‘Do they know its Christmas?’

Has Bob Geldof no shame. Have the poor of Africa not given him enough Christmas’s already? His last widely reported and highly profitable effort to transfer funding from the wallets of British pop music supporters to the Ethiopian warlords (who clearly enjoyed live aid more than anyone, except perhaps those participants whose careers were built on that stage) worked well for Sir Bob. Providing a multi-million pound fortune, the reputation of a ‘Saint’ and a knighthood.

And that was for what any basic research into the ways of African aid will show, ultimately causing more deaths than it sought to prevent. Certainly it’s difficult to disavow the notion that ‘Live aid’ money, as is symptomatic in the matter of western efforts to aid Africa, killed more hungry babies than it fed. One Million were at risk of starvation in 1985. UN statistics indicate Eleven Million at risk in 2004. Twenty years later its ten times worse for the African dispossessed, although a lot better for Bob and his inner circle.

How much did Live aid contribute to this increase? Whilst the first Live Aid moment could be interpreted as enthusiastic ignorance that coincidentally benefited a few individuals one can but wonder as to the reasoning this time around.

For whatever motives exist in the minds of Sir (saint) Bob and his cynically motivated band of publicity seekers with their perilously limited familiarity with Africa's historical association with Western aid, (beyond their management companies projections for target audience reach and its quantifiable sales effect on their audience perception), he invites the British public – whose tax dollars are already overworked in adding to the 100 000 Iraqi civilian casualties who will not be around at all this Christmas, to contribute further in helping wipe out yet more foreigners less fortunate than ourselves. And all the while remembering that Saint Bob and his mates are our guides to good conscience. At least Tony Blair doesn’t pretend that his version of foreign aid is intended as ‘help.

So when we raise this anthem of Sir Bobs ‘Do they know its Christmas’ to the top of our popular charts and transfer sums of conscience money into so called African Aid, are we in fact contributing to the continuance of Africa’s tragic manipulation by cynical westerners motivated principally by their own profit?

Are we assisting Sir Bob in manufacturing famine in exchange for a Christmas moral feel-good. Bob enjoys another nice African payday while the hungry Africans get the same chance of anything improving in their world as a result of our efforts as on the last occasion our popular culture rallied to the cause.

Or are we just confirming that we are institutionalised in conformity to a point that whatever the popular trend suggests, no matter how nonsensical, we will follow.

The imminent popular success of this song should provide an interesting indicator.