Could someone please tell Bob Geldof that raising money for Africa is so 1980s?
The
Irish musician, who was the brainchild behind Band Aid that put
together the We are the World single to raise money for starving
Ethiopians 30 years ago, has brought together a bunch of aging musicians
to record a new song for Ebola victims in West Africa.
Many
people, not least Africans, are disgusted. They see Geldof’s latest
fund-raising campaign as yet another attempt by white people to portray
Africans as helpless and in constant need of aid, while trying to gain
“sainthood” for themselves.
Maybe no one has told
Geldof that countries such as Nigeria have successfully contained Ebola
all by themselves, thank you very much, and that the reason Sierra Leone
and Liberia are suffering disproportionately from the disease is
because their health care systems were broken by years of civil war.
Money raised through a song will not fix these systems overnight.
Besides,
he should know by now that aid to Africa has had a negative impact on
the continent and in several cases has contributed to exacerbating
poverty, conflict, and underdevelopment. (I would recommend that he read
up on this topic.
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
Good
primers include Missionaries, Mercenaries and Misfits edited by yours
truly, and Dambisa Moyo’s Dead Aid.) A more effective strategy to combat
the disease is the one employed by Cuba, which sent doctors to the
affected areas.
The response to Ebola requires international cooperation and national prevention strategies, not aid.
It
is bad enough that Geldof actually believes that throwing money at
Africans will contain Ebola, but what is really irritating about his new
campaign is the sheer ignorance and insensitivity of the song’s lyrics.
The title itself — Do they know it’s Christmas? — belies an ignorance
that borders on racism and paternalism. Surely Geldof knows that 60 per
cent of Africans are Christians?
Aaron Bady, the
editor of the New Inquiry, says that the most disturbing thing about the
song is its simple-mindedness and the way it divides the world neatly
into two — them (poor, starving, diseased Africans) and us (rich, albeit
generous, white people). “Even Jesus was more realistic about the
persistence of poverty; the idea that a few songs can solve world hunger
expresses a greater messianism than even the Messiah’s”, he wrote.
African
musicians, such as Fuse ODG, refused to be part of the song because
they worried that the music would reinforce negative perceptions of
Africa. Apparently, none of these criticisms have discouraged sales of
the song, which had crossed the 300,000 mark by the beginning of
December.
Meanwhile, neither Geldof nor the other
musicians have dipped into their own pockets to support this cause. Nor
have they thought of producing a song to raise money for the many
problems afflicting their own countries, such as drug addiction,
unemployment, and racism.
*****
MARINE LIFE IN DANGER
When
the Kenya Wildlife Service allowed the Billionaire’s Club, owned by
Italian millionaire Flavio Briatore, to build a wall around the club,
which is adjacent to the KWS-managed Marine Park in Malindi, residents
feared that this would negatively impact marine life at the park.
Unfortunately, their fears have been realised. Not only has the beach in
front of the club been eroded, but the turtles that used to lay and
hatch their eggs on the beach have disappeared.
The
wall has disrupted the natural flow of the tide. High tides hitting the
wall have uprooted the many palm trees that used to line the beach and
disturbed the habitat of marine life there. There are now concerns that
the underwater Marine Park may also be affected.
According
to a residents’ association, the National Environmental Management
Authority was consulted and gave the go-ahead to the building of the
wall. Now the association is fighting to get the wall pulled down.
How
is it that a foreign investor was allowed to destroy a natural heritage
site and why were there no conditionalities on environmental
preservation when KWS leased out part of its land to the Italian
millionaire? How can we allow foreigners to desecrate and destroy our
natural environment, especially precious protected habitats?
rasna.warah@gmail.com
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