Babylon/System or Authority?

The Rastas are known for their resistance to authority. In class we listened to Bob Marley's I Shot the Sherif, which was about fighting against the system. Afterwards, some body mentioned that Rastafarian as a religion is its own system with its own authority. Therefore it would be sort of hypocritical to reject systems and authority as a Rasta. The goal is to separate from Babylon and live freely. The idea brought up, is that if the Rastas separated themselves they would become a system with authorities.

I disagree. The problem the Rastas have is not with necessarily with authorty or systems, it is with the actions and concepts created through these systems and by these authorities. Rastas did have their own authorities, in their charismatic leaders i.e. Howell. They also do have a system. We saw the way the Boboshanites opperated in their own commune. They have their own system which runs their community. Rastafarian was was around through Howell's time, although his ideal failed. Rastafarian is working perfectly fine for the Boboshanties.

Babylon is the evil of the system. It represents all he inequalities and oppressions Rastas have faced. That is what the Rastafarians reject. They dont reject systems and authorities in general, which is why Bob shoots the sherif but not the deputy. The deputy is part of the system, but the sherif is Babylon