( L - R ) Bob Marley , US President, Barack Obama. - File

As Dr Jelani Niaah, lecturer in Rastafari Studies at the University of the West Indies (UWI), approached the end of the 12th annual Bob Marley Lecture on Tuesday images, images of the Obamas were shown onscreen.

Barack and Michelle Obama were seen in open, unaffected displays of affection, as Third World's Now That We've Found Love was played for the substantial audience at the UWI's Undercroft.

Niaah said "Obama perhaps could be seen as the contemporary Marley aesthetic." He added that the Rastafarian, once the outcast, was now seen as a teacher of love to a people who had no love.

Significant

It was the end of a journey in which Niaah had traced One Love from its beginnings, through Rastafari and Marley. Music played a significant, though not overly heavy role in the multimedia presentation. Redemption Song played after Niaah said Marley had become "a modern-day African patriot saint." Other reggae luminaries were not left out, Third World advising Try Jah Love and finding a Sense of Purpose and Dennis Brown's image also appearing on the screen.

Closer to the beginning, Marley's One Love was played; the first sound clip of the evening.

Niaah said early expressions of 'one love' were found in Garvey, Rastafari, Jamaica's national motto and Haile Selassie, with one love leadership coming through Alexander Bedward, A. Rogers and Leonard Howell.

Unlike many who would dismiss 'Out of Many One People' as being simply untrue, Niaah said he embraced the spirit of the motto and suggested it was prophecy.

African Diaspora

There was extensive detail on Mortimer Planno's role in the Rastafari movement and his influence on Marley, as well as others who gathered in Planno's Trench Town 'Open Yard'. Planno's approach of 'each one teach one' ("We get the people wise," Planno had said) was taken from the streets to the studio, creating a new music genre and new band of teachers on the African Diaspora.

Before quoting Haile Selassie on spirituality, Niaah spoke of Rastafari within one love as the voice of the people, uniting the world and divine destiny.

Throughout the lecture, the connections between Jamaica and Africa were clearly established through speeches by Selassie ("There is a bond of gratitude, a bond of brotherhood"), Rastafari missions to Africa and the letters Africans, in particular Nigerians, sent to Marley.

The message

In the end, after the lecture was finished and throughout the interactive session which followed, the message which remained on the screen was "Rastafari as a sentiment of pure love."

The 12th annual Bob Marley Lecture was hosted by Dr Donna Hope Marquis, who, along with Niaah, noted Professor Carolyn Cooper's role in establishing the lecture series.