« Who's going to tech-support my Tandy 3000? | Main | Update »

June 20, 2005

Papa Bob's Really Big Show

Time has an interview with Bob Geldof (among others), in which he responds to the "Live 8 is too white" complaint:

This is a political event, not a cultural event. In order to get political momentum, one guy with a banner is not enough. You need millions. The lingua franca of the planet, as we learned from Live Aid, is not English—it's pop music. From Guangzhou to Bogotá, they listen to 50 Cent, Eminem, U2 and Coldplay. Do they listen to the more esoteric individual cultures? No. That's reality. Do they listen to Muddy Waters? I wish they did. Then I'd put a bill up there with him and John Lee Hooker. [Geldof apparently counts reanimation among his many skills. –ed.]

It's an interesting response. If Geldof, Hewson & Co. were just after a spectacle, then he'd be quite right. But they're not just after a spectacle — they're trying to get money out of western governments to help Africa. So the question is: Why does 40,000 people at a free concert in Barrie mean that the Canadian government should cough up its share of the requisite gazillions? Geldof's explanation suggests that he doesn't believe Live 8's attendees actually give a crap about Africa — and he's dead right — but by inflicting precisely zero African content on the assembled non-paying customers he's just made it all the more obvious. "Why are we doubling our aid again?" I would ask myself, were I Prime Minister. "Because 40,000 people went to see Billy Talent?"

Live 8's achilles heal isn't a lack of African performers but a lack of visible African organizers. That, and a narrow focus. I don't doubt that Geldof's heart is in the right place, but his methods couldn't really appear more paternalistic unless he re-dubbed the show Rescue Rhodesia Now!. This doesn't mean he should call the thing off, by any stretch of the imagination. A massive influx of capital to any war-, famine-, drought- and poverty-ridden area should always be a positive development, provided it is distributed and administered properly.

That, of course, is the rub. As it stands, African aid is not distributed and administered even remotely properly, as evidenced by the imperceptible/non-existent decline in human misery on the continent over the years, even as aid has steadily increased. A far more effective overall message would include respected Africans and other world leaders who are committed to the wholesale political shampooing that most of the continent needs. "Let us get the money," Bob and Bono might say, "and you guys figure out how not to piss it away like we've been doing for the last 50 years." They still have ten days or so...

Posted by Chris Selley at June 20, 2005 09:03 PM