Nelly in Live8 thread

[msiverts]

Hi all. I just wanted to post this here in case anyone read and believed that BS someone (Jack) wrote in the Live8 article on the front page. First is his (in my opinion ignorant and dangerous, but all too common) comments followed by my response.

Matt

4 Responses to ?We?re Hipper Than Berlin? Live8 Canada?
Jack Says:

24th June 2005 at 8:02 pm
Live8 ? Here?s some relevant comments from a well respected source:

Let?s not encourage these Live8 idiots. They?re part of the problem! Africa needs accountants not rock ?stars?.

?Increased aid?? All in all it?s just another brick in the wall behind which Africa?s citizens are trapped. Africa is poor because in most of the continent it?s impossible to generate non-corrupt economic activity. In order to register a company in Ethiopia, a businessman must deposit 18 years? average income in a bank account which is then frozen. That?s why Ethiopia is poor and no amount of ?aid? will do anything to change that. As for Zimbabwe, the insane syphilitic Mugabe this week began destroying the vegetable gardens of the poor ? at the same time as he?s receiving massive shipments from the World Food Programme. Twenty years ago, Zimbabwe exported food. Now its people are starving. That will change only with the removal of the government. It?s nothing to do with ?aid? and, as I challenged these pompous pop poseurs in the Telegraph, if they?re so confident in African business conditions, why don?t they move their music-publishing companies to Sierra Leone or Zimbabwe? There?s a reason these countries are poor and it?s not because America is rich.
Mark Steyn,
http://www.steynonline.com/index2.cfm?edit_id=30

Matt Says:

June 29th, 2005 at 5:37 am
Jack, not to sound too harsh, but what a horrible and ignorant thing to say. Yes, there are some corrupt governments in Africa and Ethiopia and especially Zimbabwe are excellent examples of that. But there are also plenty of clean, well intentioned, and amazingly enough still democratic governments that are perfectly capable of providing not just real aid, but real economic development but they are lacking the funds. Ghana is an excellent example of this, as is Milawi. These countries have people dying of not only AIDS, but things like malaria. Most people would think that malaria is under control but 3 million people (almost all poverty stricken, many children) die of malaria every year, mostly in Africa. They?re dying not because their governments are corrupt, but because they don?t have the money for a $3 mosquito net, or to spray their homes, or to buy medicine. It?s stupid that this is happening in this day and age. By most objective measures of corruption the corruption rates in Africa tend to be lower than many other countries that have in fact developed in Asia and Europe. Corruption is a convenient, yet ultimately invalid reason not to send aid to Africa.

There are piles of evidence generated through scientific means that if the rich nations gave just 0.7% of their GDP (which they have repeatedly promised, and failed to deliver with that number actually falling from 0.3% to 0.2% in the 90s) these sorts of deaths due to extreme poverty could be nearly eliminated in our lifetime. Nobody deserves to die because they are poor.

Now I agree with you that Mugabe is a horrible human being and that his government in Zimbabwe needs to be removed, but let?s not use that as an excuse to deprive children in say Ghana food and medicine. I?m sorry if this sounds harsh, but addressing the poverty problem is a very real possibility in our time, and if money and awareness are raised by a bunch of rock stars playing at a concert then I?m all for it.

Someone should tell this Mark character that yes, there is a reason these countries are poor and while it may not be because America is rich it is largely because they?ve been subjected to hundreds of years of slave trade and colonial pillaging by the western world only to be abandoned when it became inconvenient. And it is partly because they live in a climate that not only makes food production difficult, but also happens to be a uniquely perfect environment for diseases such as malaria. This is not to say that the people and governments in Africa have no responsibility for their own development because they do, but let?s not pretend that we?re doing all we can and it would work if it weren?t for those darn corrupt governments. It might make us sleep better at night, but it doesn?t make it true.

Matt

[Jaz]

Is Nelly at the Live8 in Canada and where is it there in Canada?

[Jaz]

I search in the internet and I found out:

1. it`s in Barrie, Ontario
2. it`s from 11am - 8pm
3. Nelly will be not there

If someone is interested in this.

[Emma]

Huhummmm if theres no mention then she wont be there...but i was trynna get flights for the 1st and im booked on the 6th..so i couldnt of gone then anyway