- “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.” — Dom Helda Camara
Next Friday, November 17 — the day before the G20 meets in corporate luxury in Melbourne — the advertising campaign now known as ‘Make Poverty History’ (and previously known as ‘Jubilee 2000’) is staging a concert. According to the organisers:
We live in an exciting time. This is the first time in history that our generation has the financial capacity, resources and internationally agreed framework to put an end to extreme poverty. The MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY Concert will provide Australians with a voice in a global movement that stands in solidarity with the world’s poor. Show your support for making poverty history on a global stage by joining top Australian performers and over 20,000 people to celebrate the largest MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY event ever held in Australia!
Aside from being a gross insult to the intelligence, this is pretty nauseating stuff.
To begin with, the ‘problem’ with ‘poverty’ — which ‘Make Poverty History’ has identified as being most germane to attracting an audience — is the supposed fact that “Every single day, 30,000 children are dying as a result of extreme poverty”. One is tempted to ask these 30,000 children (thankfully, adults do not appear to die as a result of the same malady) whether they too feel that their imminent death is “exciting”. But of course the ‘we’ who live in “exciting times” are the same ‘we’ who genuinely believe that the existence of extreme-poverty-unto-death is some kind of an historical oversight; a “shameful” episode that merely requires the good will of fans of (the truly execrable) Eskimo Joe to be closed, once and for all.
In reality, “this is [not] the first time in history that our generation has the financial capacity, resources and internationally agreed framework to put an end to extreme poverty” and “the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY Concert will [not] provide Australians with a voice in a global movement that stands in solidarity with the world’s poor”. In addition to demonstrating bad grammar, the ability to make nonsensical assertions and to display political ignorance, such statements make a mockery of the struggles of ‘the poors’ for freedom and dignity, and do nothing to express solidarity with them.
Several responses are standard to criticism of ideologically bankrupt and morally schizophrenic initiatives like the UK’s Make Poverty History campaign. One is to rail at the impudence of calling into question the campaign organizers sincerity and good intentions. Another is to pout, “well, what alternative do YOU offer…?” Or, more disingeuously, critics will be accused of sneering at the genuine heartfelt desire among the millions of people who contribute hard-earned money to projects and programmes meant to alleviate world poverty’s all-too-numerous symptoms…
— ‘Poverty, consumerism and anti-imperialism’, toni solo, ZNet, January 9, 2006
- They Aren’t the World : Culturcide
There comes a time
When rock stars beg for cash
And that’s how the world
Is supposed to come together as one
There are people dying
And they just noticed
And they think they’re
The greatest gift of all
We can’t go on
Pretending day by day
That record companies and media gods
Will soon make a change
We all play a part
In a world that starves us all
And our cooperation
Is all they need
(Chorus)
They’re not the world
They’re not the children
They’re just bosses and bureaucrats
And rock ‘n’ roll has-beens
There’s a choice we’re never given
To run our own lives
Without it your better day
Is just a better lie
Well buy the record
So they can pretend they care
And their careers
Will be stronger and guilt-free
As Michael and Lionel have shown us
The world’s just TV
If children are starving
Let ’em drink Pepsi
They’re not the world
They’re not the children
If you want to change anything
Start from the beginning
There’s a choice we’re never given
To run our own lives
Without it your better day
Is just a better lie
When you’re rich and famous
There seems no contradiction at all
‘If we can just have a number one hit
We’ll solve it all’
You must realise
That change cannot come
If CBS
Decides what’s the problem
Make poverty history: eat the rich.
In other news… Simultaneous explosions in Mexico City (The Guardian [AP], November 6); Leftist rebels claim responsibility for Mexico City blasts; demand Oaxaca governor resign (International Herald Tribune [AP], November 6); Making the world safe for capitalism: Oaxaca, Mexico