FULL TEXT: I greatly admire Bob Geldof, and support the aims of Live 8. However, the reason governments of rich countries continue to promote an unfair economic system is that they know it's what their electorates really want. It's even what those who support Live 8 really want.
In fact, Live 8 is very comfortable for its supporters. It says that personally we need do nothing about systems which concentrate wealth in the hands of the few, systems which are symbolised by the wealthy rock stars who perform on these occasions. The current system, and the dreams of personal wealth that go with it, can remain, because it's somebody else's responsibility to sort it out; it's the responsibility of governments.
And whilst some of these musicians are admirably more generous than most, there's a second harsh and uncomfortable fact about their campaigning and our support for it: it's not just how much we give that defines our generosity; it's also how little we as individuals take in the first place and how little we keep for personal use.
A campaign against an economic system which takes wealth from the poorest in this world is, if genuine, also a campaign against our own wealth. So however much noise we make over the next couple of months, in western democracies the mirror of government policy will largely reflect our constant desire for an increasingly affluent lifestyle not our over-loud and ambiguous campaigning on inequality, triggered by a rock event every 20 years.