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Live 8 leaves fans wondering
04/07/2005 15:18 - (SA)
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| Concert organiser Bob Geldof performs at the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, London. (Lefteris Pitarakis, AP)
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London - After the largest music rally in history, experts and fans on Sunday wondered whether Live 8 would have the desired impact on world leaders meeting this week to end poverty in Africa.
Some believed Saturday's 10 star-studded concerts across four continents would focus a growing wave of momentum pressuring the Group of Eight (G8) powers to strike a deal on African debt, aid and trade at the summit in Scotland.
Others were less optimistic, with quite a few predicting that life would return to normal for the millions of people who enjoyed the gigs, while the developing world's misery would also rumble on.
Bob Geldof, the Irish rocker-turned-campaigner who spearheaded the original Live Aid charity concert in 1985, organised Live 8 in Berlin, Cornwall in southwest England, Johannesburg, London, Moscow, Paris, Philadelphia, Rome, Tokyo and Toronto to spur the world into action for Africa.
Speaking at London's Hyde Park - the centrepiece of the global spectacle - he called on people to join him in a series of rallies in Edinburgh during the nearby G8 meeting from Wednesday to Friday.
'Love you make is equal to the love you take'
"I want to see you in Edinburgh because, in the end, the love you make is equal to the love you take," a jubilant Geldof shouted, as his aim of hosting the world's largest ever music event to fight poverty became a reality.
Starting in Tokyo and ending in Philadelphia, legends such as U2, Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, REM and Stevie Wonder joined forces with younger stars like Joss Stone, Ms Dynamite and Coldplay to spread Geldof's message.
More than 200 000 people already marched through the Scottish capital on Saturday, calling for resolute action on African poverty as part of the Make Poverty History campaign, which coincided with the Live 8 concerts.
"This amazing demonstration we have had in Edinburgh and the amazing turn out at Live 8 here in London have both really helped push us towards getting the proper deal out of the G8 this year," said Simon Wright, a spokesperson for the international development agency ActionAid.
While acknowledging that there was a danger of people forgetting about Africa's needs once the artists stopped playing, Wright said he was glad to see Live 8 had been much more of a political rally than simply a rock show.
'About political change'
"Twenty years ago with Live Aid it was about charity fund raising and 20 years on it is about political change," Wright said at the London gig before heading up to Edinburgh for the G8 demonstrations.
"It can be done and if it is not done this year then I don't know when it will be done," he said.
Salil Shetty, a spokesperson for the Global Call for Action Against Poverty, an umbrella group campaigning on behalf of the third world, said Live 8 was a highlight in a long-term process to pressure politicians into action.
"This gives a spike," he said.
"It is very timely because it is just before the G8 and we think that if the G8 leaders, who have been promising these things for so many years, don't deliver now there is absolutely no excuse."
Despite the passionate political messages and rallying cry to Edinburgh, it was unclear how many fans would actually make the journey.
"I care more about the music to be honest," said Rachel Davis, 26, a civil servant from North Wales attending the London gala with her boyfriend.
"It does get people to think about Africa a little bit though," Davis said, while adding that she would not be demonstrating in the Scottish capital.
Claire Bogan, 16, a student on holiday in London from the United States, was also sceptical about whether Live 8 would leave a lasting impact.
"I don't know if a concert can really change the world," she said.
"I think the majority of the people here are here for the music."
- AFP
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