Its Only Rock N Roll
Live 8 performers dont
tell the whole story about African problems.
by Todd
Drenth
July 5, 2005
The old saying goes: the road to hell is paved with Good
Intentions. Roads are certainly one of the many things Africa
needs, but the Live 8 concerts had little to do with such practical
solutions.
On Saturday July 2, 2005, more than 150 bands took to
the stage in nine cities on four different continents to raise
awareness about the problem of poverty that persist in Africa. The
concerts featured some of musics biggest stars such as Coldplay,
Paul McCartney, Elton John, Madonna, Stevie Wonder, and U2. They
were organized by performer Bob Geldof who 20 years ago organized
Live Aid, concerts that raised more than $140 million for world
famine relief.
Geldof and other promoters of the concerts stressed
that these concerts were not about raising money. We dont want
your money, we want you, one of the taglines read. In reality, the
concerts were a call for money billions of dollars. They just
werent asking for checks at the concerts on Saturday. Rather,
Geldof and many of his millionaire performers called for the nations
attending the G-8 summit this week in Gleneagles, Scotland to pledge
billions in tax-dollars for aid relief in Africa.
The concerts were organized to directly coincide with
the G-8 summit that began July 5, 2005, and was attended by heads of
state from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the
United, States, and hosted by Great Britain Prime Minister Tony
Blair who personally has advocated for increased aid for Africa.
Nobody is asking for anybody's money, commented Mike
Shinoda of the band Linkin Park. Singer Sarah McLachlan was one of
several artists to show otherwise: The government has to give more
money to alleviate the debt, McLachlan said while performing July
2, 2005, in Philadelphia.
The United States in particular has been criticized for
the amount of aid it provides to Africa. Journalists have been quick
to point out that the United States spends roughly 0.1 percent of
its Gross National Product for aid, while other western countries
such as England spends roughly 0.3-0.4 percent. However, journalists
and Live 8 performers rarely pointed to the fact that American
citizens have been some of the most generous people in the world.
In an interview with U2 front-man Bono on Saturday,
Kate Snow on Good Morning America on ABC specifically asked Bono
whether the US is doing enough? To which Bono replied that Wed
like more money. We still think Americas commitment is too low on
the money side.
CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour had a similar question
for Prime Minister Blair in an exclusive interview that appeared in
the CNN special report Can we save them? Sunday July 3, 2005: Do
you think that if people in Americaknew how little in fact their
governments do pay for foreign aid that they would come around to
supporting their governments when they want to increase that?
Nowhere in the special report, an in-depth look into Africas woes,
was a mention of the billions of dollars in aid privately donated by
Americans. That number exceeded $62 billion in 2003 according to the
Hudson Institute.
Nowhere in the eight-hour extravaganza was there any
question about the role of government to engage in international
philanthropy, or what impacts increased federal foreign aid financed
through tax-dollars would have on future private charitable
donations and activism abroad. However the impact and effectiveness
of the efforts at Live 8 and G-8 have been open to criticism.
On the CBS Saturday Early Show David Rieff, a
humanitarian policy analyst and author of At the Point of a Gun,
adamantly said that the concerts wouldnt make a difference: They
dont care about Africa. This is symbolic politics to sort of
placate some part of their constituencies. This is really the worst
kind of mystification, this kind of event. While on the same
program music critic Christopher Farley commented many more members
of the G-8 countries will have copies of U2s new album. I think
that will be [the] big effect here.
A Washington Post article by Emily Wax on the front
page of the Sunday edition July 3, 2005, reflected doubts many
Africans have about the efforts being made this week by rock stars
and politicians. The Wax article pointed out that a dangerous
disconnect exists between what Africa needs and the solutions the
west offers: Instead of debt relief and more aid, many Africans
said they wanted the G-8 to focus on ending corruption and on
improving roads, courts, banking and secondary education, said the
story.
Even if they cancel the debt, even if the give our
governments aid money, ordinary Africans will not benefit,
explained Kenyan coffee farmer Peter Kanans, That money will only
make the corrupt people richer and Africans international beggars
for decades to come. Kanans told Wax that hes poorer than his
father was despite billions of dollars in poverty efforts by the
west in recent decades.
Prominent Sengalese-born filmmaker Ousmane Sembene
called the G-8 summit and the Live 8 concerts fake last month in
London, adding that African heads of state who buy into that idea
of aid are all liars. The only way for us to come out of poverty is
to work hard.
Indeed corruption within African governments has made
it increasingly difficult for Africa to become prosperous. You
address poverty by filling someones belly, giving them a doctor and
clean water and a house. But that doesnt make them competitive in
the world market, said Ross Herbert from the South African
Institute of International Affairs in the Wax article.
Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life was on
CNN Sunday Morning July 3, 2005, talking about the problems of
corruption and poverty Africa: The real issue here is that I think
that poverty is a spiritual issue. I think that we have delivered in
the past, billions of dollars of aid to Africa in the past and a lot
of it never even got therethere have been a lot of time weve sent
money over and it never really got to the people.