BOB GELDOF  was yesterday accused of being "irresponsible" by a senior police officer after he invited hundreds of thousands of protesters to the G8 summit in Edinburgh. The prospect of "up to a million people" descending on the capital for an event that has already prompted security fears has infuriated local authorities and Lothian and Borders Police, who warned that such a massive influx could "end in tragedy".
| Especially if ANSWER and the WWP are there, and they will be. |
At a press conference to launch Live 8, Geldof urged every man, woman and child in Britain to give up work and school and march in their thousands to a rally in Edinburgh on 6 July, in an attempt to influence the G8 summit of world leaders. Geldof said Britain had an opportunity "to do something unparalleled in the world, and especially at the beginning of the 21st century, and that is to tilt the world a little bit on its axis in favour of the poor". Eradicating poverty in Africa could be momentous work for the leaders of the world's richest nations, he said. "It is intellectually absurd that people die of want in a world of surplus." | Seems intellectually absurd that a continent — an entire continent — remains mired in poverty and ignorance due to the near uniform ineptitude and rapacity of its native ruling classes. It's not the civilized world's fault that Zim-Bob-we, formerly the breadbasket of Africa, has managed to reintroduce starvation. It's not the civilized world's fault that the Congo, chock full of diamonds, gold, and other riches, has never managed to make it out of internecine warfare, hereditary rule, and even cannibalism. It's not the fault of the civilized world that Somalia can't even set up a blasted government, fergawdsake. |
He had been reluctant to repeat the Live Aid of 1985, but said that this time the aim was "political justice".| Whence it was recycled to Switzerland the the Caymans. |
Instead of asking for cash for charities, he was asking people to "get to Edinburgh, get up there". He continued: "Give up two days of work and there is a chance that maybe, just maybe, you can change things. What's better - two days of work? Two days of geometry? Or participating in something you will remember all your life?" | Bringing the UK economy to a grinding halt for two days is a good way to destroy the resources the Western countries can provide to Africa, dingbat. Are you giving away your concert tickets for free? Didn't think so. |
In his inimitable style, the singer warned the G8 leaders that they should sit up and take notice. "If you're not prepared to do that, you're not welcome in my country," he said. "If anyone won't come to our party, they can f*** off." Midge Ure, fellow Live Aid founder and organiser of Live 8 in Scotland, predicted "tens of thousands" of dupes fools rubes dingbats people would turn up in the capital.| They always do for G8 conferences, don't they? |
He called for the protests to take the shape of the Ban The Bomb demos in the Sixties: "Go there, be part of it. This is something special. We may never have the opportunity of having these people on our shores again." There was talk of "planes, trains, buses" and even a flotilla of boats to transport protesters north of the Border, but few details had been worked though, Ure admitted.
| Not real big on oraganization, are they -- that's why ANSWER is able to pull off their stunts. |
He acknowledged that the local authorities were "scared", but he called on the people of Scotland to open their doors to the protesters. "We want every church, synagogue, mosque to open their doors and let people in. Scotland has an amazing history of being big-hearted, we are big-hearted and we mean well. Let these people into your spare room, garage, your garden."
| So that they can trash the place and leave you big-hearted people holding the bag. |
When asked if Edinburgh could handle a million protesters, Geldof said he didn't see a problem if people were well-behaved. "You will get a few looney toons, but, as Midge Ure says, it will be a party. But how disgraceful to behave like a twat in the face of such poverty. Let's calm down and let's get things done." However, a senior officer at Lothian and Borders Police said that the city's accommodation was fully booked during the summit and would not cope with a surge of protesters. | "Sorry, old man! We're all booked up!" |
| "Try the French Riviera. It's warmer and you won't stand out as much." |
When asked if Geldof had been "irresponsible" with his invitation, the officer said he had. Yesterday, Assistant Chief Constable Ian Dickenson, head of G8-related events in the Lothian and Borders Police area, warned: "We cannot allow the policing capability or any infrastructure to be overwhelmed and compromise the safety of those involved." In a statement issued after the Live 8 launch, Mr Dickenson said: "We were already planning for more than 100,000 people to take part in the Make Poverty History march, which would have been the biggest event ever in Scotland. Now there has been talk of up to a million people coming to Edinburgh but, frankly, it is difficult to conceive how they could all get to this area in the first place and where they could assemble in safety. Crowds of this size are potentially hazardous. No-one wants tragedy to distract world attention from the real aims of the campaigners." He added: "It is one thing to mobilise tens of thousands of compassionate people with good intentions in an organised event. It is something else to manage such numbers without organisation, accommodation or support." Donald Anderson, the leader of Edinburgh City Council, said the council would have to "go back to the drawing board to ensure there is sufficient campsite space in the city". He also warned that people intending to come to Edinburgh "need to ensure they have made arrangements to stay". At the launch of Live 8 in the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane, which was also attended by Sir Elton John, one of the original Live Aid acts, Geldof said he hoped the concert would put pressure on world leaders at the G8 summit into dropping Third World debt. The concerts, featuring Madonna, Paul McCartney, REM, Elton John, Robbie Williams, The Cure and Razorlight, will be held in five cities - London, Berlin, Rome, Paris and Philadelphia. They have been organised in support of the Make Poverty History campaign, an alliance of UK charities, trade unions and other organisations. The Pope, Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama are due to be asked by Geldof to address the audience during the main concert, possibly by satellite link. The campaign focuses on three areas: debt, aid and trade. Organisers believe Western governments should cancel the debt of the poorest countries, increase international aid by at least $50 billion (£27 billion) per year and end export subsidies which would stop big businesses from profiting at the expense of poor communities. | Sigh. Big businesses give poor families jobs, at least in those areas where there's such a thing as property rights. In the areas where there aren't property rights, the poor go right on being poor... |
| Let's cancel the debt for Somalia, Zim-bob-we and the Congo. Should clear things right up ... |
Richard Curtis, the director of Four Weddings and a Funeral, who is a spokesman for the campaign, said: "World poverty is sustained not by chance or nature, but by a combination of factors: injustice in global trade, the huge burden of debt, and insufficient and ineffective aid. Each of these is exacerbated by inappropriate economic policies imposed by rich countries." | I can remember when Japan was a bombed out hulk of a nation, noted for its export of cheap knock-offs, when "Made in Japan" meant cheesy. I can remember when South Korea was a war-ravaged mostly agricultural backwater. I can remember when Taiwan was no great shakes, mainly notable for its seemingly never-ending crisis over Quemoy and Matsu. The Thailand I remember was a land of agriculture, with water buffaloes and occasionally elephants roaming the streets. I can remember when Malaysia was poor and backwards, and I can remember being admonished to eat all my dinner and to think of the starving children in India. Somehow all of them managed to overcome those injustices in global trade, their own loads of debt, and the inefficiencies of aid programs. Bob missed all that, I guess. Maybe he wasn't paying attention back then. |
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." |