The Politics, Arrogance and Ignorance of Live Aid 8
by Carol Turoff | View comments |
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It was politics rather than music at play in Live Aid 8. Although America has generously donated billions of dollars, the governments of African nations have an obligation to care for their impoverished citizens. Expecting the job to be done by working class people across the ocean being cheered on by billionaires and screaming rap and rock groupies is a preposterously flawed solution.
Although promoter Bob Geldof’s claim of three billion people worldwide stretches reasonable estimates, inflated numbers of participants and viewers of Live Aid 8 is not the issue. The concert, broadcast via satellite, was a colossal success for rock fans and the idealistic. Likewise, it was a dismal failure for contemplative taxpayers and citizens of industrialized nations. The simulcast performances, ostensibly to raise money to eradicate third world hunger, might leave a cavernous feeling with rational people, even those inclined to grandiose naiveté.
Make no mistake, politics rather than music was at play here. And, it was reliable America bashing that fashioned the bond uniting the often obscenity-laced performances and organizers of Live Aid 8. International crowds assembled in various cites for the simultaneous rock concerts, which mega-event architect Geldof, 53, deftly formatted.
Since his initial benefit staged in 1985, Geldof, who formerly fronted for the band Boomtown Rats, has become an event planner extraordinaire. Urging performers not to engage in Bush or Blair bashing and to stay off the subject of the Iraq war, he said, “Praising Bush is part of the strategy.” Yet in a bravado-packed open letter to the G8 leaders appearing in numerous newspapers, Geldof said the summit would disappoint the world if it fails to deliver an extra $25 billion in aid to Africa. "We will not applaud half-measures, or politics as usual. This must be a historic breakthrough. Today there will be noise and music and joy, the joy of exuberant possibility. On Friday (the end of the summit), there will be great silence as the world awaits your verdict. Do not disappoint us. Do not create a generation of cynics." Never mind the United States’ ongoing generosity to Africa or the fact that we are engaged in a costly war on terror. Oddly untargeted from the demands are oil-rich Arab nations.
The irrefutable message, warmly dubbed “The Long Walk to Justice,” is aimed at the industrialized nations of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Its mission is to compel the leaders of these counties, meeting this week in Gleneagles, Scotland, to provide $25 billion to fight African poverty.
Live Aid’s website asserts that “every single day, 30,000 children die, needlessly, of extreme poverty. On July 6th, we finally have the opportunity to stop that shameful statistic. 8 world leaders, gathered in Scotland for the G8 summit, will be presented with a workable plan to double aid, drop the debt and make the trade laws fair. If these 8 men agree, then we will become the generation that made poverty history. But they'll only do it if enough people tell them to. That's why we're staging LIVE 8. 10 concerts, 100 artists, a million spectators, 2 billion viewers, and 1 message… To get those 8 men, in that 1 room, to stop 30,000 children dying every single day of extreme poverty.” It goes on to state to the rock fans, “We don't want your money — we want you!”
Lurking behind this slick commentary is absurdity. Have they forgotten that the source of all government money is the very people from whom Geldof and company claim to want nothing? The hyperbole, echoed by billionaires Bill Gates and Paul McCartney would be laughable were the subject not so dire and the solution so exaggerated. Actor Will Smith, calling for people to unite in a “declaration of interdependence,” led the crowd with finger-snaps every three seconds to signify the death of an African child. Rocker Bono, known as much for his profane outbursts as his music, was onstage when a celestial flock of white doves was released.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, tainted by the scandal of Oil-for-Food, proclaimed: "This is really the United Nations — the whole world has come together in solidarity with the poor." It’s not difficult to imagine that Annan and his cohorts at the U.N. would gleefully welcome the opportunity to get their hands on additional billions entrusted to their care..
In Johannesburg, 86-year-old Marxist and convicted cop killer-turned-Nobel Peace Prize recipient Nelson Mandela acknowledged a five-minute ovation. This is the same Mandela, freed from 27 years of imprisonment only after implementation of stringent American sanctions against the former apartheid government of South Africa, now accusing the United States of turning its back on Black Africa.
The Group of Eight (G8) nations are not guilty of repressing development in sub-Saharan Africa. One of the undeniable truths, however, is that a vast number of farms seized from White South Africans, went to ruin when given to Black peasants possessing no skills with which to maintain the formerly productive properties. Their lack of farming experience coupled with a drought crisis created havoc in areas of once fertile lands.
In his 2003 State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush proposed an enormous relief effort of $15 billion to assist the estimated 29 million Africans infected with HIV/AIDS. Try squaring that action with Mandela’s comment at the time: "If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America," declared Mandela. "They don’t care for human beings."
Interesting that the United States becomes the bane of both rockers and international thugs. You can package Mandela and Annan in celebratory wrap, but truth prevails. The singers and bands are useful in swaying the opinion of historically ignorant fans who want desperately to do something magnificent while gyrating to the music — as long as others pay the freight.
Attempting to end poverty is a noble cause, one which would require genuine effort by the corrupt leaders of the plagued African nations. Access to educational and health services and providing assistance in agricultural productivity would assist in helping beleaguered and impoverished people. The governments of these countries have their work cut out for them. Expecting the job to be done by working class people across the ocean being cheered on by billionaires and screaming rap and rock groupies is a preposterously flawed solution.
Carol Turoff is a lifelong Arizonan and active Republican. Her credentials include serving as a precinct committeeman, precinct captain and elected member of the Republican state committee, as well as involvement in numerous political campaigns. She worked for the offices of the Maricopa County Attorney and Sheriff, as legislative liaison and public information officer. Additionally, she fulfilled those roles for the Department of Administration for the State of Arizona. Ms. Turoff recently concluded service as two-term member of the Commission on Appellate Court Appointments, during which time she participated in the selection of four of the five current Arizona Supreme Court Justices as well as 17 judges on both Div. I and II of the Arizona Court of Appeals. Read a recent letter to the editor on judicial selection Carol wrote here.
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