In the last 6 months, few will have failed to miss the extensive coverage of the Ebola outbreak, confirmed first in Guinea in March, then spread to neighbouring countries Sierra Leone and Liberia. Whilst other diseases, such as malaria, have been regularly killing individuals at a rate far higher than Ebola, none have so successfully focused media coverage and public discussion. The renewal of Band Aid by Bob Geldof in response to Ebola, with a new edited version of the original 1984 track, is a stunt that is symptomatic of the demand for public commitment to the Ebola crisis. However, rather than offering an innovative method of offering support to West Africa, Band Aid 30 simply highlights the ignorant, dated and selfish nature of aid giving in western popular culture. “Look at the people in that room, monstrous stars!” Geldof declared on Sky News last week. He was referencing the ‘a-list’ line up of celebrities on show in the single’s video. The video for the Band Aid 30 single shows images of 'heroic' celebrities singing to the tune of Geldof’s noble cause. Cue the attention turning to One Direction, Ed Sheeran and the gang. After all, they were the ones that had selflessly given up their time (as Bob was sure to remind viewers) for the help of ‘others’. As a consequence, the video doesn’t show the heroism, resilience and strength that the populations of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have been displaying in fighting Ebola. Through this absence, it exposes the publicity driven, and self-conscious nature of Band Aid 30. Band Aid, and the people involved, feed off their own craving for public attention and recognition. Geldof sits confidently on stage at the Band Aid 30 press conference and accuses China of giving nothing to the Ebola appeal, or rather to put it in his words “f**k all”. Never mind that the Chinese Government had invested $10billion in Liberia by 2010 alone, and $7bn in Guinea by 2009. Or, that China Kingho, one of China’s largest private energy firms, is developing a $6bn-$10bn mining project in Sierra Leone. Such a long term sustainable move doesn’t count for anything in the instantaneous public relations world of Geldof. Why? Because it isn’t a public enough declaration of China’s ‘commitment’ to West Africa. The attitude that Geldof displays, promotes the idea that ‘giving’ is more preferable to ‘helping’. Thus, in the practice of ‘giving’ or ‘raising awareness’, the awareness being created is the image of western celebrities selflessly committing themselves to charitable causes. The experiences of West Africans themselves seem to vanish.
I would put many of these backward looking attitudes down to ignorance directed at West Africa, both its current situation and its historical development. Band Aid’s singers warble “Do they know it’s Christmas time at all?” However, it might come as a surprise to some of these individuals that, in fact, the majority of the populations of Guinea and Sierra Leone are in fact Muslim. Moreover, shock horror, in the Islamic calendar Christmas is not celebrated. Facetiousness aside, Band Aid exemplifies a fundamental misrepresentation of West Africa, specifically Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, as one and the same. This act is not only hugely stereotypical, but also reflective of the naive assumptions made by individuals involved in the project. Whilst, it is easy to finger point and brandish the charity work of Geldof and Band Aid as ignorant, selfish and dated, the action raises important issues about how Western popular culture views its neighbours in a changing world. Whilst I partly agree with Geldof when he says music is the “lingua-franca of the planet”, it is also vital to bear in mind the damaging representational nature of such a language. The more that Africa is represented as a vulnerable, hungry, ignorant and sick continent, the harder it becomes to move beyond colonial narratives between the continent and the West. The inward looking and self-obsessed nature of the musical line up of Band Aid 30, suggests that such a change in thinking in popular culture is not coming anytime soon.
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August 2015
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