TOTAL INFORMATION ANALYSIS

Saturday, July 02, 2005

Sir Bob Geldof, agent of the Crown, has today put together a series of interlinked international concerts aimed at directing youthful wrath toward this weekend's meeting of the G8 economic powers to "cancel" the debt that third world African nations allegedly owe to international lending instiutions.

In the final days leading up to the concert, another knighted agent of the Crown (and its creditor, the Bank of London), the man who has been playing the role of PAUL MCCARTNEY for nigh on 39 years now, blustered his way into opening the London concert alongside U2, whose frontman Bono has made African debt relief his pet project for some time now.

This golem "Sir PAUL MCCARTNEY" is perhaps the most powerful living icon of the counterculture -- an extremely tamed and pliant "counterculture" -- in the Western world and beyond. Along with all the other big acts, such as the reunion of Pink Floyd, the doppelganger's BEATLES stamp and imprimatur will make the event palatable and important to the masses.

Unfortunately, the ultimate result of any "debt relief" program will be just to make the "relieved" countries that much more compliant to the directives of the lending institutions. The Socialist Worker on June 17, 2005 had a pretty decent analysis on the preliminary announcements regarding G8 debt agreements:

THE ANNOUNCEMENT of an agreement among leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized countries to grant debt relief to impoverished African nations has been hailed as a "historic breakthrough." Liberal organizations greeted the deal enthusiastically--with celebrity activist Bob Geldof declaring, "This is already a victory for the millions of people in the campaigns around the world."

But the fine print tells a different story.

Reached after contentious meetings between George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the agreement calls for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and African Development Bank to wipe out $40 billion worth of debts of 18 poor countries in Africa.

During his visit to Washington last week, the Bush administration initially stiffed Blair--remaining silent on the question of debt relief and promising a meager $674 million in direct aid for Africa. The agreement on canceling the debt was only reached after Blair abandoned his proposal that wealthy nations take responsibility for repayment. Instead, the lenders themselves will now write off the loans, as Washington demanded.

The amount of money that G8 debt cancellation will cost--while more than previous plans--is still a drop in the bucket for the world’s richest governments. ...

Then there are the strings attached to the deal. In order to qualify for debt relief, poor countries must implement strict structural adjustment programs required by the IMF and World Bank. These programs involve opening up domestic markets to imports and cuts in social spending, which usually results in more poverty--and more loans.

If the G8 leaders were really interested in relieving Africa's poverty, they would stop subsidizing agribusinesses in their own countries. "African agricultural exports are $11 billion," the British Observer newspaper pointed out. "If the U.S. and Europe removed their farm subsidies, the value of current African food exports would double."

[...]


International "trade" agreements have also of course been used to push genetically engineered foodstuffs into countries that want no part of them. So, we're looking at bankster advisors inside African governments working to have subsidized multinational agribusinesses to flood Africa with gene-engineered goodies, among other scams.

But, Bono was talking sense on Meet the Press last Sunday, pointing out that just modest expenditures on mosquito netting would save hundreds of thousands of lives. Surely Live 8 will raise enough cash to cover that, right?

Except, Live 8 doesn't actually raise any money to help poor people. From WENN - World Entertainment News Network July 1, 2005:

[...] Meanwhile SIR PAUL McCARTNEY is keen to dispel the myth that Live 8 is a fundraising concert, insisting it is only about raising awareness.

Little money will be raised by the 10 concerts being held on Saturday (02JUL05) and next Wednesday (06JUL05) to coincide with the G8 Summit in Scotland, because all funds raised by ticket lotteries will go towards the cost of staging the gigs.

The former BEATLE says, "This is not a fundraiser. It is not about the money. It's a consciousness-raiser. It's about speaking out on behalf of African people being born this very moment into eternal debt."

It shouldn't be too surprising that knighted servants of the crown Sir Geldof, Sir MCCARTNEY, and Sir Elton John (who also performed in London) are doing the bidding of the Crown. As has been reported, with the setback of the EU due to French voters, London has set its sights on strengthening its grip on Africa, where much of the continent is still under the British Commonwealth.

One always wonders how aware of these issues minstrels are. At least one performer, rapper Kanye West, had the anatomy to, in a live interview, point out that both AIDS and crack were manmade plagues loosed upon the black community with ill intent.



Labels: beatles

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