Bob Geldof Feeds the Starving Rich
November 22, 2010
(Bob Geldof, left, gets medal from the rich.) "Most casual observers might assume that the money generated [from these concerts] would be funneled into various charitable organizations aiding the poorest people of developing nations around the world. They would be wrong."
by L.C. Vincent
for henrymakow.com
We see him here, we see him there, we see him everywhere -- everywhere funds need to be raised to feed starving children, to bring clean water to those without, to create homes and habitats for those in need, to help rescue the victims of flood or famine.
Pop singer Morrissey was scathing in his assessment of Bob Geldof's role in the Band Aid concert in 1985, a show which produced the bleeding heart weeper entitled "Do They Know It's Christmas?".
"I think Band Aid was diabolical... Bob Geldof is a nauseating character. Many people find that very unsettling, but I'll say it as loud as anyone wants me to. In the first instance, the record itself was absolutely tuneless. One can have great concern for the people of Ethiopia, but it's another thing to inflict daily torture on the people of England. It was an awful record considering the mass of talent involved. And it wasn't done shyly; it was the most self-righteous platform ever in the history of popular music."
Since then, Geldof has made a kind of career of poverty while reaping the benefits these events provide him with name and face recognition. For instance, in November of 2008, Geldof was paid $100,000 in Australia for a brief speech addressing Third World Poverty.
Brian Johnson, lead singer of AC/DC, said people like Geldof should dip into their own bank accounts, like the members of AC/DC do, and give without fanfare, rather than becoming pop impresarios of poverty.
SPEAKER'S FEE OR PAYOFF?
Michel Chussodovsky, scathingly dissected Geldof's role in this financial charade:
Most casual observers might assume that the money generated by corporate sponsors, DVD sales, performance royalties, and direct contributions would be funneled into various charitable organizations aiding the poorest people of developing nations around the world. They would be wrong.
Instead, as Chussodovsky illustrates, the money was instead used to pay off the corporate creditors of indebted countries. In effect, the ENTIRE focus of the money generated by Live 8 was to provide direct assistance to corporations owed money by these impoverished nations.
As if that were not sufficiently outrageous, it gets worse! The same monetary amounts contributed by Live 8 to these private corporations to provide more relief to them for the money they had lent to these impoverished nations was then deducted from the direct aid packages and social service programs formerly contributed by the G8 to these countries.
As Chussodovsky clearly states: "For each dollar of 'debt cancellation' to the international financial institutions, the G8 will reduce the flow of foreign aid to these countries. In other words, the foreign aid earmarked to finance much needed social programs will now go directly into the coffers of the IMF and the World Bank."
Moreover, the International Monetary Fund and The World Bank and The African Development Bank never forgive their debts! So what was being promoted around the world as a way to help 18 of the poorest countries on the planet was actually a covert exercise in paying off international financial institutions for aid they had previously lent these nations, while guaranteeing the reduction of the same amount in future funding for these very programs!
In effect, Live 8 was a gigantic propaganda piece and financial con to repay private institutions and their friends at The IMF and World Bank. Live 8 acted as a direct reimbursement process for the creditors of the 18 poorest countries on the planet, while further binding these countries, their industries and exports, to the future predations of The World Bank and IMF.
This allowed them to impose even more social control on their political processes by insisting on "democratic reforms" commensurate with same sort the West has imposed on Iraq and Afghanistan, thereby allowing Western governments to control the election process and the officials who will come to power in these countries while insisting on "free market reforms," all of which does nothing more than to diminish their sovereignty while transferring ever more socio-political control to nations outside these countries. This arrangement also makes it impossible for these countries to default on their debt, perpetually keeping them on the cycle or debt repayment and financial servitude.
People like Bob Geldof have latched their star to this globalist charade, enjoying the fame and royalty income which their appearance on world-wide television provides, while at the same time turning a cynically blind eye to the financial sleight of hand going on behind the scenes which does nothing more than to keep these countries and peoples mired in poverty while reducing the social services these countries so desperately need.
L. C Vincent
lcvincent888@gmail.com
