Band Aid reloaded

Life has left its mark on Bob Geldof. A few months ago he lost his heroin-addicted daughter, Peaches, aged just 25. So the former music-scene rebel, now 60, deserves our admiration for his unwavering belief in the good in human beings and for doing so more than most of us, in order to make the world a little bit better. It is not the skeptics who change the world.

The Band Aid project of 30 years ago, launched to draw attention to the plight of hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians facing starvation, assured him a place in music history. Geldof himself says the project raised $250 million (200 million euros). He also founded an archive for African languages facing extinction and once a year he reports to the Africa Progress Panel, chaired by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, on economic progress on the continent. Now the charity hit of 1984 "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is to help in the fight against Ebola.

Once again, Geldof has brought together a host of stars. With the exception of U2's Bono, who took part the first time, they are all figures who came to fame much later: British popstar Adele, boy group One Direction, Chris Martin from cult band Coldplay, to name just a few.

'Development aid makes the poor poorer'

However the question must be allowed whether this is the right approach. The opposite of "good" is often "well meant." Behind the project is the mistaken paternalistic thinking that help from the rich in the north strengthens the poor in the south. But back in 1984, the hunger crisis in Ethiopia was exploited politically.

Some 30 percent of the world's natural resources are to be found in Africa as well as 60 percent of cultivable land. 10 billion euros of development aid are pumped into Europe's neighboring continent every year, 300 billion since 1970. Half of it leaves the continent again, the other half strengthens the elites. In the recipient countries, the poverty level in the same period rose from 11 to over 50 percent! "Development aid has helped make the poor poorer and slow down growth," wrote Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo. Such aid was "a comprehensive political, economic and humanitarian disaster."

What happened to the billions? What good have Geldof's 250 million done? The punk pensioner seems not to be asking this question. Perhaps he should talk to Nigerian virologist Oyewale Tomori who is a vehement critic of African decision-makers for allowing money meant for the fight against Ebola to disappear. Tomori cites a test laboratory that was to have been built in Congo after the Ebola epidemic of 1995. Shortly before it was completed, construction work was suspended. Two million euros of financial aid had been wasted. That center could have helped in the current epidemic. "I am furious with Africa,"Tomori says. "Africa could solve its problems by itself but its leaders are incapable of this."

'Another form of racism'

Bono's and Bob Geldof's unthinking attempts to help have been criticized for years by numerous intellectuals. Most prominent among them is Nigeria's Nobel Literature Prize laureate Wole Soyinka. "People like Geldof and Bono seem to think that we can't help ourselves, that we rely on people like them," Soyinka said, calling this "another form of racism."

The question is: who benefits most from such charitable ventures? Is it the Africans or the would-be helpers in the north who can count on a positive PR effect for their careers? But one should not totally dismiss the musicians' efforts out of hand.

A quick, unbureaucratic input of money is needed to support mobile teams in the stricken areas, to pay helpers and transport medical equipment and expensive protective clothing to remote regions.

Perhaps Sir Bob should just distribute the money in cash, hand it out to affected families whose breadwinner has died. And then reflect on whether he should not seek another approach. For example, by helping to give refugees a perspective or lobby for fair trade deals for African countries. But, as Geldof told British paper The Independent in a recent interview, he doesn't like that kind of thing and finds the organization that would be necessary "boring." Instead, he hopes the fresh recording of the 1984 song will put an end to the curse of Ebola once and for all.

That wish, Sir Bob, is shared by very many people, not least the 85 percent Muslim population in Ebola-stricken Guinea for whom the line "Do they know it's Christmas time at all?" may not resonate very well.