Monibot's Bards of the Powerful

[yeahwho]

An altogether different take on the G8 Summit and Bob Geldolf's and Bono's participation.

Guardian Columnist George Monibot; Link (http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2005/06/21/bards-of-the-powerful-/)

I have been fairly happy with the activism of these guys and actually proud of their past achievments, but you know this Monibot makes a pretty compelling case.

Bono was on Charlie Rose last night and he really is one hell of a great guy, I think he'll stay onpoint regardless of the shoulder rubbing.

They wanted 4 billion in African Aid from the US, GWB will part with 1.7 billion saying we'll double it by 2010. $4 Billion dollars is 1% of the money we are currently spending on the war with Iraq.

[yeahwho]

Why I won't be watching Live 8 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4637801.stm)

Also I found David Stubbs (Reviews editor of The Wire music magazine) take on the Live 8 to be actually quite informative, ballsy and actually funny.

But hey you know, once a punk........

[EN[i]GMA]

Giving them money won't help until their governments stop stealing it.

[enree erzweglle]

Bono was on Charlie Rose last night and he really is one hell of a great guy
I agree, but he seems to give some people the impression of being self-serving.

I have never gotten that.

When he's performing his ego shows somewhat, but the charity stuff that he does...that seems genuine to me. It must be hard to use your name & face to promote a cause like that (which I think is a reasonable thing to do) and not have people suspect your motives & generally be in your face about it.

[Documad]

I enjoyed that article.

As usual, I'm torn. If I were famous, I'd want to use my celebrity to shine some light on the issues I'm interested in. I mean, I currently use the teeny tiny amount of power I have to nag my friends about my issues.

On the other hand, more articulate people than me have explained that there is a problem with these celebrity events in that the public at large seems to believe these events solve the problem. Geldof named it band-aid in part because he knew it was a very small contribution. My friends and I bought the first Let Them Know It's Christmas single (I even have the EP where McCartney TALKS! :D) and having lived through the bizarreness of USA for Africa and all the other events (my favorite was hearing aid whatever they called the metal one) and then the very interesting spectacle of Live Aid, I know that most of my cohorts felt that we had licked that starvation thing 20 years ago.

I think that events that are merely supposed to raise awareness do a better job. I'm not sure, but I suspect that the Sun City records did cause artists to stop supporting the old south african system. I am sure that it gathered the coolest collection of artists.

I have no problem with Bono seeking attention for whatever he wants. I just stopped liking his music a long time ago.