Live 8 hailed as a success

AndrewBullock · **Sun Jul 03, 2005 8:28 pm**

(Would this be better in WN?)

I watched it over the internet. It was pretty cool. I didn't know what it was though till I found out yesterday when I was told by Thomas. He thought I was crazy

But this wasn't just about the music and the bands. It was about people starving; children starving when they don't need to. Everyone has a future, but because of bad nutrition children in Africa never get to experiance new things.

Every three seconds, they said, a child dies from starvation. So if I sit here and snap my fingers bam. One hits the floor. And then another, and then another. Then by the end of the day hundreds of children have just died because they didn't have food.

Thats terrible to hear..

I hope action is taken like it should be..

God bless,

~Andrew

Ronevick · **Sun Jul 03, 2005 9:30 pm**

Ya, I thought it was a cool thing, but like Andrew said, it wasn't about the bands, it was about a greater cause. They even brought on a woman from Ethiopa who was saved when she was a little girl because of money from Live 8. It just goes to show to show you it really works. I also think its cool that bands are down to Earth enough to see that action is needed, and theyre willing to help out.

nadia · cookie Joined: 08 Apr 2005 Posts: 8560 Location: Australia

I didn't watch it

Seven of Nine · **Mon Jul 04, 2005 3:45 am**

I watched the whole of the London concert, before which I was listening to Make Poverty History radio. Yesterday I watched quite a bit of the Philadelphia concert, too.

On a more serious note- I am a big supporter of the Make Poverty History compaign. Emailing the leaders of the G8, signing the petition, uploading my photo- all of which I hope will help. This time it is about raising awareness, and making the leaders listen. It's time for fair trade- stop putting subsidies on exported food. It's time for debt cancellation- we're getting there, but it can be improved upon. It's time for proper aid- without the restrictions placed on them by the rich countries. Let those in need work their way out of poverty. When half of the world is living on less than $2 a day, you know something needs to be done.

Birdy · Socialist Joined: 20 Sep 2004 Posts: 13502 Location: Here.

Yeah, I saw some of it too, I thought it was great.

Captain Dappet · **Mon Jul 04, 2005 7:15 am**

What needs to be done, though, is not to just keep sending money. We've done that for so long, and it isn't helping much. Why? Because the money end up in the pockets of the African leaders. You'd need to make sure that the leaders actually use the money to feed their population to make this effective.

But yes, away with the debts, they're not helping the situation either.

And the concerts, they were pretty good, sometimes. I mean...I didn't actually watch that much of it. I watched when someone decent was on, or when I was really bored. But...yeah. 'twas pretty good.

Birdy · Socialist Joined: 20 Sep 2004 Posts: 13502 Location: Here.

B'Elanna Torres 7 of 9 · **Mon Jul 04, 2005 11:39 pm**

*Topic moved from Chit Chat to World News*

Founder · **Mon Jul 04, 2005 11:43 pm**

I find it funny they raised "awareness". Thats nice and all, but that gives the people NOTHING.

"Food....did you get us food?"

"No...but I offer you awareness!"

"Oh....aw man..."

Hitchhiker · **Tue Jul 05, 2005 12:23 am**

Founder · **Tue Jul 05, 2005 12:26 am**

Lord Borg · **Tue Jul 05, 2005 4:08 am**

Yeah, a good point andy, but, the solution starts with knowlage of the problem.

jonathan95 · **Tue Jul 05, 2005 4:11 am**

like it was said just above me, the fact that now more people know, and more people than ever are more willing to help force the Governments into doing more is a great thing,

your right in the short term its not going to get them that much food but it will help towards the long run of bringing more food money and many more things to help the countries get out of povety.

Who knows maybe in 20 years time it wont be a make povety history concert it will be Yes we made it possible concert.

webtaz99 · **Tue Jul 05, 2005 2:45 pm**

Nothing else will help until

1) They stop having their stupid civil wars.

I saw a show about a man in South Africa who built a dam (only about 1 meter high and 100 meters wide) almost single-handedly. It provided enough water for nearly 40,000 people to survive droughts and keep their farms on a paying basis. When asked why he didn't do it before, he said "The soldiers would have destroyed it before I finished."

2) They start using birth control.

Enough said.

3) We provide them with decent education.

Many, if not all, African farms could be improved to the point of profitability just through education. If the people are going to be useful to the modern world, they must have a modern education.

Jeremy · **Tue Jul 05, 2005 5:18 pm**

The money could be used for educational purposes. But also remember that often kids would go into education but they can't because they are needed on the farm to make money to support the family.

The reason they have big families is that they need the kids to provide a means of money for when they're older. Since lots of them die in childhood then they need lots of kids so that some of them will last.

The way to fix things is get rid of trade tariffs and cancel debt, rather than give aid.

Puck · The Texan Joined: 05 Jan 2004 Posts: 5596

The reason that Africa is so poor is that many African governments make it impossible to open up a business. I do not have the figures with me, I will find them later, but, I read that in Australia, you can open a business in 2 days. In an African country (not sure specifically which one) it takes 215 days to open up a business and get all the approval through the government. Also, it costs so much more than many of these households make, that they simply can't open businesses. Yet, the African, and middle eastern leaders do nothing. We need to put pressure on these governments. Take a more "teach a man to fish" approach. I don't have enough time to post any more atm, but will try to later tonight.