Live Aid/8: perpetuating the superiority myth

Abstract

In 1984, the Band Aid charity single was produced, followed by the Live Aid concert in 1985, to raise awareness and funds to alleviate poverty in Ethiopia and its surrounds. In 2005, Live 8 was organised to address the continued issue of poverty. Although this movement emanated from benevolent intentions, through the choice of the Band Aid song-lyrics, the images displayed, and the comments and decisions made regarding the concert events, the movement served to other people from the global south. Thus, Band Aid and Live Aid/8 contributed to, and compounded, problematic truths which suggest that the global north is superior to the south. Such truths were also evident during the colonial period, and were promoted through exhibitions that advocated that people from the north were superior to colonial natives, and that colonialism was beneficial to the colonies, i.e., aiding the natives to improve themselves. Consequently, Band Aid, Live Aid/8 and colonial exhibitions all proclaimed to aid the people of the global south while advocating problematic truths. It is important to recognise that such truths endure, albeit evolved, as these truths continue to disempower countries in the global south, embedding the truth that the south is incapable of forging its own successful future without help from the north.