(2 of 2)
In reality, Africa is a huge continent where most people are not starving, where over the past decade democracy has begun to take hold and Africans have started to grapple with their own problems and where more than 90% of respondents to a recent BBC poll said they were proud to be African. Sure, Africa has plenty of troubles: war, droughts, poverty and HIV/AIDS, but Do They Know It's Christmas? doesn't address any of the causes of these problems. There's no mention that most of the continent's famines are caused by strongmen who use food as a weapon against their enemies. And there's no reference to the reasons behind the poverty: lack of infrastructure and investment, kleptocratic leaders and barriers to growth like European and American farm subsidies that price African produce out of the market. The truth is, 20 years after Geldof & Co. set out to feed Africa, Africa still needs feeding. But more aid--and a simplistic song that perpetuates stereotypes--is probably not the answer.
Geldof and other Africa activists, like U2 front man Bono, are wonderful advocates for the push to cancel the continent's debt and open up Western markets to Africa's farmers. But I suggest they change their tune and come up with a hit demanding that the West drop its agricultural subsidies, cancel more debt and urge Africa's worst leaders to go. How about something like:
It's Christmas time
There's no need to block trade
At Christmastime
We can buy African and banish farm aid
And in our world of Western plenty
We can spread our wealth around
Throw out Africa's despots
At Christmastime.
Get 1.5 billion people singing along to that, and you could really make a difference in Africa.
Simon Robinson is TIME's Africa bureau chief