‘… with what’s going on in Africa…?’ Did the public get the real message of Live 8?

This is what ‘Shana’ a young lady, who went to the Philadelphia Live 8 concert with her friends told me:

‘[the concert] reminds us of what’s going on over there [Africa] even though we are not there… Everyone needs to help as much as they can…I’m gonna tell all my friends who didn’t show what this was all about. And it wasn’t just about seeing everybody perform… It was about spreading awareness of AIDS.’

Hmmm. And this is what Bob Geldof said the Live 8 message was:

'These concerts are the start point for The Long Walk To Justice, the one way we can all make our voices heard in unison…. The G8 leaders have it within their power to alter history. They will only have the will to do so if tens of thousands of people show them that enough is enough…By doubling aid, fully canceling debt, and delivering trade justice for Africa, the G8 could change the future for millions of men, women and children.'

So, just how successful was Live 8 in getting its message across? At first, I was not convinced. After hours of listening to pop stars and actors repeat the same talking points and say the phrase, ‘ and with all the stuff that’s going on in Africa’, I was rapidly losing the will to live and pretty much ready to scream. But I didn’t scream. I guess that was my British reserve kicking in. Then, something quite amazing happened. Literally, just a few minutes after my conversation with Shana and her friends, Kanye West walked on the stage and told the crowd this:

‘We’re here for the thousands of people who’re dying every day. Some disease we can’t cure, that man made a long time ago and placed in the African communities. Some diseases can be cured, if we have better healthcare, better schools, better education, a better life. And that’s what we’re here for – to beg the politicians to release the debt over those whose lives are not as good as those politicians who drive home in they’re Bently’s every night….while thousands of African’s [are] dying…’

Granted, there was a lot of irony to West’s comments, but still, he called it like it was! There was hope!

West’s comments were quickly followed by one of the more surreal moments of the day – for me, anyway. Above Destiny’s Child (who were performing ‘Say My Name’), the names of the millions of people who had signed on the ‘Live 8 List’ (which will be given to G8 this week) appeared on a large screen. I was blown away. All of those names – maybe people do care and people do get it! My cynicism started to melt away immediately.

Then, just a few hours later, Jamie Drummond, the Executive Director of DATA the group behind Live 8, told the press corps that Live 8 was about economic justice, not just aid. He even acknowledged the roots of this poverty – colonialism. I nearly fell of my seat! He was the first person that day to identify the elephant in the room!!

I started to feel, right then, that Live 8 organisers and a lot of their participants did understand what the message of Live 8 was, and were making a concerted effort to tell the world. But the media wasn’t having any of it. Certainly, from what I observed, the press corps were far more interested with getting a picture of Anna Nicole Smith shaking her tatas than hearing what Dr Benjamin Chavis, Jamie Drummond, or any number of the eloquent speakers who came on stage had to say about debt justice.

So, I took the opportunity to speak to some more people. I was over Shana and her friends; I figured that there would be others who actually got what Jully 2 was really about. But I still needed convincing that the organisers of Live 8 had succeed in galvanising a credible world-wide debt justice movement of the people, by the people…

Rather than ask the usual suspects, I decided to ask two Africans, afterall, the event was supposed to be ‘all about Africa’, right? I talked to the academy award nominated actor and star of Amistad, Djimon Hounsou from Benin and Iyeshatu Manga (from Sierra Leone) who works with DATA and the ONE campaign. My conversations with them were very interesting to say the least (you can listen to them online, details below). While Hounsou was convinced that the use of celebrity voices had helped create passion amongst the general public around the issue of poverty – at least in the US. He said:

‘ (the concert is) certainly getting people to listen and to pay attention. If anything, that’s really what the key is…. If we get America to have a strong voice on the issues of extreme poverty in Africa, I think [there] will be a tremendous change.’, he felt that the West had a long way to go in understanding what Africa was really about.’

Iyeshatu Manga was really hopeful about what the concerts had achieved. She believed that we were witnessing the birth of a strong global movement – and that Live 8 played an integral role in making this happen:

‘When they did the Live Aid concert 20 years ago, Bob Geldof an the organizers were asking for money. In this day and age, it doesn’t take that little money to make a change. In this day and age, five million, 10 million people are saying enough is enough. Poverty is a man-made disease; it’s unnecessary, and everybody is rallying…around organizations that have come together to eliminate poverty’

I was almost convinced by her. Certainly, her enthusiasm and hope was infectious. And after having a few days to reflect on Live 8 and its aftermath, I am starting to believe that the message is slowly being heard by the public. People involved in this movement know that this is a long road (they called the campaign the ‘Long Walk to Justice’, for goodness sake) and they are ready to do what they need to do to get justice. Likewise, I think they know that they have a lot of work to do to strengthen the movement within, by a) talking to African’s more – and b) examining their relationship with politicians – and each other (read ‘When wearing White is Not Chic and Collaboration Not Cool’, published by Foreign Policy in Focus). But, they know the size of their task and are prepared to dig in to make the rest of us listen.

Maybe the world’s politicians will hear the demands of those of us who say ‘enough is enough’. If not this week, certainly soon…

Listen to The gb interview with Djimon Hounsou at Live 8 here

Listen to The gb interview with Iyeshatu Manga at Live 8 here

ps - I tried to hold it down in front of my American colleagues when I heard the news that London would host the Olympics in 2012 today.

But, they knew how excited I was ( and still am). I know they knew..

(hee hee!!)

until next week...