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Live 8 - already forgotten?
03 July 2005
We watched some of Live 8 on TV last night, before we went out to watch the Canada Day fireworks down at Harbourview Park (postponed by a day due to high winds).
It was an interesting, entertaining series of concerts, with some very good performances and some moving moments (Annie Lennox's song was the most emotional of all). It was annoying that the American station only broadcast The US and UK concerts, completely ignoring its Canadian neighbour. Pretty typical of American media, though (which seems deliberately ignorant of anything its neighbour does).
Good thing we had the Canadian broadcast too - although it was hosted by what appeared to be the winners of the local Amateur Night Broadcasting Contest... but at least we could hop about the channels and see Canadian performers.
I really admire the concept of Live 8, and the organizers who put it together to bring to the world's attention the issues about poverty, starvation and deteriorating human conditions in Africa. We need to be reminded more often of the world outside our selfish little cubicles.
But I wonder...
And why should they? They're rich, they can afford everything they need, so their horizon of concern doesn't extend beyond that. Their families are taken care of, so why care about others? They are supported and funded by corporations whose goal is to make their own executives rich and feather the nests of their CEOs, not to provide employment, benefits or good working conditions. The poor in Africa are as far away from the minds of these leaders as the Mars Rovers are.
Who cares how many die in Africa every day, as long as you can get another yacht for your collection, or purchase a trophy wife, or guarantee your election by pushing through legislation that gives the rich more tax breaks and alleviates your sponsoring corporations from having to assume burdensome social responsibility like environmental regulations? Who cares about AIDS when your drug-company buddies who don't want to cut their profit margins can pump a few million into your party's re-election campaign?
Do I sound cynical? Outside the municipal level, politics today are controlled by corporate interests, by the rich and privileged, by the CEOs and the lobbyists. It's especially true at the federal level and morse so int he USA than anywhere else in the world. The home of democracy has become a society with as rigid and inflexible class structures as any feudal monarchy. It is not the home of the free, but rather the home of the peasant class and the overlords.
Do you think a single CEO would even trade in his (or her) second, third or even fourth Beemer or Mercedes in order to donate personal money to such a cause as helping alleviate poverty in Africa? Give your head a shake. Sure, some might use the corporate funds to make a PR event out of a donation (if it can guarantee positive press coverage) - but usually prying the money away from the company means laying off several thousand workers so the bottom line - and the CEO's annual bonus - don't get crimped.
We'll see if Live 8 actually produces results, but I don't hold out a lot of hope for anything significant. The corporations and their political puppets simply don't dive a damn about what happens in Africa, or any other place outside their boardrooms.
As for the first question - I might ask how many people can break out of the consumer-me first mode they've been brought up to believe in and turn away from selfish self-gratification to selfless giving? It seems too Buddhist for our current culture. Besides, the average low attention span of the TV generation suggests that the whole idea of Live 8 and why it was held is already fading away for most of the audience.
It was an interesting, entertaining series of concerts, with some very good performances and some moving moments (Annie Lennox's song was the most emotional of all). It was annoying that the American station only broadcast The US and UK concerts, completely ignoring its Canadian neighbour. Pretty typical of American media, though (which seems deliberately ignorant of anything its neighbour does).
Good thing we had the Canadian broadcast too - although it was hosted by what appeared to be the winners of the local Amateur Night Broadcasting Contest... but at least we could hop about the channels and see Canadian performers.
I really admire the concept of Live 8, and the organizers who put it together to bring to the world's attention the issues about poverty, starvation and deteriorating human conditions in Africa. We need to be reminded more often of the world outside our selfish little cubicles.
But I wonder...
- * How many of those millions who attended or watched the concert on TV will actually go and do something to combat poverty and starvation? How many will write, call or email their politicians to encourage immediate action? How many will donate money to the cause? How many will volunteer in a local organization ro institution to help fundraise or collect donations? How many will do ANYTHING constructive with what they heard and saw, and how many will simply forget it?
* How many of the G8 world leaders - schmoozing on a golf course as the concerts got under way - actually care or will do something positive to alleviate the problems highlighted by the event?
And why should they? They're rich, they can afford everything they need, so their horizon of concern doesn't extend beyond that. Their families are taken care of, so why care about others? They are supported and funded by corporations whose goal is to make their own executives rich and feather the nests of their CEOs, not to provide employment, benefits or good working conditions. The poor in Africa are as far away from the minds of these leaders as the Mars Rovers are.
Who cares how many die in Africa every day, as long as you can get another yacht for your collection, or purchase a trophy wife, or guarantee your election by pushing through legislation that gives the rich more tax breaks and alleviates your sponsoring corporations from having to assume burdensome social responsibility like environmental regulations? Who cares about AIDS when your drug-company buddies who don't want to cut their profit margins can pump a few million into your party's re-election campaign?
Do I sound cynical? Outside the municipal level, politics today are controlled by corporate interests, by the rich and privileged, by the CEOs and the lobbyists. It's especially true at the federal level and morse so int he USA than anywhere else in the world. The home of democracy has become a society with as rigid and inflexible class structures as any feudal monarchy. It is not the home of the free, but rather the home of the peasant class and the overlords.
Do you think a single CEO would even trade in his (or her) second, third or even fourth Beemer or Mercedes in order to donate personal money to such a cause as helping alleviate poverty in Africa? Give your head a shake. Sure, some might use the corporate funds to make a PR event out of a donation (if it can guarantee positive press coverage) - but usually prying the money away from the company means laying off several thousand workers so the bottom line - and the CEO's annual bonus - don't get crimped.
We'll see if Live 8 actually produces results, but I don't hold out a lot of hope for anything significant. The corporations and their political puppets simply don't dive a damn about what happens in Africa, or any other place outside their boardrooms.
As for the first question - I might ask how many people can break out of the consumer-me first mode they've been brought up to believe in and turn away from selfish self-gratification to selfless giving? It seems too Buddhist for our current culture. Besides, the average low attention span of the TV generation suggests that the whole idea of Live 8 and why it was held is already fading away for most of the audience.
I think you're right that generally as a society, we are never going to discount our lifestyle in order to help others unless it is shown to be in our self-interest. However, I am every bit as cynical about the average person as I am about our leaders. What was all that stuff about the Pope about. Have you ever thought about how much good the money spent on flying to Rome, and the other expenses associated with what West refers to as "mourning sickness" could have done if it had been directed to a meaningful channel.
One the other hand, there is the foundation created by Bill Gates and his wife, the public challenge of Ted Turner for Gates and others to do more, The Rockefeller Foundation, Bill Clinton's work with aides in Africa, and Jimmy Carter's work with Habitat For Humanity. Perhaps a bit to far over on the cynical side, but not much.