The Live 8 events, which are the focus of the “Make Poverty History” campaign, are perpetrating a political fraud against all those genuinely seeking to overcome the terrible hardship facing the poor of Africa. The organizers and spokesmen seek not only to provide a mask of humanitarian concern to British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W. Bush, but to legitimize the designs of the imperialist powers on Africa. Live 8 amounts to a multimillion-dollar propaganda campaign on behalf of Blair and Bush at a time when both are anxious to put political distance between themselves and an occupation of Iraq that is proving to be a political disaster. All the leaders of the major powers will be happy that the hostile protests that have greeted previous G8 summits have been replaced by such a humble petition.

I'm not sure how naïve Live 8 organizers are, but whatever their motivations or understanding of the situation, the problem with their strategy of depoliticizing poverty in order to make rich westerners feel comfortable enough to "do something" about it is evident in the conflicting rationales for the concerts they have offered.