What is Live 8??

Parent Cafe
1

<p>I have to ask–What is Live 8?? I’ve seen/heard this thing mentioned TV News channels for days…what is it???</p>

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<p>It was a concert shown worldwide and in several cities…the idea was to increase awareness and raise money for African peoples</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.live8live.com/[/url]”>http://www.live8live.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>It was held at this particular time because the G8 Summit is being held in Scotland this week. This is the G8 Summit website</p>

<p><a href=“perthshireg8.com”>perthshireg8.com;

<p>I would recommend reading more than just their official site - lots of controversy surrounding meeting, its agenda, the countries ideas and more</p>

<p>And hey, good of you to ask</p>

3

<p>I have read that the original ‘Live Aid’ was actually more of a hinderance than a help, because after the concert people didn’t donate that much money, because they figured that the concert had raised more than enough. Who knows, it is probably all for naught anyways, people are sick of throwing money at causes that have no end in sight.</p>

4

<p>BUt it wasn’t JUST for the money, it was to raise awareness for G8 and Africa…</p>

<p>And so what if a cause has no end in site, if people are sick, are hungry, are orphaned, that is our planet. How nice, well, we can’t solve it perfectly, so we won’t even try…</p>

5

<p>What is G8?? Is this for the Darfur genocide???</p>

6

<p>Yeah, bummer about those poor people in Africa that are starving to death. Since they’re just going to keep on starving, we shouldn’t help them out. What??? I am more optimistic and think that if people are made aware of a problem they are very likely to contribute to a solution. If you’ve ever done a food drive, you would see how generous people can be.</p>

7

<p>Swarthmore African History Professor Tim Burke has an interesting take on Live 8 in his blog today. He enjoyed it as a concert but hammers the “cause” portion of the event unmercifully:</p>

<p><a href=“http://weblogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/?p=50[/url]”>Well, At Least It’s Over | Easily Distracted;

<p>Here’s a little sample:</p>

<p>

</p>

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<p>The purpose of Live Aid was to raise money for Africa. The purpose of Live 8 was to raise awareness of the poverty in Africa and to put pressure on the leaders of the most powerful nations in the world the G8 to clear the debt of africa.</p>

<p>A lot of the critisim of the concerts was that they didn’t feature many black artists, so the organisers hastily aranged a concert in Cornwall, England for african performers. And Johannesburg in South Africa had to ask organisers to hold a concert.</p>

<p>Overall I thinkt the concerts have raised awareness but I don’t think its enough to get G8 to agree on anything substantial.</p>

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<p>The label, “Live 8” is a bit of a pun, modeled after “Live Aid”. The “8” refers to the G8 which are the 8 industrialized countries of the world. I am not sure what the “G” in G8 stands for!! I remember when it was G5, then G7… now G8. Does the “G” stand for Government? Thanks for the link to the G8 website above! Many (but not all) questions answered on that website. </p>

<p>My understanding was that the purpose of the Live8 concerts was not to raise money but to encourage the G8 to forgive the debt owed by African governments to the developed countries. (Judging by some of the posts above maybe they didn’t do such a great job getting their message out. Yet I heard that 20mm people signed an online petition urging the G8 to forgive African debt) It is not clear to me that the G8 has not already decided to forgive much of the debt even before the Live8 concert movement got started. Either way, it was a great excuse for a massive global concert party. :)</p>

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<p>More from Burke on notion of forgiving African debt:</p>

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</p>

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<p>The general reality is that folks who used to have clean drinking water no longer have clean drinking water. The reality is that folks who used to be able to afford fertilizers for their fields can no longer fertilize their fields. The reality is that villages that used to be self-sufficient in food are no longer self-sufficient in food. The reality is that where entire villagers used to be able to afford to send all of their children to school, now almost no one does. </p>

<p>It’s just wild west market economics at work, on people who were never part of the market to begin with. </p>

<p>Debt relief isn’t the half of it. I’ve seen the “market” firsthand, not in Africa, but on the coast of India (which is a “developed” country), and it ain’t pretty.</p>

12

<p>mini, what is your opinion of the talk of eliminating subsidies? Will this really be a boost to Third World farmers?</p>

<p>I agree with you about the general realities of starving Africa, but am not impressed by Sir Bob and his band the mega-rich musicians, all of whom profitted handsomely from the media coverage of their ‘charity’ concert (CD sales booming with increases over 1000%). </p>

<p>What are the solutions for Africa? </p>

<p>Is debt relief a cure all? What about those poor slobs who pinched their wallets to pay off their debt on time? Those African countries get nothing. The promoters in J-burg were indignant about the idea of a handout–and unsure it would make a difference.</p>

<p>As for the ‘black’ concert in Cornwall, that would be the equivalent of having the main concert in New York City and the ‘black’ concert on the coast of rural Maine. Many black people on the coast of rural Maine? Exactly.</p>

<p>The gaffe is rude beyond the beyond, given the HUGE African immigrant population in the London and the other metropolitan areas in England and Scotland. Talk about two-faced.</p>

13

<p>I don’t have an answer for Africa, but here’s an African economist’s take: Stop the aid.</p>

<p><a href=“http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,363663,00.html[/url]”>http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,363663,00.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Mark Steyn was typically on point with this piece:
<a href=“http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2005/07/05/do0502.xml[/url]”>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2005/07/05/do0502.xml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>G8 = Group of 8
Canada
France
Germany
Italy
Japan
Russia
UK
US
EU</p>

15

<p>Most of the artists from the London concert are donating the money from their record sales. Pink floyd’s sales have gone up by 1,233%</p>

<p>I believe that 18 countries in Africa have already had their debt cleared, but Tony Blair is pushing to have all debt cleared.</p>

<p>The G8 have already agreed on an improved aid package to Africa. I think its for each country to double its aid by 2010.</p>

<p>The real disagrements are on climate change, particulary as Bush doesn’t want any targets to meet. Even though India and China are not part of the G8 they have been invited to the conference in Scotland, which is good to see.</p>

<p>Bob Geldof’s march in Scotland to put pressure on the leaders didn’t go to plan, rioting took place throughout the day by a small number of people, they almost broke through the barriers to Gleneagles until more riot police were drafted in. 10,000 police were needed in the end.</p>