The Hindu : International : G 8: A show of people's power or a draw?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 05, 2005

International

International

G 8: A show of people's power or a draw?

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: People's power or the pull of celebrity? That is the question being asked after the unprecedented public response to the Live 8 concerts held around the world at the weekend as part of the Make Poverty History campaign for Africa ahead of a summit of leaders of the Group of Eight industrialised nations in Scotland later this week.

An estimated 26.4 million people sent text messages to the organisers in support of the campaign breaking the previous ``voting'' record for a single event. The messages were in addition to the five billion people who watched the concerts on television and tens of millions who attended them.

Bob Geldof, charismatic pop star behind Live 8, hailed it as a proof of the popular international public support for the campaign, aimed at putting pressure on the richest nations to deliver on their promises to help Africa overcome poverty and disease.

Stressing the importance of people's power, he said: ``Mahatma Gandhi freed a continent, Martin Luther King freed a people, Nelson Mandela freed a country. It does work. They will listen.''

Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer, called it an expression of ``moral outrage'' against poverty. But cynics said that what drew so many people to the concerts was the pull of celebrity singers, among whom were some of the world's biggest singing stars.

``The truth is that people flocked to hear Madonna, Geldof and Paul McCartney. I am not saying that they didn't care for poverty but doubt whether so many people would have turned up if some of these stars were not playing. After all it was once-a lifetime opportunity for many to see and hear so many great musicians at a single event,'' one critic said.

Newspapers also highlighted the apparent lack of interest in the event in America where it reportedly received limited media attention. In many African countries, too, it reportedly failed to make news.

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