The Live 8 concert, a vast public relations operation, was held on behalf of multinational corporations and will not alleviate world poverty, says Michel Chossudovsky, a professor of economics at the University of Ottawa and director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).
Live 8, promoted by former Boomtown Rats member Bob Geldof and U2’s Bono, was billed as the greatest concert ever aired live. It was broadcasted simultaneously on July 2 in Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Russia, Italy, the USA, Japan and South Africa with the stated objective of putting pressure on the eight leading industrialized countries (G8) to increase the amount contributed towards foreign aid and to cancel the debt of the world’s poorest countries. An estimated three billion people watched the show.
In an article posted on the CRG Web site, Chossudovsky states that the concert will not raise money for poor countries and, in fact, will be a financial boon for corporations.
“By far,” he writes, “this is the largest media advertising operation in history, which will line the pockets of the promoters, producers, corporate sponsors, not to mention the royalties accruing to the performers and ‘celebrities.’ A small percentage of the proceeds might accrue to charitable organizations involved in developing countries but this is not the stated objective of Live 8.”
Chossudovsky also criticizes the event for distorting the causes of global poverty. “The concerts are totally devoid of political content. They concentrate on simple and misleading clichés. They use poverty as a marketing tool and a consumer-advertising gimmick to increase the number of viewers and listeners worldwide.”
“Live 8 fails to challenge or comprehend the G8 policy agenda which directly contributes to creating poverty,” Chossudovsky adds. “Moreover, Live 8 tends to undermine all forms of meaningful and articulate dissent to the G8 policy agenda.”
