The Live 8 events, which are the focus of the “Make Poverty History” campaign, are perpetrating a political fraud against all those genuinely seeking to overcome the terrible hardship facing the poor of Africa. The organizers and spokesmen seek not only to provide a mask of humanitarian concern to British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W. Bush, but to legitimize the designs of the imperialist powers on Africa. Live 8 amounts to a multimillion-dollar propaganda campaign on behalf of Blair and Bush at a time when both are anxious to put political distance between themselves and an occupation of Iraq that is proving to be a political disaster. All the leaders of the major powers will be happy that the hostile protests that have greeted previous G8 summits have been replaced by such a humble petition. Some of those backing the appeal to the supposed largesse of the leaders of the major powers gathering in Edinburgh on July 6-8 claim that whereas Iraq was an example of power and wealth being used for reactionary ends, public pressure can force world leaders to act in the cause of progress. This is sophistry. Imperialism’s plans for Africa are not in contradiction to its offensive in the Middle East, but rather part of the same geopolitical strategy. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/jul2005/live-j01.shtml

Bourgeois reactionaries like yourself ought to be feeling self-satisfied with the smug sentimentality of image over substance. Thank you for your assistance in boosting this "marketing" scam. I can hear the "hungry of Africa" rattling their silver cutlery. Perhaps you can explain the US defense contractors and the US Army Reserve who are taking this wonderful opportunity to advertise on my local broadcaster's feed. Stick to something that best suits your talents: reincarnation. You'll do less damage that way.

Live8 should be used to denounce the war in Iraq. Particpants were all "warned" not to dis the U.S. This smells of compromise and selling out. If the US spent 1/10th of the cost of this war in Africa, poverty would indeed be vanquished, and the "walk to justice" would be far shorter. This is no time for public cowardice.

Can anyone tell me what Bush has dun for Africa in his first term? I just remember him beeing busy with "the war on terror". I completly disagree with Bono, Bush doesnt deserve a place in history because he hasnt dun much gd for the world!