Post-Colonial Moment: Live 8

This weekend the Live 8 concerts will be hosted in nine cities around the world in order to bring attention to poverty in Africa. When Bob Geldof officially announced the concerts, he was immediately criticized for the lack of non-white, especially African performers, on the concert bills. London-based group Black Information Link described the list of performers at the Hyde Park event as "hideously white." Youssou N'Dour, the only African-born artist signed to play at a major concert, will be performing in Paris. In a recent BBC interview Blur frontman Damon Albarn said, "If you are holding a party on behalf of people, then surely you don't shut the door on them. It's insensitive and it also perpetuates this idea that Africa is separated in some way...This country [the UK] is incredibly diverse. More than ever, black culture is an integral part of society. So why is the bill so damn Anglo-Saxon?"

Geldof argues that the concerts aim to get the biggest-selling most well-known artists to guarantee a large television audience. However, many critics have noted that some of the white performers are less known than some major African artists, thus making the same mistake he made at the 1985 Live AID concerts.

In a badly patronizing act Geldof later announced that an all-African line up, Africa Calling, will be held on the same day as the main Live 8 concerts. Some critics have already described this as reminicent of apartheid in South Africa by putting African artists away from the main concerts. So now there is a second concert in Johannesburg with an all African line up, which is considered a main concert hosted by Nelson Mandela.

Meanwhile African-American business leaders are protesting that African-American vendors are not being given a chance to have to provide services at the concert in Philadelphia. The mayor of Philadelphia, in response, has promised that at least 30% of the booths would go to minorities.

So is this neocolonialism run amuck? Many Africans feel that Live 8 represents this attitude, where Westerners feel obligated to help out a supposedly helpless Africa. In a opinion piece in the Independent recently, "I am coming, reluctantly, to the conclusion that Live8 is as much to do with Geldof showing off his ability to push around presidents and prime ministers as with pointing out the potential of Africa. Indeed, Geldof appears not to be interested in Africa's strengths, only in an Africa on its knees." Furthermore is Africa being used revive the careers of aging rock stars or to revive Africa?