"Everywhere I look there's bloody Bob Geldof. All the performers taking part are mega-rich, but they're asking us for money? Bleh."
"Gah! You're like the tenth person I've had to explain this to. I can't blame you, because the papers are encouraging the impression that this is just another Live Aid. Live8 is not about raising money to give to Africa. Nowhere on the Make Poverty History site is there a little 'donate money' button. I mean, aid is useful for certain purposes, but no amount of cash can ever possibly catch up with the fundamental economic problems that are affecting Africa. In several cases, simply dumping cash on the problem makes it worse."
"Then...why are they doing the concert again?"
[sigh] "They want to show the participating governments at the G8 conference that a huge amount of people want them to alter the rules of international trade so that Africa has a fighting chance to create its own robust economy. Right now, export subsidies don't give African farms even a chance to produce their own food- they just increase the debt. Forcing Africa to keep its markets unregulated is like trying to teach a baby to swim by chucking it into a pool. Even with the promise to drop the debt, they've tied that promise to demands to keep the markets open -which is in our interest- which means the problem is just going to reoccur all over again."
"So...it's just a protest rally."
"Yes- an enormous protest rally. With music."
"Think it'll help?"
"I think it'll help about as much as the Iraq protests did. The sad fact is, Africa is in the position it is in because that is the position we want it to be in. It simply isn't in the interests of the Western world to have an economically viable Africa. Politicans will smile and try to use this as a chance to ingratiate themselves with the public. They may even make some substantial policy changes that they will reverse later when not so many people are looking, and in twenty years we'll have Live40. Paul McCartney will mysteriously still be the same age."
This is a 
So you're saying people aren't going for the music, but to protest? Right. I got it all wrong. And if they bands were all really shitty people would still go, because it's about the protest.
I agree with you that the intent of the promoters may not conincide with the intent of the participants. But if the intent of the promoters is to promote knowledge about MPH and have everyone converge on the G8 conference, well, getting everyone to stand in one place and listen at the same time is a fairly effective way to do that.
I nearly got run over by Bob Geldof near Hyde Park corner the other day. Git.
"And if the bands were all really shitty people would still go, because it's about the protest."
..."IF" the bands were all pretty shitty?!
Ha!
Oh, and some interesting view points here.... Can G8 proposals help Africa?
it's arrogant and ridiculous to say "Africa is in the position it is in because that is the position we want it to be in."
But we certinaly help keep Africa in povety with out restrictive trade agreements.
It is not remotely in the interest of the Western world to have Africa's economy reach a level where they can exploit their own natural resources. Because then we couldn't exploit them.
However I did phrase that in a way which makes it sound as though Western policy is the only reason poverty in Africa has gotten worse in the past twenty years. It's not, at all- it's just one of the primary reasons. Yes that's arrogant and ridiculous, but that doesn't make it untrue.
I'm not saying we're responsible- what I was trying to say was: If the West wanted to take concerted action to lift the restrictions in Africa, it could have at any point in the last decade. But we didn't and won't, because it's not financially in our interest. No policy is made at G8 anyway. It's a 'discussion', and pretty much every economic powerhouse wants less trade restrictions- the exact opposite of what MPH is pushing for. I appreciate what Geldof was/is trying to do with Live8, but while I'd like to believe it will make a difference, I don't.