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live 8 concerts an alternative view

dream spirit | 01.07.2005 10:07 | G8 2005 | Analysis | Culture | Sheffield | World

an alternative view of the up coming live 8 concerts

On Saturday 2 and Wednesday 6 July, the multiple line-ups for Live 8 will attract a massive worldwide audience.
Rarely mentioned on these occasions are the equally, if not more impressive numbers of people who will not be tuning in.I will be one of them.
I watched Live Aid.I was depressed by the mullet-headed music, that puzzling logo of a fretboard protruding from the African continent, and resented being browbeaten by multi-millionaires to empty my pockets.
and then there was the euphoria of the crowd, which reached a worrying zenith when they clapped along to Queen's Radio Ga-Ga.
What were they feeling so victorious about? Did they actually think that Africa had been saved by David Bowie's gracious decision to appear onstage alongside Status Quo?
They appeared to labour under the sort of collective, intoxicating delusion that overcomes any mass of people when they gather together and feeling triumphs over thinking.'No sea change'
Live Aid had the best motives. But to pretend this emotional, ad hoc response to the complex and chronic problem of famine in Africa made a positive difference was naive, rooted in a fictional idea that rock changes the world.it cannot and it did not in 1985.
Money from Live Aid saved lives but, as aid expert David Rieff recently argued, it may also have led to the loss of just as many lives.
here was no sea change in attitudes. That wave of compassion did not stop millions voting for right wingers like Thatcher, Reagan and Kohl in subsequent elections.
Today, Africa is, if anything, worse off.
Freddie Mercury whipped the Live Aid crowd into a frenzy
Now we are about to go through it all again. This time the emphasis is on debt cancellation rather than aid, but still I am sceptical.
I simply do not think it is right that ex-pop star Bob Geldof should be the human catalyst for one of the biggest problems facing mankind - it is beyond the wisdom of Solomon, let alone Geldof. He is not up to the job.
He is making the same mistake in 2005 as he did in 1985 regarding black acts, surprising for someone so passionate about feeding Africans.
His argument that the dominance of white faces among the Live 8 line-up reflects the need for big names ignores the importance of symbolism in mass spectacles like this.
I am very uncomfortable, for example, at the prospect of Celine Dion doling out spoonfuls of pop compassion to Africa's passive hungry.
Geldof has been a spectacularly tireless fundraiser.
But inevitably, given his profession, he is addicted to the spotlight and despite his reputation as a plain and profane speaker, rather too chummy towards the powerful over the years - be it Prince Charles, the Pope, Mother Teresa, Tony Blair or George Bush.
But these people front the very institutions - church, empire, Western states - that can be argued have done little to alleviate African misery.
Celine Dion will be appearing via satellite at the Canadian Live 8 concert
They should be interrogated, not cosied up to. Geldof's un-punkishly conciliatory stance to these people creates the illusion that, as with the tsunami, "no one is to blame".
Ultimately, however, I will not be watching Live 8 because the bill is pretty dire.
Apart from the reams of has-beens and rock icons turned cabaret acts, there are the present-day brigade such as Coldplay and Dido, whose hugely popular yet unthreatening music signifies rock's decline into corporate functionalism.
these people will not solve the problem. They are the problem.
Instead of watching Live 8, I will be doing something considered morbid in these emotionalist times - I am going to go upstairs and have a good think

dream spirit
- e-mail: audiotech@hotmail.co.uk
- Homepage: http://www.tarana.org.uk/

Comments

Hide the following 9 comments

keep it positive, embrace the highest possibility

01.07.2005 10:55

flyer for the G8 gathering
flyer for the G8 gathering

thousands of people coming together and focussing on one idea has the potential to create major change in our cultural conversation.

"when the conversation reaches critical mass, it transforms into action"
social acupuncture
 http://www.infinitepossibility.org/sa/index.html

synergy is the secret /obvious path to social change
and music is a great medium
:)
brian

viziondanz
mail e-mail: viziondanz@infinitepossibility.org
- Homepage: http://www.infinitepossibility.org


now then, now then

01.07.2005 11:45

oops


Live 8

01.07.2005 13:21

keith
- Homepage: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/06/315172.html


coomet on alternative G 8

01.07.2005 16:03

yes its straight off the bbc from an article by wired editor david stubbs,i don't think dreamspirit was claiming otherwise just a quick copy and paiste job....i have to say the sight of geldof smooching up to a war criminal political liar like blair is vomitt inducing.

david st hubbins


synergy is the secret /obvious path to social change

01.07.2005 16:14

"synergy is the secret /obvious path to social change
and music is a great medium".....
hippie guff get into the real world ....the war happend blair got re-elected....you seriously think that 22 billion written off ofset against 280 billion they were prepared to spend on the war in iraq....will make any real difference....at the end of the day even the g8 will prove itself to be irrelevant ...why cos china is not a member...untill they come onboard africa will contiune to be dumped on by the EU,the world trade organisation,the G8 and so on.only way that blair could prove that he really cared would be to take britain out of the EU...resigning might be a decent geasture chances of any of that happening...NIL

fred wedlock
mail e-mail: thunderheadxx@hotmail.co.uk


Confused and Angry

02.07.2005 12:01

why does geldolf not comment on the revolting arms sales by britain and others that do so much to keep people in poverty?

The Midnight Surfer


Insensitive Idiots

03.07.2005 08:14

What an insensitive bunch of Idiots you must be to even have the nerve to waste paper and pen to write such a lame article!!! Obviously you do not give a cripe about the people in the world who are so less fortunate than your own selfish, arrogant selves! The performers of Live 8 did a fantastic job teaming together to get the message out about helping end poverty....obviously you were too wraped up in your own self centeredness to notice what a HUGE impact it made on viewers around the world.
You know...if this concert event got the attention of even 100 people, it would have done more to help the cause than you did by wasting your time and readers' time mouthing off your idiotic notions. Grow up and do something more than bad mouthing people who TRY!
I bet you don't even have the balls to make this comment public, because you are so immature and you know it is the truth! Heaven forbid anyone read what NORMAL people say about your ignorant article! YOU SUCK AND HOPEFULLY GOD WILL FORGIVE YOUR DOWNING THE ONES THAT GAVE THIER TIME AND EFFORTS FOR A JUST REASON!!!

Sheri Elias


response to g8 alternative view

03.07.2005 12:27

sheri although i agree with you in principal,i have to say i don't think that the previous views expressed are ignorant or moronic...i think that the realism expressed by some contributors is healthy and necessary....i have to say that i also find the sight of men whose intentions are pure honourable and born out of love compassion and basic human decency like geldof and bono "having" to snuggle up to corrupt war mongers like tony blair vomit inducing.the spirit of the day and the power of the message for me was encapsulated by the fact that bob geldof was able to get roger waters and dave gilmour two honourable decent human beings(gilmour is vice president of crisis)to bury the hatchet after years of personal acrimony and a)communicate b)rehearse c)perform a barnstorming mini set of classic pink floyd music... that is testament to the power of the cause and the action needed to be taken by the g8 leaders to rectify the injustice and the ongoing genocide in africa.....i too am scpetical of the politicans willingness to implement fair trade policies throughout the the world...but what about china and india they are not even members of the g8 anf they will be the econimic super powers in the 21st century....but i still signed the online pledge/petition despite such scepticism.i would not demonise people who maybe through experience or whatever excersie a rational critique of the situation.sometimes there opinions are valid too/
best wishes J F TS

F F TS


response to sheri

03.07.2005 18:54

well sheri its just that kind of hollier than thou sermonising that switches people off the political process at election time,switches people off participating in poltical activism/protest ect ect.don't throw "GOD" into the equation where is "GOD" when a whole continent starves? where were all these so called big name rock stars at the time of the anti war protest feb/mar/april 2003 i don't remember many of saturdays line up speaking out against the war.worried about their sales in the USA no doubt and their chances of getting a knighthood/obe/mbe/cbe from downing street.i won't tell you where to should your "GOD" but what GOD has to do with a logical rational counter arguement to the valid points made in this newswire is lost on me.
"the history of religion is the history of the state" ok
DREAM SPIRIT

DREAM SPIRIT
mail e-mail: audiotech@hotmail.co.uk
- Homepage: http://www.tarana.org.uk/


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