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2005-06-01 Home Front: Culture Wars

Noted statesman Bob Geldof urges G8 protests

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Posted by Seafarious 2005-06-01 00:00|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Debt cancellation sounds like it's worth a try. Let's start with, oh, Iraq.

Posted by Jackal">Jackal 2005-06-01 00:11|| home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html]">[home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html] 2005-06-01 00:11|| Front Page Top

#2 Each day 50,000 people die as a result of extreme poverty, he said. Curtis added: "If 50,000 people died in London on Monday, in Rome on Tuesday, in Berlin on Wednesday, in New York on Thursday and in Paris on Friday, the G8 leaders in Gleneagles would find the money and the solution to the problem as they walked from the front door to the reception desk."

Oh how clever! A snarky reference to race. Such a clever boy. Isn't he clever?

Shame you skipped economics classes, but I can tell you were awake during the bong parties.

And let's switch on the tear ducts while we're at it.

Oh and make sure we set the debate not to real solutions, but to "white guilt."

Oh and I almost forget. I almost forgot because I was drying my eyes at what a terrible white person I am, but shouldn't we consider not only not aiding Africa's starving, but also to ensure we actively deny them food aid and water.

After all, I have determined their lives are not worth living and starvation is the only way to go. After all, we know now from MSM account that it is a good way to die, especially if a third party ( in this case, me ) determines it to not be worth living.

So, if we give food aid we are not being good humanitarians.

** Dismounts Shiavo highhorse **

That is the only reference to the Shiavo murder I will make on this forum... today...

Posted by badanov 2005-06-01 00:36|| http://www.freefirezone.org]">[http://www.freefirezone.org] 2005-06-01 00:36|| Front Page Top

#3 Edinburgh? Please. Not on a bet.

Posted by mojo">mojo 2005-06-01 00:44|| 2005-06-01 00:44|| Front Page Top

#4 I'm thinking payback by the Entertainer Elites Union for stiffing Bono.

They're so, um, sensitive and touchy-feely / artsy-fartsy... And so brave, too. Why, when it comes to spending someone else's money to help them sleep well at night, they know no bounds. Kinda gets ya, y'know? Right in your socialista bleeding heart... my left ventricle is in simpatico syncopation.

*wipes tear*

Posted by .com 2005-06-01 00:58|| 2005-06-01 00:58|| Front Page Top

#5 I believe that the EU (France?) bans imports from African countries using genetically modified crops to feed their people.
But that I suppose is to knee it to the US.

Posted by Cynic 2005-06-01 07:05|| 2005-06-01 07:05|| Front Page Top

#6 Okay, check this out: what if we took Bob Geldof, Dick Curtis, Midge Ure, Madonna, and their brethren and rendered them into a sort of meat pattie with which to feed the po? Come on, be a part of the solution, Bob!

Posted by BH 2005-06-01 09:31|| 2005-06-01 09:31|| Front Page Top

#7 Good thing rich, idle celebrities constantly remind us how smart they are.
I nearly forgot.

Posted by JerseyMike 2005-06-01 10:06|| 2005-06-01 10:06|| Front Page Top

#8 The problems in Africa are entirely self-created. The solution is good government. Is Bob Geldof really trying to rally all these people in support of regime change continent wide? A new Imperialism for the UK is not something I would have figured Bob would be for but it's bold and it's probably the only short term answer. Go Bob! Very bold, and I thought you were a half-baked Marxist fool obsessed with western guilt and filled with stary eyed dreams of the digniticy of third world poverty.

At last Bono is realistic.

Posted by rjschwarz">rjschwarz 2005-06-01 10:11|| rjschwarz.com]">[rjschwarz.com] 2005-06-01 10:11|| Front Page Top

#9 ...rendered them into a sort of meat pattie

Aigh! Soylent Green, it's made of...Bob Geldof!

Posted by Dreadnought 2005-06-01 13:51|| 2005-06-01 13:51|| Front Page Top

#10 Im not sure what the point of debating the basis of Africas problems is. Some of it comes from deep historical reasons - a late start on the development of civilization (for reasons you can read about in "Guns, Germs, and Steel" Some is the slave trade BOTH the European slave trade AND the muslim slave trade. Some is later colonialism. Some is the post war decision to give Africans independence based on existing artificial colonial boundaries, which accentuated problems of tribalism, and thus bad leadership. Some of it was Marxism, and otehr forms of socialism, which infected the continent and led to poor economic policies.

Theres blame enough to go around.

What matters is DOING something for Africans.

Im not sure if the tactics Geldof suggests are the correct ones. But lots of folk other than Geldof agree on the need to do something about this.

Posted by liberalhawk 2005-06-01 14:56|| 2005-06-01 14:56|| Front Page Top

#11 Two days of geometry?

So now he's corrupting 14 year-olds as well? Or is geometry now the preferred subject of study by 30 year-old perpetual students in the UK?

Posted by thibaud (aka lex) 2005-06-01 15:37|| 2005-06-01 15:37|| Front Page Top

#12 Could someone explain again the purpose of these G8 summits? Also, why a third-rate, minor-league kleptocracy like Russia's included and China and India are not?

Posted by thibaud (aka lex) 2005-06-01 15:38|| 2005-06-01 15:38|| Front Page Top

#13 Im not sure what the point of debating the basis of Africas problems is. ... What matters is DOING something for Africans.

If you misdiagnose the problem, your remedy isn't likely to be effective. LOTS has been done for Africans - little of it has made much of a difference, precisely due to indigenous reasons as well as historical ones.

Posted by too true 2005-06-01 16:16|| 2005-06-01 16:16|| Front Page Top

#14 The issue at hand is whether more aid will do any good. And specifically will more aid in the aggregate do sufficient good relative to other things the money could be spent on. The evidence to date is that more aid correlates with worse outcomes - poorer health, shorter life expectancy and lower per capita GDP. The argument that its becuase most aid goes to the most deserving doesn't wash, becuase if aid worked then over time the larger aid recipients should do better. There are multiple reasons for this, not least government corruption and welfarism where money goes to the most needy giving people an economic incentive to be needy. The aid that does work tends to go through motivated individuals and groups who have a well defined objective - Medicin Sans Frontiers and the groups that feed and educate children come to mind. Money is often not the problem with these groups as MSF recently handing back donations shows. Of the 3 'solutions' they are pushing. Cancelling debt is largely unrelated to the net amount of money recieved and just sends the signal that its OK to waste the money because it doesn't need to be paid back. I actually agree with them on removing trade barriers, but to blame such barriers on evil capitalists is silly. The main beneficiaries are farmers and (unionized) workers - remove export subsidies which would stop big businesses from profiting at the expense of poor communities.

Posted by phil_b 2005-06-01 16:57|| 2005-06-01 16:57|| Front Page Top

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