The whining, self-important, failed 'rock star' Bob Geldof has attacked anti-poverty campaigners. In a rambling and incoherent 6000-word statement, the ineffectual 'activist' and friend to the rich and powerful describes anti-poverty demonstrators as "wankers dressed as clowns". The ill-informed and badly-written tirade is a response to a forthcoming documentary called 'Starsuckers', due to be broadcast on More4 on Tuesday. The film is apparently about the media's obession with celebrity and includes a few well-deserved potshots at the preening, vacuous Geldof ('Sir Bob' to his friends). The loyal lackey of Bush and Blair has seemingly had a hissy fit because it's been suggested he exaggerated the impact of his own campaigning activity, e.g. the Live8 concert in July 2005.
Geldof contemptuously dismisses the entire Make Poverty History coalition, claiming it made absolutely no difference to anything. He, by contrast, can claim credit for supposedly wonderful action against poverty by G8 leaders. Astonishingly, this fourth-rate court jester to the political elite explicitly says the 2005 G8 summit was an outstanding success, saying world leaders deserve "ten out of ten" on both aid spending commitments and debt relief.
When someone is this self-deluding - not to mention arrogantly indifferent to the real, and continuing, suffering of millions of people - they become nothing more than a propaganda prop for a system that perpetuates extreme poverty and grotesque inequality. But what's even worse than Geldof's disconnection from reality is his self-serving belief that closeness to power is what really makes a difference.
Here's Geldof's excuse for sanctimoniously cosying up to the warmongers, privatisers and zealous defenders of power and privilege: "Like it or not the agents of change in our world are the politicians. Otherwise you're always outside the tent pissing in. They stay inside their tent pissing back out at you. This is futile. My solution is to get inside the tent and piss in there."
This elitist claptrap overlooks a rather obvious point: wouldn't it be better to pull the entire tent down and start building something better? Rather than meekly accepting the power of huge corporations, banks and their political servants to screw our world up - just begging for a few more crumbs, while grinning inanely for the TV cameras - perhaps we might question the basis on which our grossly unequal and unjust world is run.
Global poverty was forced on the agenda as a political issue by grassroots campaigners, reaching out to involve large numbers of people, most notably with the mass demonstration in Edinburgh at the July 2005 summit. It certainly wasn't thanks to the empty spectacle of concerts by vain, fourth-rate celebrities. There were weaknesses with many of the NGOs - and mistakes were made - but I have vastly more respect for them than I do for the futile gestures of a self-publicist like Geldof.
Oh, and don't get me fu**ing started on Bono...
It's a typical elite view of politics and society.
ReplyDeleteThe broad campaign drew in faith communities, charity workers and trade unionists - it helped to "problemitise" poverty.
Notice how all of the main political parties are nominally committed to reducing poverty both here and abroad.
Geldof? He's a Boomtown Rat gone bust.
Absolutely. Geldof is one of the reasons why political leaders (Tory AND Labour) have got away with posing as anti-poverty. This is most clearly true where global poverty is concerned, but also domestically. I was amazed yesterday to see, in Sunderland, a Tory election poster slamming Brown because the gap between rich and poor has widened on his watch. Tories as champions of greater equality and poverty reduction? Ahem.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's a funny one 'cause the Tories have always been adamant that the gap isn't important - obviously it is. Now, Blair was believable - after all, successive defeats had left the labour movement weakened, and making concessions to a stronger power can always be enforced in extra-parliamentary ways (investment strikes, a run on sterling). But Cameron has a harder task - people can well believe that many Tories are no longer so rabidly bigoted, but no one believes that the class interests have shifted.
ReplyDeleteFor the story of the Make Poverty History campaign in 2005, including a critique of Geldof's analysis of the G8, see my book Beyond Reach? There are details on www.johnmadeley.co.uk
ReplyDeleteRoyalties from the book go to agencies working to eradicate poverty.
“A gripping and inspiring story of forbidden love and the struggle for justice. In a hundred years people will look back on our culture of greed and realise books like this helped change the world” - Revd. David Rhodes