The Occupy Pinnacle Movement is a social movement of Rastafarian activists in Jamaica advocating for the recognition and rights of the Rastafari community, especially rights to its „birth place“ Pinnacle. It was established in November 2013 by social activist Donisha Prendergast (Bob Marley's granddaughter), reggae artists such as Chronixx and Kabaka Pyramid, and the Rastafari Youth Initiative Council as a community organization of which the speaker, Ras Kahleb Ben Haile Selassie, is a current Director. However, The Pinnacle Movement, as it is also known as, did not gain momentum until it launched its Judgement Week which led a series of demonstrations in front of Jamaican government spaces including Parliament in early February 2014 and which led to the actual occupation of the Rastafari Heritage lands at Pinnacle located in St. Catherine, Jamaica. This lecture seeks to highlight the local Rastafari activism for Pinnacle and its relevance for Rastafari „at home and abroad“ (in Africa and its diaspora), achievements of the Occupy Pinnacle Movement, and to address current issues facing Pinnacle and Rastafari youth activism in general.

Ras Kahleb Ben Haile Selassie is a Rastafari activist and one of the current Directors of the Rastafari Youth Initiative Council founded in 2008. In this capacity he was one of the main organizers of the Occupy Pinnacle Movement. He is an advocate for Rastafari indigenous rights, reparations, repatriation and restorative justice and is co-author of the world’s first children’s book on reparations called „Little Afeni and the Cause for Reparations“. He also has a double minor in criminology and political science from the University of the West Indies.