Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Live 8 signals end of African poverty
Just as Bob Geldoff and Sting had hoped, lack of awareness of poverty in Africa was yesterday consigned to history, following a series of pop concerts in 10 cities around the globe.

The Live 8 concerts were organised to coincide with the G8 summit in Scotland this week. Live 8’s aim was to raise awareness of poverty, unfair trade and AIDs in Africa and put pressure on the G8 to lower tariffs on imports and cease subsidising their own produce sector.

By raising awareness of the tragedies facing Africa, the musicians aimed to tackle poverty once and for all.

“We have raised so much awareness since the concerts, that poverty in Africa as we know it, will soon be at an end,” said the event’s organiser, Sir Bob Geldoff.

“Polling has shown that up to 80% of people have now heard of Africa and 75% of these know that it is a poor country. This is a bloody high level of awareness.”

“The big challenge now is set up the delivery networks to distribute this awareness to where it is most needed,” Geldoff said.

“But you can still register your awareness at the Live 8 website or operators are on standby to take your call. And remember, any awareness contribution you make is totally commitment-free, as long as you download the relevant forms from the tax office,” he added.

In 1985, when 350 singers and musicians took to the stage in London and Philadelphia, little did they know they were going to change the world.

The money Live Aid raised beat the drought in Ethiopia and has brought about a steady decrease in the nasty wars that used to afflict Africa, apart from a few skirmishes in Rwanda, DRC, Sudan, Somalia, Uganda, Togo, South Africa, Burundi and Cote d’Ivoire.

Now 20 years on, the aging rockers turned their sights on tackling ignorance of poverty and it seems they have finally cracked it. Only a few of the poorest regions have not been in receipt of any awareness at all and only just under half of all Africans polled have not heard of either Bob Geldof, Sting Henry or Danni Minogue.

As well as Geldof and Sting, a long line of pop stars put their name to fight lack of awareness of African poverty.

Richard Ashcroft, of top UK band The Verve, said “By singing at this, err, concert, just maybe, err, I can help change, you know, something, getting people to understand, err, the problems facing, err, you know, Africa.”

On stage in Hyde Park, the Princess of Pop-tastic Hearts, Madonna, urged the crowd to “change history”, clearly referring to the original concert, Live Aid. By changing history, Live Aid can be clearly interpreted as the turning point for Africa.

Unfortunately for event organisers, awareness remains low in Italy. It had been hoped that over a million people would turn out for the Rome concert, which headlined Duran Duran. But due to a combination of lack fine weather and a crap line up, 990,000 less people turned up than expected.

“Rome was disappointing,” said Duran Duran lead singer, Simon Le Bon. “The low numbers demonstrate that even commitment-free concern is sometimes too much to ask of people.”

“It’s not like we were asking them to do anything,” he added.

London event organisers remained more upbeat. With a line-up which included Pink Floyd, Coldplay, U2, Paul McCartney and Bob Geldof, over 200,000 spectators turned out at Hyde Park.

Collection boxes did not overflow – raising just £856.89 and a smattering of old European coins. But awareness and concern of African poverty were demonstrably high.

A number of fans were pleased that this time it wasn’t about charity, but just turning up and lending support. “I’m glad I didn’t have to give any money this time,” said one.

“Although I’m really fed up with all this charity stuff, it’s still really important that we help Africa. It is really poor country, though it’s really cool. But it’s great that I can help, just by being here.”

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