Finger clickin' good

Mick Hume in Spiked:

There is no headline-grabbing crisis in Africa today, on the scale of the Ethiopian famine that gave rise to Live Aid in the 1980s. So what has prompted the sudden outpouring of interest in African affairs?

It seems that the crisis that has brought all of this about is not in Africa, but in Britain. There is a crisis of authority afflicting the political class, and a crisis of common values in our society. There is a poverty of leadership at every level, and a dearth of any sense of purpose that is bigger then oneself. Against this background in British public life, Africa has become an all-purpose stage on which everybody from a pop star to a politician can try to show off their moral worth and sincerity. Everybody is keen to emphasise that the primary purpose of this summer's events is to raise, not cash, but 'awareness' - in particular, a self-awareness that we are on the side of the angels in Africa...

"Once again the hungry, terrorised children of Africa are being called upon to help rescue the sagging reputations of that needy and deprived group of balding, clapped-out rock stars who still long for the crowds that once listened to them."
Peter Hitchens

In a recent interview with the London Evening Standard, Bono of U2 - the rock crusader-in-chief - observed that political leaders are not really interested in Africa because 'to build a hospital in your own constituency brings many more votes than to build a hospital in some far-off land'. Showing all the traditional political acumen of a pop star, he got the dynamic almost completely the wrong way around. It is because they cannot win political authority bogged down in domestic issues such as the health service that politicians are now so keen on international gestures. It is far easier to look bold and brave and good on a faraway stage - and much easier to pull off that act in relation to Africa than, say, Iraq...

"When I see stars snapping their fingers, I don't know whether to wipe out poverty or fetch champagne and canapes."
Tony Parsons

The notion that it is up to British statesmen such as Blair and Brown, or Irish millionaires like Geldof and Bono, to ride to Africa's rescue is every bit as paternalistic as the old imperial attitudes, a sort of anti-racist equivalent of the White Man's Burden. It serves to create a sense of moral purpose over here more than to address the real problems over there. That is what it means when everybody from Bono to a Conservative MP talks about Live 8 and the Make Poverty History campaign as a 'defining moment for our generation', a chance to use Africa as a step up to the moral high ground...

We are being asked to celebrate the fact that Africa has once again been turned into a stage where every Blair, Brown or Bono can try to win some ethical kudos at a click of their fingers. We all deserve better than that.