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Not Even a Band-Aid
Following the week that Band Aid released Band Aid 20, an all-star recording to aid the starving Sudanese in Darfur, the documentary-maker Daniel Wolf argues that the first Band Aid fundraiser of 1985 only made matters worse for the victims of famine ["The Myth of Band Aid, "Sunday Mail (Brisbane, Queensland), November 21]. By the release twenty years of another all-star recording, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and the associated Live Aid concerts, Bob Geldof raised $150 million for famine relief in Ethiopia. At the time, many fans of rock music believed that they had accomplished great good, saved Ethiopia, and "fed the world." They did not.Ghastly images of starving Ethiopians in 1984 shocked the world. What was not understood at the time was the famine was largely created by the government of Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam. After a severe drought in the region, Mengistu withheld food supplies to the area and destroyed crops in order to suppress a rebellion. In October, 1984, Mengistu launched a major offensive into the famine-stricken areas in the north. Troops set up road blocks to prevent the aid shipments of food. Excerpt from headland Posted by: headland 2004-11-22 |
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