ThoughtfulChaos

I first read about this Live 8 thingy on Technorati a few days back and I did't give it much attention. I read many things on the web everyday and my mind instinctively ignored this new piece of information because it seemed to me that Live 8 was simple a mega concert or something. And of course I was not interested in concerts.

However over the past few days I was stumbling across this Live 8 thing in a number of places. It popped up in the most unexpected of places and this tickled my curiosity. After all even a mega conert cannot whip up such a frenzy in the blogosphere. I went back to Technorati to find out what all the hype was all about.

Turns out that I was very much off the mark (but Live 8 does have concerts and stuff).

What is Live 8? Here is a bit of Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V from the Technorati site:

Live 8 is a series of concerts and events across the world which are being staged to highlight the problem of global poverty. It's a chance for ordinary people to call on world leaders at this year's G8 summit and tell them to put a stop to the needless deaths of 30,000 children every single day.

On 6th July 2005, the leaders of Great Britain, the USA, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia will meet at Gleneagles in Scotland to talk about world affairs, including Africa. They will be presented with a workable plan to double aid, drop the debt and make trade laws fair.

The G8 summit is our opportunity to demand that the world's most influential leaders take action now.

Live 8 has organised concerts in Philadelpia, Berlin, London, Rome, Paris and Edinburgh, with 100 artists, a million spectators, two billion viewers and one message: Make Poverty History.

A lofty goal indeed. Will it work? No idea. After all even if everybody makes a lot of noise will the so called world leaders sit up and take notice? I am not so sure. But it is definitely worth an effort.

I am too lazy to embark on a looong explanation of the different aspects and I am sure you are also quite busy so I will just post some links I found interesting:

• Sign the Live 8 petition - This is something that all of us can do. Signatures so collected will be used when petitions are presented to the world leaders.
• Will it work? - Exactly what I am thinking. I pondered whether even doubling the aid and cancelling debt would make any sense in the long run. These are some examples whether foreign aid has helped a lot.
• Wear a whiteband - Wear a simple white band and show the world that you want action, not just words.
• Wada Na Todo / Keep Your Promises - This is a campaign in India and I quote from the website In India, people's movements struggling against all forms of discrimination and supporting the rights of people living in poverty to free and quality education, health care, water and sanitation and employment have come togther under the banner 'Keep Your Promises'.
• We Don't Want Your Money - We Want Your Face! - You can upload your face online or through MMS and it will be used as part of the huge G8 gallery along Princes street in the heart of Edinburgh. Nice.

Personally I am not so sure how all of this will turn out. But there is no harm in making an effort. After all governments are very powerful entities and can bring about a lot of change if they really wanted to.

Here is hoping for the best. May this effort bear some fruit however little it might be.