Live8 made me feel like the boy outside the bubble. It appeared to all be happening in a completely different universe, its not just that none of the 'stars' mean anything whatsoever to me, its also that i'm pretty cut-off from the dominant media channels. I haven't once sat down and watched the news in 5 years and I've never bought newspapers. I'm totally in the dark about almost all the specifics. Was it free? Did they give tickets away in some kind of lottery? wtf....
Live Aid in strict contrast. Maybe it was just being a kid (almost certainly) but i was completely hooked onto that. You'll laugh but i actually recorded the whole thing onto c90s (which i never listened to, pretty much echoing my experience of taping the pirates
) So yeah i'm pretty much convinced its not a case of one being more 'relevant' than the other.
I wonder if Live Aid seemed as completely surreal to the cynics as Live8 does to me now? Maybe it's just having done my own likkle continental jaunt, which was practically the opposite of Live Aid (ground-level musical connections between US diaspora and West African, operating in almost total obscurity, intending to highlight equality rather than disparity, not anticipating having any effect whatsoever) that makes the whole exercise of Live8 sort of grate on my nerves.
Actually I think the good intentions behind Live8 DO count for something (unlike
http://k-punk.abstractdynamics.org/archives/005796.html) but still the enthusiasm and optimism are appallingly misplaced arent they? What's a proper reaction to caring about another an entire other continent? (scratches head) How do you 'care' about a whole continent anyway?
What I found especially weird was that in Geldof's pain-stakingly assembled Africa report (which I read in detail), the document which "gathered dust on the shelf" the entire emphasis was on trying to procure good governance, to attempt to curtail corruption in Africa. It's secondary emphasis was upon attempting to improve the countries infrastructure and in educating a class of African's to become teachers and doctors. It set all it's sights squarely upon long-term objectives. And Geldof backed this to the hilt, especially the parts about 'good governance'
Yet here he is six months or so down the line saying that the whole issue of "good governance" is a smokescreen. Demanding immediate debt relief, saying that the one is only possible without the other. Paraphrasing him "How do you expect these downtrodden dictorships to react anyway, theres so little money around that when they get their hands on it they try and keep it all to themselves and steal it..." (scratches head)
