and identity. By his death in 1981 he had become a globally recognized cultural icon. Even today, Bob Marley’s legend lives on, burning brighter than ever. Marley considered Cannabis to be a healing herb and an ‘aid to medication’ and he enthusiastically supported its legalization.
What Is Bob Marley’s Rise Up Movement?
Rise up is a global movement that believes in the power of the human spirit. The movement aligns itself with causes that reflect Bob Marley’s vision for positive social change, environmental sustainability and social justice. The Rise Up movement aims to empower people all over the world to take meaningful steps towards a brighter future. The movement is involved with a number of projects across the world. Below are just a few of the great projects that the movement supports.
Defy Ventures
The Defy ventures project is a project in the U.S that offers employment, entrepreneurship and character training for people with a criminal past. The project aims to harness and embrace the talents of individuals who have been formerly incarcerated and to direct them towards the creation of legal, successful businesses. The project offers various services including intensive personal and leadership development, executive mentoring and business incubation. The project offers these opportunities to defy perceptions of these individuals who are stigmatized and overlooked within society.
Minority Cannabis Business Association
This project aims to help balance the catastrophic effect that the war on drugs has had on the lives of many Americans of color, who find themselves victims of racial and class oppression that is disguised behind cannabis criminality. The MCBA strives to create an ‘equal playing field’ for all people to benefit from these legal changes.
Sadly there are few minorities in the cannabis industry and the MCBA believes that the heavy regulation, high entry cost and information gaps create barriers that prevent minorities from entering the industry as owners, consumers, employees and patients. The MCBA’s mission is to remove these barriers, which in turn will contribute to an increase in the growth of the cannabis industry and contribute to its economic development.
Oracabessa Bay Fish Sanctuary
Oracabessa is a Jamaican fishing community, where local fishers play a key role in the social and economic fabric of the area. Sadly, the livelihoods of these fishers are under threat. Jamaica’s waters are hugely overfished and fishers are forced to spend an increasing amount of time and resources chasing after a catch that is reducing in size. This has the detrimental effect of pushing these fisher’s families beneath the poverty line.
The Oracabessa Bay Fish Sanctuary exists to help ensure the livelihood of these fishers is sustainable. The project has had some success, with a 1300% increase in fish biomass since 2011 meaning local fishers are now catching more fish (by the pound) than they were before!
Farm Up Jamaica LTD
Farm Up Jamaica LTD states that due to inactivity within the agricultural sector, Jamaica imports 1 billion dollars of food every year. This reduces the work prospects for Jamaican graduates and thus the previously positive attitude towards the farming profession is becoming more negative. Farm Up Jamaica aims to give students from agriculture schools practical farming experience. The program provides transport, food and accommodation and encourages these students to create a vision that will have a positive impact on their communities. The project aims to build Jamaica’s next generation of environmentally-aware farmers.
Occupy Pinnacle
Founded in the 1930s by Rastafarian pioneer Leonard P. Howell, the village of Pinnacle was once home to 4500 settlers. When British colonial forces razed the village in 1954, the ruins were declared a national heritage site. However, Leonard P. Howell’s family claimed that there were also four other plots belonging to the community. In November 2016, a magistrate found this to be incorrect, ruling that Pinnacle was owned by a development company. Bob Marley’s granddaughter, Donisha Prendergast is involved in this campaign which aims to protect the site of Jamaica’s first Rastafarian community and to return it to the Howell family and to the Rastafarian community.
Golden Valley Farmer’s Group
The impact of climate change in Jamaica on the lives of farmers is huge. Golden Valley, in rural St. Thomas, Jamaica, is one of the poorest areas of the island and the farmers there have been forced to find alternative forms of work due to the resulting difficulty in growing crops. The Golden Valley Farmer’s Group aims to build a food-grade honey processing room, which will enable farmers to earn an alternative income through bee farming.
