Post Colonial Moment of the Year:The Neo-Colonial and (Colonial) quest for Africa

2005 will go down as the year that brought more attention to the continent of Africa than any other year. In February Nelson Mandela said this is the year that 'poverty would be made history.'

Live 8 was a series of concerts that occurred simultaneously around the world for music lovers and development advocates alike and convince leaders meeting at the G8 summit to reevaluate its policies towards the continent. While the concerts brought attention to the plight of Africa, they also showed what was wrong with doing such concerts in the first place. When Bob Geldof officially announced the concerts, he was immediately criticized for the lack of non-white, especially African performers, on the concert bills. 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?"

London-based group Black Information Link described the list of performers at the Hyde Park event as "hideously white."

From 7/1/05 Global Wire Post:

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.

Youssou N’Dour was furious at the virtually all-white line-up in London. He flied to Britain immediately after singing in Paris. His manager Michelle Lahana told the press: "Not involving African people is like neo-colonialism: ‘Let us handle this.’

The New Internationalist didn't hold back on their feelings about the concerts:

The Hyde Park venue had a large ‘golden circle’ of exclusive access to the front area of the stage where the corporate bourgeoisie paid upwards of $1,000 for the privilege of drinking champagne and Pimms, while the huddled masses of the pop proletariat in the background were forbidden from drinking alcohol at all.

Pop megastar and multimillionaire Madonna opened her set with a rendition of her hit song ‘Music’ which fittingly includes the lyric: ‘Music makes the bourgeoisie and the rebel.’ The combined net worth of the pop stars and invited speakers such as Bill Gates is estimated to far exceed the GNP of most African countries.

Meanwhile in Philadelphia, while musicians ‘donated their services’, many performers received lavish ‘gift bags’ of branded designer goods such as Gibson guitars, Hugo Boss suits and exclusive fashion accessories, some worth as much as $10,000. None of the items appear to have been fairly traded, sweatshop-free or environmentally friendly.

US artist 50 Cent cancelled his appearance at Live8 because it clashed with his acting commitment for the upcoming film Get Rich Or Die Tryin’.

The Independent reports that Kadaria Ahmed of the Abuja Enquirer, one of Nigeria’s biggest weekly papers, was barred from reporting on the event after being told ‘papers from G8 nations get priority’.

Gangsta rapper Snoop Dogg was a last minute addition to the London Live8 concert after much criticism over the almost all-white lineup. He kept the spirit of the event alive by singing about ‘bitches’ and ‘hoes’ and donning a necklace sporting a golden handgun.

African musicians, many of whom dwarf the popularity of some of the minor acts given prominence in the main Live8 events, were controversially relegated to a venue in Cornwall which received almost no mainstream media coverage.

Responding to the criticism, Bob Geldof argued: ‘This is cool in terms of pop culture, universal culture. In terms of actual specific cultures, we’re not going to have Appalachian music in America; we’re not going to have fucking Morris dancing in Britain. The truth is that African kids are listening to 50 [cent] and Eminem and the same as everybody else listens to.’

However, when a group of young Africans were asked by the Christian Science Monitor about the concerts, they didn't even know they were happening, let alone who the latest hip hop stars were. In this same article a group of young Americans said that 'aid' was needed to save the continent, while the Africans said 'investment.' Are they focusing on the wrong things or are they both right? While aid and investment are desperately needed, what is really needed is the commitment of other Africans to take care of themselves, starting first with riding the continent of its corrupt political leaders.

Robert Mugabe blames the problems in his native Zimbabwe on British colonialists, but the land distributions occurred under his watch. Thabo Mbeki was supposed to be a continued shining light after Nelson Mandela's departure, but who can really take seriously someone who believes HIV doesn't caused AIDS.

In the end everyone has fail Africa - politicians, rock stars and ordinary people alike.