Hyperbole-8

It's good to see that the organisers of Live8 have been able to keep their sense of perspective.

At the start of the London event, an anouncer declared, "This is the greatest rock show in the history of the world."

A deejay on XM Satellite Radio (which broadcast the show on seven different channels), gushed about "the single most important concert ever."

And Chris Martin of Coldplay declared, with apparent belief in what he was saying, that "[This is] the greatest thing that's ever been organized in the history of the world."

Oh boy.

I was pleasantly surprised to read Moeletsi Mbeki (Thabo's brother) writing about the concert and the mindset behind it. Far from joining the hyperbolic bandwagon, he was critical of the naivite of real-world politics displayed by the event's organisers.

I couldn't find the whole article on the 'net - I think there may have been a publishing copyright issue which limits the newspapers' rights to electronic reproduction - but I found a few snippets this morning which will give you a taste.

In an open letter to Geldof et al., he writes:

"You, Sir Bob, your rock friend Bono and politicians such as Tony Blair and Gordon Brown display a soft heart to Africa. But a soft heart will not cure the hard situation in Africa.
"I know that you and Tony Blair have been genuinely touched by the suffering of Africa. But, ironically, the contribution you are making is exacerbating the problem.
"The way things are at present, foreign aid, whether from individuals or government, promotes a lack of accountability in a country's rulers.
"If a government has a budget of ,say, £100 million and has to raise it by taxing the people, the citizens will want to know how the money has been spent.
"But if a donor says we will give you half of that £100 million in aid, the government's accountability is reduced by half."

And further on:

"Your heart is in the right place, Sir Bob, but you do not appreciate the unintended consequences of what you are doing.
"[Foreign aid] can lead to more starvation, not less. If you keep dipping into the maize mountains of America and Europe to provide food to Africa, when are the African people going to develop their own technology to incease production to feed themselves?"

He cites Ethiopia as an example of how this has worked in practice:

"The reason it cannot feed its people is beause it lacks the storage systems - weevils get into the dry storage - and the threshing process is not carried out properly. But there is little incentive to do anything about this. Stockpiles are not needed because every time there is a crisis the West is asked to give more food.
"If you want to solve poverty in Africa, then help create an etrepreneurial system that will generate wealth for the people."

And he pulls no punches with regards to the "plundering" of Africa by her own leaders:

"Few politicians in the West have ever questioned this systematic theft of a continent's wealth by its own rulers, fearing charges of racism and perpetuating colonialism.
"Those who do, such as George Bush, have been accused of being hard-hearted. But attaching reasonable strings to aid shows a clear head and not a hard heart."

...and, in possibly the bluntest comment about African politics from any public figure in recent years:

"Africa is not badly governed because it is poor. It is poor because it is badly governed."

Wow - a public figure in Africa with a deep intellect and a willingness to be honest and objective?

That's a pleasant surprise.

PS - also found an excellent article on the same subject here.