The perils of mass protest

Thu, 02 Jun 2005 17:15:00 +0000

Bob Geldof's call for a million people to march on Edinburgh, Scotland, on July 6 to protest the opening day of the G8 summit sparked criticism and concerns about public safety Wednesday. The singer also faced anger from African bands over the predominantly white lineup of artists he has chosen for Live 8, the five-country free rock concerts to be broadcast around the world four days before world leaders meet at Gleneagles in Scotland.

Only one African act -- Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour -- appears in the list of artists in London, Philadelphia, Berlin, Paris and Rome. Ian Ashbridge of Wrasse Records, which has several African artists, accused Geldof of being "deeply patronizing." "He talks about fair trade for Africa, but he's acting just like the West when it comes to choosing who will appear."

In his mission to make world leaders address the tragedy of Africa, Geldof has called for children to stay away from classes and employees to take a day off to travel to Edinburgh in the hundreds of thousands on the opening day of the summit. The demonstration will come four days after a Make Poverty History rally in the city, which has been months in the planning. It has come as a shock to the City Council, which knew nothing about Geldof's plans.

Salon.com > Sandra Leville

The perils of mass protest