Three hair-raising political protests | Haaretz
Rastafari: The Rastafari movement originated among the black population of Jamaica in the early 20th century, and supported freedom from white domination. Its members considered Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie to be the embodiment of the god Jah; the name of the movement comes from his original name (Ras Tafari Makonnen). The movement preached a “g
reen,” vegan lifestyle as being an appropriate response to the corruption of modern life. Among the codes of the movement, in addition to the prohibition against tattoos and piercing and the promotion of hashish as a way to become close to God, Rastafarians refrain from combing their hair. It was reggae singer Bob Marley who made the movement famous in Europe and Great Britain. To this day, it has large numbers of believers all over the world, both black and white, who wear dreadlocks. Hippies: Long hair and the belief in the greatness of the cannabis plant characterized the flower children of the 1960s in the United States, who preached peace and love, and were opposed to war. The children of the “baby boom” generation, raised on the educational principles of Dr. Benjamin Spock, protested against their bourgeois parents, their short-haired fathers and their mothers with teased and sprayed hair. The hippies’ long locks were also a reaction to the marine-style crew cut, which was compulsory in the U.S. Army during World War II and is still common in many armies. In 1960s America, mired in the Vietnam War, a counterculture arose that sent the young people into the streets not only to demonstrate against the previous generation, but also against the political establishments that were then embroiled in a bloody war. The anti-Vietnam protest movement developed into an ideological one that also preached equality without regard to religion, gender, skin color or race, and gave rise to a new generation of musicians, artists, poets and writers − as well as to the fashion of wearing long hair, as a protest against the draft. The musical and film “Hair” was one of the first expressions of significant protest against the Vietnam War. In 1969, the film “Easy Rider” told the story of a journey across the U.S. by two long-haired hippies (Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson)
