zilspeed
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 posted on 13/6/05 at 09:35 PM |
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Live8
There's always someone looking to make a fast buck.
Then again, there's always some idiot prepared to pay daft money.
Live8 tickets on ebay
I'm quite tempted to open a new account and bid thousands on all of the tickets - that'll sort the f$%^ers out
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JoelP
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| posted on 13/6/05 at 10:34 PM |
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ones already reached £100,100. Hopefully loads of people will bid to muddy the water, and not pay.
10 mill now! it was on the news, so i guess loads of people feel the same!
[Edited on 13/6/05 by JoelP]
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niceperson709
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| posted on 14/6/05 at 02:16 AM |
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I have very serious doubs about the benifit of events like "live 8" but this piece from an Aussie paper has some very good points to make
any way for the intrest of all here include this text.
Bob's big blunder
Andrew Bolt
08jun05
BOB GELDOF is a saint. His aid concerts next month will be watched by happy millions. And the cause is one of the best – the hungry of Africa.
Yet he is wrong.
His Live 8 shows of superstars such as Madonna and Mariah Carey will feed a dangerous fantasy -- that Africa's squalor is caused by Western
selfishness.
They will also pamper to a generation of slackers by promising all they need do to end Africa's misery is bully our politicians into sending a
cheque of someone else's money.
Africa does need help, of course. What a disaster the continent has been. Living standards of sub-Saharan Africa have dropped over the past four
decades, AIDS has decimated countries such as Swaziland, and civil wars still rage on.
Geldof, who organised the famous Live Aid concert for Ethiopia 20 years ago, badly wants to help, and with all the impatience of a former punk rocker
declared: "I will not accept any more people dying on my TV in my sitting room every night."
He implored people to join one of his Live 8 concerts on July 2 in Europe and the United States, or march on Edinburgh to protest before a meeting of
leaders of the G8 group of the world's richest countries.
Geldof has plenty of backing, and not just from lords of rock such as Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney, Sting and U2.
Britain's Labor Government is behind him, as is a coalition of church groups, unions and charities called End Poverty Now. Anarchist groups also
plan to join his festival of anger.
The official Live 8 demands -- endorsed by the Blair Government -- seem simple: "This without doubt is a moment in history where ordinary people
can grasp the chance to achieve something truly monumental, and demand from the eight world leaders at G8 an end to poverty."
An end to poverty? How?
"By doubling aid, fully cancelling debt, and delivering trade justice for Africa."
Notice how none of the solutions involve African countries doing much themselves? But this always was more about us than them.
What a terrible fraud.
More aid might help Africa. Freer trade most certainly would. But nothing can truly help Africa until it helps itself -- by becoming as free, open and
accountable as is the West.
But who wants to go to rock concerts to demand an end to African corruption? That's so . . . judgmental.
Still, the harsh fact is Africa got $530 billion in aid between 1960 and 1997, and wound up poorer, not richer. Double the aid, and we may do no more
than double the waste and the thieving.
Let Kenya be a warning.
The British High Commissioner there, Sir Edward Clay, has publicly accused corrupt officials of "vomiting on the shoes of donors", and
named 20 big public projects riddled with graft.
In February, the US Ambassador, William Bellamy, backed him, saying the money stolen in one of those projects could have paid for enough
anti-retroviral drugs for every HIV-positive Kenyan for the next 10 years.
HE warned the US already gave Kenya $200 million a year in aid, and "more donor money is not the answer".
Kenya had to sell its bloated state enterprises and "either fight corruption of be overwhelmed by it".
Not every African country is a Kenya, but Zimbabwe has been looted, the Congo stripped, and Nigeria had its oil revenues stolen. Now even South
Africa's deputy president has been found to have a "corrupt relationship" with a businessman found guilty of taking bribes for a
huge defence contract.
How easily our star-driven compassion industry -- so keen to savage Western democracies as a kind of absolution -- lets such African crooks off the
hook, giving not criticism but free cash.
In January, actor Sharon Stone interrupted a session of the World Economic Forum in snowy Davos to say how sorry she felt for Tanzanian President
Benjamin Mkapa and his people.
And with Mkapa beaming, the Hollywood star seduced the alpha-male business titans into raising an instant $1 million in aid. Lovely, but Mkapa already
gets $200 million a year in British aid alone, while presiding over one of Africa's most notoriously corrupt nations.
While he has taken steps in the past 10 years to wind back the thieving, Mkapa's commitment to good governance can be judged by his support of
Zimbabwe's tyrant, Robert Mugabe, whom he praised as a "champion of democracy".
Mugabe right now is putting bulldozers through shanty towns and thriving factories, making people beggars, after already turning white-run farms into
black-run wildernesses and causing a man-made famine. But his friend Mkapa blithely burbles: "I don't see Zimbabwe as an illustration of
bad governance."
Spare Africa such leaders.
Mkapa's blindness to evil shows Africa's corruption goes beyond mere grasping for dollars.
What demons made African countries vote Sudan on to the United Nations Human Rights Commission this year, when they knew it was committing genocide in
Darfur?
Why has South Africa done nothing to halt the spiralling despotism in Zimbabwe? Explain the wars and massacres of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia,
the Ivory Coast . . .
What good is another billion in aid to such countries? Or 20 billion?
Help we should, but only to help Africa help itself.
Open up trade, yes, but tie aid to real reform, as the US now tries through its Millennium Challenge Account. Not glamorous or fast, but, with luck,
effective.
For Geldof and his fellow stars to pretend Africa can be fixed by reforming the West instead turns the contempt of the crowds on to exactly the wrong
targets.
Africa is not poor because we are rich. It is not enslaved because we are free. Africa is poor because of its vices, not our virtues.
If Geldof must shame anyone about Africa, let him and his friends shame those truly responsible for its misery. Let him shame Africa's leaders,
and not our own.
bolta@heraldsun.com.au
Best wishes
Iain
Best wishes IAIN
life is not the rehearsal , it's the show so don't sit there thinking about it DO IT NOW
http://iainseven.wordpress.com/
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TPG
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| posted on 14/6/05 at 09:20 AM |
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...heard it somewhere...
.."The chance for the eight poorest countries to meet the Eight richest musicians".......
[Edited on 14/6/05 by TPG]
..Which was nice..
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theconrodkid
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| posted on 14/6/05 at 03:24 PM |
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all this money poured into the bottomless pit that is africa,where does it go?
if an african can live on a few pence a day there should have been enough in the kitty to feed and clothe them all.
it all goes on guns,bullets and maybachs, the poor will still be poor and starving.
remember the blue peter apeal for a pump and a well?,they re-visited a year later,the pump had been sold and the tribe were sitting about moaning they
had to walk a mile to the river to get water.
either move closer to the river or go and get the water,they had nothing else to do all day.
give a man a fish and he can feed himself for a day,teach him how to fish and he can feed himself for life.
who cares who wins
pass the pork pies
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Jasper
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| posted on 14/6/05 at 03:52 PM |
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Iain, my thoughts EXACTLY. I studied this in detail at Uni back in the early Nineties (did Asian/African Geog at SOAS in London) and we came to very
much the same conclusions then, and NOTHING has changed.
Yet can you say this out loud, no, 'cos you get accused of being racist. In Africa the rule seems to be, get into a position of power by any
means possible, then get as much cash out of the situation as fast as possible for as long as possible, before somebody comes and takes your place.
It's no coincidence that nearly 100% of fraudulant emails received come from Nigeria......
I never give money to Africa, would rather give it to the Tsunami appeal (yes, I know it wasn't perfect) or local charities.
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mangogrooveworkshop
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| posted on 14/6/05 at 05:51 PM |
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MMMMMMM I will stay out of this discussion. I think my views are a little tainted.
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Fred W B
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| posted on 14/6/05 at 06:29 PM |
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As an african representative, let me say that I agree completely with the comments expressed by "bolta@heraldsun.com.au"
posted by niceperson709 above
Cheers
Fred WB
PS - Zuma got fired today -
Quote Now even South Africa's deputy president has been found to have a "corrupt relationship" with a businessman found guilty of
taking bribes for a huge defence contract.
[Edited on 14/6/05 by Fred W B]
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jack trolley
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 posted on 14/6/05 at 07:35 PM |
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quote:
Rock stars - is there anything they don't know?
Homer J. Simpson
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mangogrooveworkshop
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| posted on 14/6/05 at 08:16 PM |
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eBay to ban Live 8 ticket sales
Bob Geldof
Bob's furious reaction
Online auction site eBay is to remove sales of Live 8 tickets from its pages, its managing director has said.
Bob Geldof earlier branded the onward sale of the tickets for next month's event as "sick profiteering".
The site's managing director, Doug McCallum, said it had listened to customers' concerns and decided it should end the sales.
Scores of tickets - won through a text contest - had been put on the site with some pairs being offered for £1,000.
Minister for Music James Purnell had also asked eBay to halt the sales, but the site said it was not illegal to resell charity concert tickets.
It is filthy money made on the back of the poorest people on the planet. Stick it where it belongs
Bob Geldof
Bandmates sue Geldof
Geldof said: "I am sick with this. It is a disgrace. It is completely against the interests of the poor.
"The people who are selling these tickets on websites are miserable wretches who are capitalising on people's misery. I am appealing to
their sense of decency to stop this disgusting greed."
Before the announcement an eBay spokeswoman said they had offered to make a donation to the Live 8 organisers at least equivalent to the fees
collected from ticket sales.
'Impossible' bids
eBay screen grab
Angry users are filing unrealistic bids to scupper the sales
But Geldof said that offer was "not acceptable".
"There's nothing illegal about what they're doing unfortunately but there is something wrong with it and everyone in this entire
country knows why it's wrong," he said.
"It is not acceptable that a giant electronic company that makes billions upon billions then morally says we will just hand over our take to a
charity.
"It is filthy money made on the back of the poorest people on the planet. Stick it where it belongs. "
Mr McCallum said the decision to withdraw the sales had been made because "our customers said they were concerned about the profiteering rap
being connected with the name of the site they're so passionate about".
Mr McCallum said it was unprecedented to end a listing.
"It is extremely difficult for us to do, even if we wanted to, but in emergency circumstances, which is how our community is viewing this, we
will do our darnest to [end the listing]."
'Absolutely wrong'
Geldof had called on people to make "impossible" bids of £300m for the tickets to try and prevent the sales.
In a letter to eBay on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Mr Purnell said he "wholeheartedly" shared Mr Geldof's
annoyance.
Live 8 text contest
Tickets were allocated after a text message competition
"It seems absolutely wrong that people should be able to profit in this cynical way from an event that is designed to highlight the need for
action on poverty in Africa, and for which so many artists and others are donating their valuable time for nothing," he wrote.
"I realise that the nature of eBay is simply to offer a marketplace for transactions, but I gather there are circumstances in which you are able
to 'take down' certain goods offered for sale.
"Are there circumstances here that would enable you to 'take down' these proposed sales and, if so, are you prepared to do
so?"
More than two million text entries were sent in the contest to win tickets for the London leg of Live 8, to be held at Hyde Park on 2 July including
performances by Coldplay, Madonna and Pink Floyd.
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