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Bittersweet Symphony

This summer, concert goers will have the opportunity to save the world from swinging to loud music and Earth buying cotton t-shirts friendly. The Live Earth climate of our "in crisis" will surely raise the profile of environmentalism, but in reality the unit his audience to understand the root causes of the problem? After all, has been almost two years since ten simultaneous Live 8 concerts were held around the world to raise awareness of poverty in Africa, and if this case is an indicator, we should not expect much beyond advertising and spark that does more for the rockers of aging designated cause du jour.

Coinciding with the twentieth anniversary of his original Live Aid concert, Bob Geldof hoped the Live 8 event press leaders of the G8 countries (Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, USA, Canada and Russia) in debt cancellation for the poorest nations. While never easy to get politicians to do something for the poor, Geldof felt his chances are good because I had heard of new president G-8, British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

In 1985, when still a young and aspiring member of the Socialist Labor Party, Tony Blair attended Live Aid. Years later, Geldof said that experience had shaped his view of politics in Africa and so in 2004, Geldof persuaded Blair at the head of an examination of poverty in Africa and the role of the international community has played in its tragic history. The study is titled the Blair Commission for Africa and focused on debt relief and increased aid as the most direct means to alleviate the "living wound" of African plight. The following step, Blair and Geldof decided, would convince the leaders of seven richest countries in the world, nations (G-7 plus Russia = G-8) to comply with the program Blair Commission. And what better way to force these politicians to reach an agreement that one billion people involved in the process. So, as Blair has planned for the G8 summit at a golf course in Scotland, Geldof called Bono, Madonna and Pink Floyd in their truck speakers in Hyde Park in London, and invited the world to the show.

I sat among the "billions" as Bob Geldof to speak, see the concerts from their homes. Switching between MTV and AOL's live-to-network transmission of concerts in London, Paris, Berlin, Toronto, Philadelphia, Rome, humming with a list of stars that, like everything he tried, but could not muster the earnest save the world the insurgent spirit that had made the Live Aid as a global phenomenon. Watching Kate Moss' boyfriend Pete Doherty then wander delirium in the stage and then just get through an acute understanding of T-Rex classic Children of the Revolution seemed the symbolic moment. For a generation the world has at its disposal, actually live in a virtual global village, have less sensitivity and connection to the plight of starving African children made 20 years ago.

Sure, everyone wore their white wristbands, cosmetic unit test with the Make Poverty History campaign. But in a development that was the symbol of the disconnect between the bright star field in the first world and the soul of struggle of the poor drainage in the world, later reported that millions of bands were produced in factories in China where workers are paid 25 cents an hour. As usual, the intentions were good, but you know what they say about the road to hell. And The irony was not lost on many in the Western media. When Geldof announced concerts on CNN, saying they were "addressing the roots of poverty ", critics assailed him for assembling a list" hideously white "that only included two African-born artists. Many saw it as a maneuver to raise the profile of the sagging old-fashioned rock stars like The Who, Paul McCartney and Duran Duran, while others charged that it was the Rock Stars that were being used by politicians of the G8.

Bono dismissed the criticism last, saying: "Is there some degree being used here? Yes, but I'm not a cheap date, and neither is Bob Geldof. "That may well be true. As a result of Live 8 and Make Poverty History campaign, The G8 agreed to cancel the debt of the poorest nations of the world eighteen and double 2004 levels of U.S. aid to Africa $ 25 to U.S. 50 billion U.S. dollars in 2010. But when this is not to impress the very Africans Live 8 was created to benefit, either Bono or Geldof had quick comebacks.

"One should not surprise, "wrote the African scholar Samir Amin in his liberal virus, which at the very moment when capitalism appears to be completely victorious," the fight against poverty has become an inescapable obligation of the rhetoric of the dominant groups. "

It is something the Western media missed completely. Here we are, fifteen years after the end of the Cold War, long after capitalism has been declared the winner ideological world, is still focused on global poverty. And with a situation in Africa is not better than twenty years ago when we held the last aid global event music. Now, of course, many would say that is not the fault of liberalism that African countries have not been able to establish sustainable fiscal policies. And that would be true if there was not a long legacy of liberal economic intervention on the continent of Africa, many designed around the goal of alleviating poverty. So what's wrong with this picture?

Samir Amin claims that representatives of the World Bank, IMF and rock stars like Bono and Bob Geldof, poverty never more seen as an empirical measure, which can be conquered through mathematical reasoning. Increased aid, debt elimination … problem solved. But this is just rock star economics. The reason nothing has changed for Africans since the last time Geldof and Bono beamed their message to hundreds of millions of households around the world that have been absorbed by the play of the G8 leaders. It speaks of poverty, without questioning the methods and mechanisms that generate it.

Now, for Amin, the Marxist, the foundations of poverty in Africa are deep and advancement is a treacherous road, obstructed by the evils of capitalism. But it was only the extreme left that was questioning Live 8. Two weeks after the concerts, the New York Times published an opinion article by the Cameroonian journalist Jean-Claude Shanda Tonme which are based on Amin's criticism, but from a different perspective.

"Our outrage is even greater because" Tonme wrote, "We have not heard anyone at Live 8 raise a cry for democracy in Africa real problem. Africa is the lack of freedom of expression, the usurpation of power, brutal oppression … Do not they understand that fighting poverty is useless if dictatorships remain in place? "

At a time when the armies U.S. and Britain are supposedly fighting anti-democratic insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan, these words must have hurt the eyes of the liberal pro-war, who championed the program of debt relief as a crucial step towards eradicating poverty.

"Neither debt relief nor huge amounts of food aid, or an invasion of experts will change anything, "he wrote Tonme in the Times." Those who simply prop up dictators in the continent … We would have preferred for musicians in Philadelphia and London have marched and sung for political revolution. "

But the revolution is not the kind of thing that Geldof's government-friendly show has been designed to inspire. The closest anyone was a Versace-clad Madonna singing "Music makes the people come together. The music makes the bourgeoisie and the rebels come together. "And there is good reason for it. Because of the revolution in countries like Cameroon, Chad and Togo topple leaders demand that they have a long relationship with the IMF and World Bank. Leaders who, according to John Perkins, the Economic Hit Man "turned successful author, receive Huge sums of money that is never expected to be repaid, because the nonpayment is what gives us our leverage, our pound of flesh. "

Working for international consulting firm of Chas T. Main, Perkins job was to create optimistic financial projections for developing countries to justify huge IMF loan World Bank. Although the money allegedly lent to recipient nations for infrastructural development, many of them never left the United States since he was directly construction or major in the U.S. and other engineering firms like Bechtel and Halliburton, who were hired to do the job. More importantly, Perkins writes in Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, that would bring in such high loans that would drive the country into bankruptcy and would be "forever indebted to their creditors, and this … an easy target when needed favors, including military bases, the United Nations votes, or access to oil and other natural resources. "

"A farce is a subterfuge," he says solemnly.

Perkins views the recent pledges by the G8 to Make Poverty History, as the latest chapter in this legacy of economic trap.

"This program to forgive debt in eighteen nations, with twenty-two in the background, which is an excellent tool economic hit men. I totally believe in the forgiveness of debt, but this is not about forgiveness of debt. Each of these countries asked to allow U.S. companies or international corporations to privatize their electricity systems and water and many other resources. They are asked to accept the trade barriers we have in the U.S. and G8 countries and yet not keep their own trade barriers to protect their markets for our products. Thus we are using this tactic debt forgiveness as a way to get them more entrenched in the empire. It's a very, very subtle and effective tool of economic hit man and yet, most people do not seem to realize that. "

Just a month after the G8 leaders made their promise of great publicity for cancel the debt of the poorest countries of eighteen, a leaked document from the World Bank severely undermined the credibility of his promise. Written by Geoff Lamb, Vice President the Bank's concessional financing, the paper explains that "most countries receiving 100 percent debt cancellation would be classified as "green light" and therefore eligible for new loans. "Even more damning is the reference of the canons to a briefing paper G8 nations receiving debt relief must be "stepped into new loans." According to Perkins, indebtedness then funnel back on projects for western companies.

Referring to the flight, Dave Timms of the World Development Movement (WDM), said the World Bank was essentially "asking CEOs how quickly they can get the countries receiving debt relief again in the pattern of loans and debt again. "A spokesman World Bank dismissed the controversy, describing the document as "an informal and preliminary."

But what the statement Perkins that as a condition for debt relief, these countries would be forced to privatize their resources and reducing trade barriers? A quick look at report the Blair Commission, Analysis of the UK government's poverty in Africa that formed the basis for associating with Tony Blair Bob Geldof at Live 8, is revealing. Its opening line states that, "For its part, Africa must accelerate reform." Reform, of course, is a code word for privatization. Clearly, despite all the talk nice, this is still the modus operandi of the forces of neoliberal globalization. In September 2005, a report published by WDM showed that the IMF and the official strategies of World Bank poverty reduction (PRSP) to meet the conditions for debt relief, loans and aid in a country to country, " contains 90 percent privatization measures … and over 70 percent include liberalization of trade. "Trade liberalization is another euphemism for reducing trade barriers.

A report by the Council on Hemispheric Affairs explained the G8 "debt relief" in this way: "The Candidates seeking debt relief are caught in a classic dilemma-22 dilemma: in order to alleviate poverty must institutionalize the circumstances that created it first. This commitment does not end when external debts finally relieved. By contrast, countries must continue to comply with the IMF / World Bank expectations in order to win good credit rating is key to attracting foreign investment. "

Finally, I decided to do a random check on an African country which was scheduled for debt relief – the New York Times op-ed writer Jean-Claude Shanda Tonme's beloved Cameroon. In October 2005, just four months after Live 8, Cameroon announced that "plans to privatize state airline, water utilities and the telecommunications company as part of a program IMF-supported economic reform with a view to obtaining debt relief.

Copyright © 2007 Stephen Marshall Book of wolves in sheep by Stephen Marshall, published by the Disinformation Company, Ltd., April 2007, $ 16.95US; 978-1932857-42-9

About the Author

Stephen Marshall is a writer and award-winning filmmaker. A founder of Guerrilla News Network, he is coauthor of the book True Lies (Plume) with GNN colleague Anthony Lappé. He is the director of the feature film This Revolution, documentary features such as Battleground: 21 Days on the Empire’s Edge, and controversial, politicized music videos for the Beastie Boys, Eminem and 50 Cent. Over the span of his career, he has traveled and worked in more than 80 countries. He lives in New York City. Visit www.wolvesbook.com 

About The Disinformation Company:
Based in New York, The Disinformation Company www.disinfo.com is active in book publishing, film/DVD distribution and other home entertainment. Recent book releases include Graham Hancock’s Supernatural, Jim Marrs’ The Terror Conspiracy, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, Beyond The Bleep. Identity Theft Inc., Circle of Six, and Scamorama. Disinformation books are distributed to the trade by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution (www.cbsd.com).

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