Live 8

To avoid becoming a dabbler in the blog world (see Toni Sant's post here), I decided to type something.

I watched parts of Live 8 last Saturday. While I appreciate that Sir Bob and Bono have attempted to steer away from charity and try to put pressure I was somewhat disappointed about the whole deal. The more celebrities I heard speak the more cynical I became. They were all repeating the same three concepts: "Trade Justice, Aid, Drop the Debt" (in different order of course!). The more they repeated them the more irrelevant they became.

From the looks of it, few celebrities seemed to have a clue about what they were on about and some spoke in a pathetic manner. It felt refreshing to see that amidst the chorus of parrot-like repetition of 'Trade justice, Drop the Debt, blah blah", Tom Morello came on TV and actually questioned the idea that the richest countries should meet to decide the fate of the world as if by divine right. Needless to say his interview on MTV lasted about 15 seconds. Maybe others did actually question the fact that irrespective of the pressure put on the G8 there is no guarantee that they will listen. If they did I didn't see them. If they did they were few. If the structures were truly democratic, measures would be put in place to ensure that the demands made by a majority are in fact met. But what Bono and Geldof seem to happily accept is that such a decision is the G8's prerogative. In reality it is up to them to decide. But it shouldn't be. And few celebrities were questioning that.

It's true that the issue of world poverty has been put on the agenda but should the G8 decide to do fuck all about world poverty the repercussions could be serious. What I mean is this: If the G8 decide to not change a thing, the morale of the masses is likely to drop. This would pave the way for the 'If Live 8 was ineffective, everything else will be' attitude. It would inject further apathy in the population, trickling down that feeling of powerlessness against a mighty structure.

Having said this it would be great if improvements are secured through this campaign. I doubt it, but it would be great. But does anybody really think that the powerful would ever give away their power that easily? Would they put the interests of Africa's population before their corporate buddies, just like that? Would they suddenly have a change of heart (after a history of plunder and exploitation) by merely listening to Sir McCarthny and Bono sing Sgt. Pepper's? Yes it's a great song but it's not that great...

Live 8 was great as an awareness campaign. But that was about all that it was. I think it's highly naive to ever assume that a white band and an afternoon of rock 'n' roll are enough to dismantle the powerful global financial institutions and democratise the world.