Gives empty headed, idealistic rock musicians a chance to do something feel good, and flex a little muscle. Great music, lots of goodtimes and fun, but otherwise...nothing is accomplished. Take accumulated money and foodstuffs to strong man dictator in Africa ( pick one) and watch as money and foodstuffs is distributed to strong man dictators family and supporters. Help the starving, poor people in power. Same ol' same ol'.
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Live 8 and the G8 summit
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so we should raise awareness of aids and std's in africa by promoting condoms. should we promote the usage of condomns and we should have more circumsized men. im proud of being un-circumsized. (dunno why) any1 else her un-circumsized. finally came we hve some evidence about the theory huh? oh and destroy the catholic church for it's ideas and it's arrogancy that they can be separate from the aids crisis and not be contributing towards helping it.
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Ignoring all the crap about condoms and the variouas other crap.. "wow catholics are dumb" - how insightful into your tur opinions on the dogma behind Catholicism.In reply to the original question, I think that if nothing else, it has raised awareness. Sure, people have had a good day but at the same time have become more aware of the problems that face Africa. I myself attended the march in Edinbrugh where 225k people marched to show our support. Was a great day. If we all made the effort to march, surely that shows that people care about the atrocities that other human beings face. I hope to God that Bush sees the 1 million in Philadelphia and changes something - he truelf has the power, if he made something happen he would gain a lot of support in a time where support for him is decreasing rapidly. Isn't it 2/3 of yanks want the troops out of Iraq now? I read it in The Observer a while ago. He has the power for change.
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Why do you think all of the money is going to dictators? Hopefully it's going to organizations that are on the ground there and engaged in the problems.The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given lots of money to fight preventable diseases in Africa, and it's done a lot of good.
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In reply to:
Ignoring all the crap about condoms and the variouas other crap.. "wow catholics are dumb" - how insightful into your tur opinions on the dogma behind Catholicism. [/quote
OK, I was raised Catholic, I have been taught the ins and outs of Catholicism. We're not saying that Catholics are dumb, we're saying that some of the beliefs upheld by the Catholics are seriously dated. But the ban on contraception won't last much longer, remember the good ol' days when eating meat on a Friday was a mortal sin?
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C'mon, SteveA, you are an intelligent guy ( and if that is an insult, my apologies). If you were a egotistical, control freak dictator, and there was money and food coming into your country, you would demand some if not all of it. You control everything that happens in your country, and you would control food/money distribution as well. Example. Food comes in to your country. It sits unloaded on the tarmac, until your people get a hefty bribe. It gets loaded finally, and then before it can get too far into the country, the guards at various check points must get "greased". I am not making this up off the top of my head. It is common sense, and then documented. Another reality is that any corporation that does bid'ness in one of these countries is not going to shoot themselves in the foot by telling the world of the heinious nature of the dictator. It would NOT serve the interests of the company attempting to make a diference. Does any of this make sense?
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That's all pointless. Live 8, unlike Live Aid, wasn't done to raise money. It was done to raise awareness and was scheduled for this past weekend to hopefully put a bit of pressure on the world leaders meeting together next week to do something about debt relief and poverty and the African AIDS crisis and such.
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There is corruption, and some aid disappears into the void. But most goes to where it's needed. Do you have any reliable statistics at hand, or are you just spewing?You can argue the "fishing / teaching to fish" point, but your kind of cynicism results in more disease, starvation, and suffering. It also sounds like the Republican party line.
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well everyone (and u specifiacally steve)we've aggreed its raised awareness. In reply to: Ignoring all the crap about condoms and the variouas other crap.. "wow catholics are dumb" - how insightful into your tur opinions on the dogma behind Catholicism.In reply to the original question, I think that if nothing else, it has raised awareness. Sure, people have had a good day but at the same time have become more aware of the problems that face Africa. I myself attended the march in Edinbrugh where 225k people marched to show our support. Was a great day. If we all made the effort to march, surely that shows that people care about the atrocities that other human beings face. I hope to God that Bush sees the 1 million in Philadelphia and changes something - he truelf has the power, if he made something happen he would gain a lot of support in a time where support for him is decreasing rapidly. Isn't it 2/3 of yanks want the troops out of Iraq now? I read it in The Observer a while ago. He has the power for change. but i agree with the above quote and hope that bush 'n' all do something if he doesnt snipers will be sent. (that includes u T.BLAIR) anyhoo is russia part of the g8. if so its poor and it needs aid as well! i hope bobs right for everyones sake that the catholics will soon change their ways. or risk losing support
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I read waaaay too many magazines, books, articles, and online material to have statistics ready to hand. I don't have that kind of time or energy, neither do I spew. If I sound like a republican and that line of reasoning makes sense to me, then I am at that moment a republican. If I sound like a democrat, and that line of reasoning makes sense to me, then I am momentarily a democrat . I was once a liberal tree hugger and then a conservative. Now I am just irritated. Fools have that effect on me. In the political game, labels are simply devisive. As are most labels. I am sufficiently a pessimist to realize that no matter what we do, it will be for naught, and optimistic enough to know we have to try. I am very aware of the complexities involved in the "Africa question" and have no confidence in any political inspired move to resolve the "question". The problems are many, varied and complex. Which simply means that the pols can only make it worse.Putting pressure on the politicians? If the powers that be decided that there must be something done about Africa, something will be done about Africa, regardless of some concert. Pols know what is best for us ( cough) and only a sustained attack will impact the pols
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In reply to: We're not saying that Catholics are dumb, we're saying that some of the beliefs upheld by the Catholics are seriously dated. Possum said it straight out.But I do agree about the ban on contraception being kicked out the door.
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> But I do agree about the ban on contraception being kicked out the door.
John Paul was very conservative, and he filled the ranks of cardinals and bishops with like-minded men. The church wants to appeal to the conservative elements in Africa and Latin America; they've already lost a lot of influence in the U.S. and Western Europe, and they're not going to "dilute" their message in the hope of getting it back. I don't see the Catholic church relaxing the rules anytime soon.
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In reply to: I don't see the Catholic church relaxing the rules anytime soon. so its all in vain. although if a cure to aids can be found and mass produced (hopefully) will everyone decide not to wear condoms because they not the cure is avalible? BUT diluting their message would get most supporting them again
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No, not soon... if you mean within the next 10 years. But I'm thinking more of within the next 20-40 years.
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20-40 yrs would it take that long
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heard the results of G8? they won aknowledge gloabal warming, they hve'nt got fair trade. although aid has been increased to 50 billion (30 billion to africa) and debt has been cancelled for the 13 poorest contestants i mean countries. so its not a total kick in the teeth then!
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All Rock, No ActionBy JEAN-CLAUDE SHANDA TONMEPublished: July 15, 2005 (NYT)Yaoundé, CameroonLIVE 8, that extraordinary media event that some people of good intentions in the West just orchestrated, would have left us Africans indifferent if we hadn't realized that it was an insult both to us and to common sense.We have nothing against those who this month, in a stadium, a street, a park, in Berlin, London, Moscow, Philadelphia, gathered crowds and played guitar and talked about global poverty and aid for Africa. But we are troubled to think that they are so misguided about what Africa's real problem is, and dismayed by their willingness to propose solutions on our behalf.We Africans know what the problem is, and no one else should speak in our name. Africa has men of letters and science, great thinkers and stifled geniuses who at the risk of torture rise up to declare the truth and demand liberty.Don't insult Africa, this continent so rich yet so badly led. Instead, insult its leaders, who have ruined everything. Our anger is all the greater because despite all the presidents for life, despite all the evidence of genocide, we didn't hear anyone at Live 8 raise a cry for democracy in Africa.Don't the organizers of the concerts realize that Africa lives under the oppression of rulers like Yoweri Museveni (who just eliminated term limits in Uganda so he can be president indefinitely) and Omar Bongo (who has become immensely rich in his three decades of running Gabon)? Don't they know what is happening in Cameroon, Chad, Togo and the Central African Republic? Don't they understand that fighting poverty is fruitless if dictatorships remain in place?Even more puzzling is why Youssou N'Dour and other Africans participated in this charade. Like us, they can't help but know that Africa's real problem is the lack of freedom of expression, the usurpation of power, the brutal oppression.Neither debt relief nor huge amounts of food aid nor an invasion of experts will change anything. Those will merely prop up the continent's dictators. It's up to each nation to liberate itself and to help itself. When there is a problem in the United States, in Britain, in France, the citizens vote to change their leaders. And those times when it wasn't possible to freely vote to change those leaders, the people revolted.In Africa, our leaders have led us into misery, and we need to rid ourselves of these cancers. We would have preferred for the musicians in Philadelphia and London to have marched and sung for political revolution. Instead, they mourned a corpse while forgetting to denounce the murderer.What is at issue is an Africa where dictators kill, steal and usurp power yet are treated like heroes at meetings of the African Union. What is at issue is rulers like François Bozizé, the coup leader running the Central Africa Republic, and Faure Gnassingbé, who just succeeded his father as president of Togo, free to trample universal suffrage and muzzle their people with no danger that they'll lose their seats at the United Nations. Who here wants a concert against poverty when an African is born, lives and dies without ever being able to vote freely?But the truth is that it was not for us, for Africa, that the musicians at Live 8 were singing; it was to amuse the crowds and to clear their own consciences, and whether they realized it or not, to reinforce dictatorships. They still believe us to be like children that they must save, as if we don't realize ourselves what the source of our problems is.Jean-Claude Shanda Tonme is a consultant on international law and a columnist for Le Messager, a Cameroonian daily, where a version of this article first appeared. This article was translated by The Times from the French.
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dude, wow that hits the nail. i've never thought of it like that!!
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Why are you replying to year old posts????
