T is never my intention to besmirch or undermine other people's religious or spiritual beliefs. But it is clear to me in the wake of some of the responses coming from members of the Rastafarian community concerning Emperor Haile Selassie, the Cuban military's role in Africa throughout the 1970s and '80s and the supposed persecution of the Rastafarian community in Cuba, that my opinions will continue to clash with their core beliefs ? one of which holds that Emperor Haile Selassie is of divine origins.

I, along with many members of my generation, am blessed with a unique perspective of the historical events that occurred in this country during a very important and transitional period in its history ? namely the struggle for political and social progress that began in the 1960s.

And this raised consciousness and political awareness also allowed us to study and interpret international affairs as they unfolded in the world around us.

A long time before there was something called CNN and news programming that was accessible around the clock, I was an avid short-wave radio listener ? a medium that is largely redundant now, it's place taken over by satellite and cable television. Nevertheless, it gave me a window on the world outside Bermuda.

Let me share with you some of the events I saw in my mind's eye as a result of my short-wave listening. I saw the 1973 Arab/Israeli war, the Yom Kippur War, in which Egypt and Syria mounted a surprise attack on the state of Israel during the Jewish holiday. I saw the Christmas Day bombings by the Americans of the Vietnamese port of Hai Phong. I observed the liberation wars in southern Africa which resulted in the Independence of the former Portuguese African colonies of Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Angola. I saw the children's revolt in Soweto where over 600 young people were killed in clashes with the South African security forces and the killing of South African freedom fighter Steve Biko. I saw the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie and the wars that occurred in the Horn of Africa region which finally saw the Eritrean people winning their independence.

As I said, I have a unique perspective when it comes to the history surrounding the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie. I could never bring myself to believe that the Emperor was of divine origin because I saw him in the flesh as a schoolboy, when he visited Bermuda in 1963 and 1967 and stayed at Government House (interestingly the local debate surrounding the visits was not whether he was of divine origins but whether he was, in fact, black ? because many Bermudians, black and white, could not conceive of a black monarch ruling a sovereign state and, I might add, there was no Rastafarian movement in Bermuda in those days).

I have often stated that I will never write about a subject unless I know what I am talking about and I often provide sources readers can visit to get more information on the topics I am writing about.

In this, I would like to inform my Rastafarian detractors who have recently challenged some of my opinions on Cuba's role in Africa that I have two recommendations for them ? books that might provide them with better perspectives on the issue.

first is : by leading Jamaican historian and academic Rex Nettleford; the second is the autobiographical account by Dawit Wolde Giorgis.

Rastafarians may be interested in what Nettleford has to say about their sect's origins in his collection of cultural and historical essays. And the interesting thing about the second book is that it is not written by a Western journalist or academic (which is not to say that Western accounts of events and crises in the Developing World lack merit). The author of Dawit Wolde Giorgis has a unique and invaluable point of view about what happened in revolutionary Ethiopia during the 1970s and '80s.

For he is writing from the perspective of one who was part of the Ethiopian strong man Haile Mengistu Marian's regime as a one-time Deputy Chief of the Relief & Rehabiliation Commission and Deputy Foeign Minister during the time that Addis Ababa shifted its allegiance from the West to the then Soviet Union.

In the book he makes clear who killed Emperor Haile Selassie in 1975 ? and, he says, it was not the Cubans as is claimed by some of those who have written to this paper. It is a book that I thoroughly recommend and one that will give a clear perspective on the troubling events that unfolded during those times.

regard to Cuba, I have always made clear that there are some policies and programmes emanating from its Revolution which I agree with ? and many others that I do not support. Despite the distortions some correspondents have engaged in, there remains a written record of myessays in this regard. My words speak for themselves.

However, I will speak to the position of black people in Cuba to the extent that there does indeed exist a degree of political oppression in that country. But I don't believe they are singled out for oppression ? from what I understand Afro-Cubans do not experience greater indignities than do any other Cuban population groupings.

The long-term future of the Castro Revolution is an issue that the Cuban people themselves will have to resolve. However, it is interesting that Cuba's black population gained the most from the Revolution. Cuba, before the Revolution, had a far higher degree of racism as far as the black Cuban was concerned than exists there now.

And, by the way, no matter what my detractors say about Cuba's own so-called form of "apartheid", you will never hear Nelson Mandela making critical comments about Fidel Castro because of the role his military played in the fight against South Africa when they invaded southern Angola ? another conflict which I was able to follow in real time through the medium of short-wave radio.

These days it is worth noting that black Cubans enjoy a demographic advantage mainly because, in the main, it is white Cubans who have fled to Florida and other jurisdictions. And I fully expect that we will see a renewal of racial conflict in Cuba if and when the exiled Cubans ever return to that country.

Another interesting fact is that Central Intelligence Agency, in a study about supposed weak spots in the island nation, has concluded that the strongest support for the current Cuban government lies within Cuba's black population. This conclusion stands in marked contrast to some of the comments made recently in this paper concerning the nature of the Cuban society.

Personally, I just hope that when change does come to Cuba it will be peaceful change.