Free Republic

The millions donated to Ethiopia in 1985 thanks to Live Aid were supposed to go towards relieving a natural disaster. In reality, donors became participants in a civil war. Many lives were saved, but even more may have been lost in Live Aid's unwitting support of a Stalinist-style resettlement project Isn't it better to do something rather than give in to despair or cynicism and do nothing? This is the reproachful question familiar to anyone who has criticised organisations that view themselves as dedicated to doing good in the world. To those UN agencies, relief organisations and development groups working...

Irish rock star and campaigner Bob Geldof, a driving force behind the 1985 Live Aid appeal for Ethiopia, urged Tuesday that Africa's debt problems stay a priority despite the Asian tsunami disaster. "The tsunami must be dealt with, it is an act of God, an act of nature," he told BBC radio, voicing concern the disaster would sideline chronic issues elsewhere. "Africa's an act of man. Millions die each year completely unnecessarily and that can be adjusted ... The issue is one of poverty and debt and it need not be," Geldof added. He said the government should seize the...

The musician-turned-activist reckons the world will end in 2030 - leading to the extinction of humankind. Sir Bob, 61, based his miserable prediction on the effects of climate change. “The world can decide in a fit of madness to kill itself," he told a group of youngsters at a summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. “We may not get to 2030. We need to address the problem of climate change urgently” Sir Bob Geldof The former Boomtown Rats singer also warned "the next war will not be a World War One or a World War Two, it will be the end."...

Bob Geldof, the fading B-class rocker formerly of the "Boomtown Rats", recently made it known that Prime Minister Paul Martin wasn’t welcome at the upcoming G-8 summit unless he was prepared to cough up .7% of Canada’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to help "fight poverty" in Africa. Geldof must have the balls of a canal horse to think that who is or is not invited to attend the summit depends on him. Some 20 years ago Geldof’s Live Aid concert, which was held to alleviate poverty and starvation in Ethiopia, accomplished very little, if anything to that end. At least...