Gabriele Zamparini, The Cat's Dream I felt dizzy when I read about Bono and World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz talking about poverty in Africa. But the worst had still to happen. I wanted to laugh – but I couldn’t – when I heard George W. Bush talking about the great generosity of US Government to help the developing countries. But the worst had still to happen. I felt sick when I saw Tony Blair and Sir Bob Geldof flirting and preaching on TV about Make Poverty History. But the worst had still to happen.
I thought of Afghanistan and Iraq when I heard UN Secretary General Kofi Annan saying: "On behalf of the poor, the voiceless and the weak I say thank you." But the worst had still to happen.
Then I saw Bill Gates on the stage of Live 8 in London, calling for generosity. But even that wasn’t the worst.
The worst would be let these clowns blind us on the real causes of the problem, in Africa as anywhere else. The worst would be falling in this propaganda trap orchestrated by war criminals and their friends. The worst would be let them win.
This morning I read an open letter by Sir Bob Geldof to the leaders of the G8. Toward the end, he writes: “Today there will be noise and music and joy, the joy of exuberant possibility. On Friday there will be a great silence as the world awaits your verdict.”
Let’s not be silent, neither on Friday, nor on Saturday or on any other day. Let’s not be silent against this clan of gangsters who arrogate to themselves the right to decide the life and death of millions of people and our very survival on this planet.
To keep my sanity I collected a few articles about all this. Take a look!
Every Live 8 multi-millionaire performer should sell one of his or her multi-million dollar estates and donate the money to the International Relief Committee. Working men and women can't afford to have our taxes raised to buy more shoes for the Imelda Marcos clones of Africa. Haven't we learned anything from the U. S. experience in the Phillipines? What did our money buy in Iran? Relief for the poor? No, a lavish life style for the Shah and his family.
Live 8 performers' hearts are in the right place, but their brains are not. They should personally finance schools and clinics, feeding centers and farming co-ops.
Posted by: Brenda Dooley | Sunday, 03 July 2005 at 20:13
Live 8 was the most patronising and embarrasing shite I have seen in a long time. It looked like the key message was that if enough white people wear white wrist-bands, say the word 'fuck' loudly and congratulate Bob Geldof, then Africans will be chubbier. And John Snow even went on Channel 4 news asking random Africans if they'd heard of Bob Geldof, sounding like some sort of missionary saying: 'Have you heard of Jesus Christ? He can solve all your problems'. I liked Bob, but can't help but feel he's dug a dangerous hole in his naivety.
A few people went to Hyde Park to give out MakeOccupationHistory leaflets about Palestine. And the crowd response was quite warm, people were reaching over to take leaflets and were keen to read and learn. It's such a shame they got nothing of content inside a gig that was billed as their opportunity to contribute to global society. I await Live2020.
Posted by: Iain | Monday, 04 July 2005 at 14:12