Garvey established the Universal Negro Improvement Association in 1914 which helped to institutionalize his movement and gain wider appeal. In the 1920s the UNIA was the largest Pan-African movement and represented the Black Nationalist leadership that mobilized masses around a program of cultural, economic, and political modernity. Garveyism appealed to the petite bourgeoisie ideals; although Garvey worked towards black independence, he did not preach anti-establishment rhetoric. Garveyism declined in the 1930s, but its influence had already spread throughout the United States and Jamaica. It had sown the seeds for a new movement Rastafari. Rastafari framework was as afrocentric and prideful of being black as Garveyism. Rastafari, too, grew out of the political and social struggles of the Jamaican people and understood the necessity of economic and political reform. However, Rastafari did not found itself on secular reform, but stood as a new spirituality for the Jamaicans. The religious aspects of Rastafari set it far apart from Garveyism because religion comes not from the outside world of law and politics, but from the heart of a person and changes a persons attitude and outlook on the world. Garveyism said the world should be different; Rastafari says the world is different if you see it differently.The impact of the Rastafari movement on the spirit of the Jamaican people can be understood as specific world events are seen through a Garveyites eyes versus a Rastas eyes. Both movements are afrocentric; however, Rastafari conceived of the coronation of Haile Selassie on a grander scale. He was not only the leader of a new Africa, but the Lord of Lords. He had come to lead his people as the Scriptures had professed. The Jamaicans in all their suffering as slaves and as the impoverished felt a kinship to the Israelites of Biblical times. Haile Selassie was a direct descendant of King David; thus he fulfilled the prophe...
