Live 8: Why Celebrities Don't Run the World

According to Technorati, this phenomenon they call Live 8 is all over the blogosphere. I guess I'll add my two cents on the "long walk to justice."

Essentially, Live 8 is a campaign of concerts and such that seeks to influence international leaders at the G8 Summit. Their cause? Organizer Bob Geldorf puts it this way:

Every single day, 30,000 children die, needlessly, of extreme poverty.
On July 6th, we finally have the opportunity to stop that shameful statistic.
8 world leaders, gathered in Scotland for the G8 summit, will be presented with a workable plan to double aid, drop the debt and make the trade laws fair. If these 8 men agree, then we will become the generation that made poverty history.

That's nice. This is one of those "smile and nod" moments. Let's all just give Bobby a benevolent pat on the head, and quietly walk in the other direction.

Honestly, I find it hard to see where he's coming from. He tries to make it clear to us that "LIVE 8 is about justice not charity," but I'm just not feelin' it. Dictators and Jihadist Muslims have ruined many countries, so our money is supposed to fix that?

Let me show you something, Mr. Geldorf: Pretend there is an African country called X. X is a fairly prosperous country, with plenty of promise. Unfortunately, a totalitarian leader named Jimmy comes to power in X. Jimmy ruins the nation's thriving economy and plunges the nation into poverty. Now the citizens of X are needlessly dying of extreme poverty.

Now, it's very honorable to try to find a solution for X's woes, but we need to be careful of what solution we propose. For example, cancelling X's national debt and throwing more money at X will do very little to combat poverty. Yes, money is good, but if you don't address the cause of X's poverty, then you have done nothing to help the nation, because the money will have little effect.

No Mr. Geldorf, lack of money is not the ultimate cause of X's poverty. X's dictator Jimmy has decimated the country's economy and squandered the nation's money, and THAT is the cause of their poverty. If you give them more money, Jimmy will squander it. If you eliminate X's debt, Jimmy will run up an even higher debt. Until Jimmy the money pit is dealt with, money from even the world's richest countries cannot improve the living conditions of X's citizens.

Now, multiply X's story by oh, say, fifteen. Mr. Geldorf, meet Africa. You say many times that Live 8 is about bringing justice to Africa, but how is it just to eliminate the debts of tyrants? Do you really believe that enabling dictators to continue driving African nations into the ground qualifies as justice?

I hope Bob Geldorf is just short-sighted; I'd rather think he's a total moron than think he supports the genocidal autocrats of the world. Regardless, I think it's quite obvious why he's a performer rather than a government official.