Borgarholtsskoli ENS 503| Live 8 – Make Poverty History| Research Paper| | 10/6/2008| CONTENT Introduction3 How It All Began3 What is G84 The Conserts4 Who played? 5 Memorable moments from Hyde Park6 Influence6 Conclusion7 Bibliography8 Introduction Everyone knows about the situation in most part of Africa, they are bad. There are all kinds of help organisations who try to help the people who have to live in that continent. One of the biggest stars, who have been involved, is the front man of U2, Bono. He was one of the people who organised giant concerts that where held all over the world simultaneously called Live 8.
Make poverty history. That is the messages that Live 8 wants to bring to the world. Many people might have watched the concerts on television or, at least, heard about them. There were hundreds of names who appeared all over the world, showing how they care and collecting donations. But Live 8 is so much more than just a simple fundraising. How It All Began On the second of July 2005, 10 concerts were held across the globe simultaneously and one additionally on the 6th of July. They were benefit concerts where 150 bands and 1250 musicians performed for free.
Over 30 million people from all around the world put their names on the Live 8 list which was presented to Tony Blair, as chair of the G8, by council of Live 8 and the Global Call to Action against Poverty. This was all done to make it clear to the rulers of the world how stupid and immoral poverty was in the world and how people were not putting up with it anymore. The concerts were held in the G8 states and in South Africa. This was a part of a British campaign called “Make Poverty History” and the Global Call of Action Against Poverty.
Their goal was to stress world leaders to drop the debt of the world poorest lands, raise and advance aid and agree to fair trade rules in the interest of poorer nations. Live 8 was held to celebrate the anniversary since Live Aid which was held up to date 20 years before. Live Aid, Band Aid and Live8 were all organised by Bob Geldof. Geldof is a known Irish singer, songwriter and actor who is also a political activist. He is best known as one of the members of the rock band The Boomtown Rats and he also starred as Pink in Pink Floyd’s film “The Wall”.
When Geldof announced that Live 8 would take place many former acts offered their service to the cause, as they did in Live Aid. Some referred to the event to Live Aid 2 but Geldof and co-organiser Midge Ure did not think of the event to be the same as Live Aid. What is G8 The name is short for the Group of Eight. It is an international discussion for the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK, US and the EU. Once a year one of the countries hosts a meeting for the heads of government, except for the European Union because even if it is represented within the G8 it cannot host or chair.
The 8 stands for the number of countries that meet but it used to be called G6. That was when the six most populous European countries met. Those countries were Germany, Italy, France, United Kingdom, Spain and Poland. The G6 still meets semi-annually. The G8 is intended to be an unceremonious meeting, and it therefore lacks a managerial structure like those for intercontinental organizations. The presidency of the group rotates annually among the member countries. The country holding the presidency per year holds a few smaller meetings each year for ministers responsible for various portfolios to discuss issues of mutual or global concern.
Then there is one big meeting for the heads of government. At the meeting there are many important issues discussed. Including topics like “health, law enforcement, labour, economic and social development, energy, environment, foreign affairs, justice and interior terrorism and trade”. The Conserts The big event was on 2 July 2005. Then the 10 simultaneous concerts were held around the globe. It is estimated that 3 billion people watched it. The first one was held at the Makuhari Messe in Japan where Rize was the first one to play.
Will Smith opened in Philadelphia where he led the audience in London, Philadelphia, Berlin, Rome, Paris and Barrie (just outside Toronto, Canada) in a synchronised finger click. Each click was to represent the death of a child every three seconds, due to poverty. In Hyde Park, London, Bob Geldof made numerous appearances on stage. Special guest stars appeared throughout the concerts like Bill Gates in London and Nelson Mandela in South Africa. All kinds of stars acted as introducers of acts, from sports stars to comedians. Pink Floyd reunited with former bassist/lyricist Roger Waters for the first time in 24. ears or since 1981. When the keyboardist Richard Wright died in 2008 Live 8 became the final time where the four members of the band’s classic line-up of the late 60s and 70s performed together. There was one final event held in Edinburgh, Scotland on 6 July 2005 and was called Edinburgh 50,000 – The Final Push. Some of the performers from Live 8 appeared and it was the closest of the eleven to the actual location of the G8 meeting. Who played? As mentioned before, many musicians gave their work to those concerts. Some were bigger than others.
Here is a summary of only few of them: “Coldplay, the Killers, Madonna, Robbie Williams, Velvet Revolver, The Who, Andrea Bocelli, Muse, Placebo, Green Day, Duran Duran, Black Eyed Peas, Bon Jovi, Kaiser Chiefs, Linkin Park, Deep Purple, Bjork and Good Charlotte”. The concerts where held in Rome, Philadelphia, Canada, Tokyo, Johannesburg, Moscow, Paris, Berlin and of course in London. Memorable moments from Hyde Park Pink Floyd reunited for the last time. They played “Speak to Me”, “Breathe”, “Money”, “Wish You Were Here” and Comfortably Numb”.
Paul McCartney and U2 teamed up playing “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”. Bono was so unfortunate to be missing the jacket he had been planning to wear on stage. However, when he got to the stage it turned out that the culprit was no other than Paul McCartney. Later on, Bono explains to the Irish Daly Star: “He asked our wardrobe person whose it was, and she says: “Bono’s – he is wearing it today. ” And Paul said: “No, he is not. I am wearing it. ” Now I am used to being the big guy – but not in front of a Beatle” added Bono then jokingly.
Pete Doherty sung a version of T-Rex’s hit “Children of the Revolution” along with Elton John. Many have described Doherty’s performance as embarrassing since he showed up on stage clearly drunk and even under the influence of drugs. While singing the first verses of “Like a Prayer”, Madonna held hands with a famous starving child, Birhan Woldu. Robbie Williams began his set with a cover of “We Will Rock You” by Queens as he “wanted to bring a bit of Freddie back from the original Live Aid. ” Influence Five days after the big concerts, G8 gathered for their annual summit.
Whether it was because of Live 8 or not they made some promises in that meeting. The promises were to give $50 billion more aid in Africa per year by 2010. AIDS drugs will be applied to all those who need them and all AIDS orphans will be taken care of. 38 countries will get cancellation to their debts. Quality primary education and basic healthcare will be free for all children. Those who suffer from malaria will get treatment and bed nets. Vaccination will be delivered to get rid of polio once and for all. If all these promises are kept, 4 million lives will be saved by the year 2010.
You can make a difference by your actions. You may think you are powerless, but together you can be the generation that sees every child get the education that is their right. World leaders have promised this and you must make sure they keep to it by joining together to speak with one voice. Promises to children should never be broken. You are the future of this world and can change it for the better. You can make leaders make their promises happen. Last year we made great strides in the fight against poverty and I’m proud of every one of you that joined the campaign to make poverty history.
Now the more difficult task begins to make the world keep its promises. Nelson Mandela Conclusion Live 8 made a difference that day. It brought up awareness to the public about the people struggling in Africa by using names and work of famous musicians, bands and Hollywood stars. It got a great publicity and showed how many people care. The G8 made promises to help those in need because of pressure from the public. We have not seen the result of it yet, there is still hunger in Africa. There are still diseases. But we are getting there, slowly but surely.
Even if we are just the common man, all we have to do is keep trying to make a difference and the world will someday be a better place for us all to live in. Bibliography Bob Geldof http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Bob_Geldof (3 October 2008) Crowd picture http://www. live8live. com/images/media/crowd-01. jpg (5 October 2008) Kaufman, Gil. Live 8, One Year Later: G8 Promises Are Falling Short Of Goals, Report Says http://www. mtv. com/news/articles/1535470/20060629/u2. jhtml? headlines=true&rsspartner=rssYahooNewscrawler (5 October 2008) Live 8 ttp://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Live_8 (5 October 2008) LIVE 8 Concerts http://www. live8live. com/theconcerts/index. shtml (5 October 2008) LIVE 8 – The Story So Far http://www. live8live. com/whathappened/# (5 October 2008) Madonna and Birhan Woldu picture http://www. live8live. com/images/media/madonna. jpg (5 October 2008) ——————————————– [ 2 ]. (http://www. live8live. com/theconcerts/index. shtml) [ 3 ]. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Live_8#Hyde_Park. 2C_London [ 4 ]. (http://www. live8live. com/makepromiseshappen/#)
