Live 8. Dead Silence. (as submitted to Highestwire)

Submitted by James(Jimmy) Walter Ballenger on Sunday, August 14, 2005 at 01:47:51 AM EST.

Recently more than a million people came from around the world to hear classic rock musicians such as Sting, Paul McCartney, and The Who performing in concert, along with some more modern acts like Mariah Carey, Snoop Doggy Dogg, and last year's introduction, The Killers. Has Lollopalooza suddenly gone global and expanded its borders to include some more "ancient" artists in it lineup? No, but if you're thinking along the lines of Woodstock, you might be a little bit closer.

Live 8, the event oranized by former singer turned human-rights activist Bob Geldof, took place on 10 stages across the world in cities like Tokyo, London, and Philadelphia, among others. Lively as the atmosphere was, however, concertgoers and listeners around the world were giving it their ear to show their support.

"For God's sake, take this seriously," came a plea from the event beckoning the leaders of the G-8 summit (a meeting of leading politicians from the eight wealthiest nations on the planet) to cancel a long-standing, multi-billion dollar debt owed to them by the impoverished countries of Africa.

Despite the high-end turnout Live 8 recieved, and an estimated listening audience of 2 billion people via radio worldwide, a shocking silence has been heard in the American media that can't be ignored.

While the New York Times did carry a front page photo of the concert in Philadelphia, the first story covering the event was buried on page 6. The website for Fox News on Monday, July 4, had an op-ed article, sandwiched between two entertainment stories beneath the top screen of its main page, in which the writer, Roger Friedman, who makes small praise of the event and draws much attention to the artists performing and the latest rumors surrounding them, said that Geldof "did something far more immediately important" by re-uniting Pink Floyd. Yahoo's website only made mention in its headlines of police having to "confront" protestors at the G-8 summit in Scotland, the name of Live 8 nowhere to be found in the article.

As a result, many important factors surrounding the G-8 summit will remain largely unacknowledged. The leaders of France, Germany, Russia, Britain, Japan, Canada, Italy, and the U.S. will be convening to discuss issues pertinent to their respective geographical boundaries. Russia's decision on the issue of debt relief for Africa could have serious repercussions on its historic reputation of nationalism and bigotry. Britain's Tony Blair has already said the debt relief alone won't be enough and is campaigning to do more. Will the other G-8 European nations follow along? What will the bearing of their actions have on the EU as a whole? Whatever decisions Japan makes, how will that affect their foreign relations as a nation that is still more recently emerging from the pool of isolation? As for Canada, what effect will this have on their economy and the opinions and actions of its multi-ethnic populace?

Still, one other name remains to be mentioned...Bush. A catch-22 of sorts, the nation's President could come under attack from his opponents no matter what his resolve is on the issue. On the one hand, if Bush decides to say no to the debt cancellation, or only to cancel a small portion of it, he could be criticized for being a greedy, corporate-supporting capitalist. On the other hand, if Bush follows in the footsteps of Prime Minister Blair, he could be faulted for ignoring the woes of a struggling American economy.

What are the issues surrounding this debt? How did it come into being? Who are the parties involved? These questions and others will remain largely unanswered and largely unasked until the American media decides to give this issue a much higher level of coverage.

It is said that history is written by the winners, and it is commonly known that a nation's government will only tell its people what they want them to hear. With that, supporters of Live 8 are asking a heartfelt question to the people of the G-8 nations, "What do you want to hear?"

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