The Other Side of the Brochure in Jamaica

« Return to Jamaica

I’ve heard of the RFID chip before. In the online documentary Zeitgeist, a friend of the modern day Rockefeller family speaks out about the shadow government that twists and squeezes the world order through global finance, war and politics. When asked what the point of all this is, given the family has unlimited wealth and power already, a Rockefeller scion replies, “the ultimate goal is to get everybody in this world chipped with an RFID chip.” Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a microchip inserted into pets, people and products, containing personal information that allows it, them or us to tracked and monitored. If this sounds like batty conspiracy theory, think again. It is a very real technology offering very real threats to personal liberty, and is being promoted by various US government departments almost as heavily as it is being protested by various civil liberties organizations. Now Dermot has never seen Zeitgeist (he’s never even been on a computer) but he’s been told about the mark of the beast, a tag that will allow Babylon to control our lives in every way. High in the mountains, his retreat will be an oasis from the madness, powered by nature (although they currently still use electricity), fed by the land. How this will happen within sight of a military base is not the point. “I am never leaving this mountain,” he says sternly over a vegetarian lunch, and I believe him.

It is a fascinating village, and a glimpse into a different life, culture, and religion. Dreadlocked men chain-smoke their spliffs as precocious Rasta kids run about. Colourful religious art praises the Emperor inside and outside Dermot’s house, adorned like a temple. Sun breaks from the storm clouds, vividly lighting up the red, green and yellow motifs. I donate some pencils and crayons to the schoolteacher, joking that all the other colours will go to waste.

At university, I had my own attempt at growing hipster dreadlocks, and there’s more than a few people who smoke pot and listen to reggae. Yet here in this small community, high in the fields of the Blue Mountains, a Rastafarian sect is devoted to a way of life, a personal belief beyond fashion and lifestyle. Haile Selassie died in 1975, and I ask Dermot how a Messiah can die. “He is not dead mon, he is alive, waiting to reveal himself, to deliver us from the rapture!” I think about evangelical churches, Jehovah Witnesses, cargo cults and wicans, and decide that whether you smoke ten spliffs a day or not, people need to believe in whatever makes sense for them.

Gonzo Gallery for The Other Side of the Brochure in Jamaica

view full gallery

Tweet