On the 13th July, 1985, Live Aid took place.
The Socialist Standard of July 1986 said:
‘Well over twelve months later, and the Band Aid-Wagon keeps rolling on… US Aid for Africa, Live Aid, Fashion Aid and Classical Aid have all occupied a lot of publicity, not to mention time and energy. In the course of this they have raised a sum of money immense to the average reader of the Socialist Standard, but insignificant when placed alongside the priorities of capitalism. For example, the amount of money raised (over £100 million), is still a fraction of the one billion pounds spent in Europe every year to keep the food mountains frozen and stored. And what else could you spend the whole proceeds from the various charities on? How about one-and-a-half Buccaneer fighter planes, such is the logic of capitalism.The lunacy of the buying and selling system is such that while Live Aid is trying to get more food to Africa, a similar fund-raising concert. “Farming Aid” is trying to reduce the amount of food being produced.
Bob Geldof recently warned that two-and-a-half million people will run out of food in the Western Sudan, and that the situation in Ethiopia is as bad as it was before Band Aid started. And just as the problem will not go away, neither it seems will the spectacularly futile attempts to deal with it. The latest event, which of course, must be sufficiently entertaining to satisfy the media’s hunger for good pictures, is Sports Aid. which has had everyone running round in circles to raise money to send food to Africa while it is money and markets which stop the food from reaching the hungry in the first place.
In the course of such campaigns as Sports Aid — which try to deal with the problems of capitalism while leaving the cause intact — reformists always end up tying themselves in knots: the Save the Children Fund ended up at the end of last year asking that food should not be sent, as it would cause “economic chaos” in Sudan . . . it ‘s all very well peasants suffering but not the market, seems to be the suggestion. The Oxfam report on “Sudan: the roots of famine” gives the same shortsighted solutions with the ludicrous request to Western governments to prevent “the dumping of surpluses such as sugar on to world markets’, when it is in fact the buying and selling system that can produce poverty amidst plenty. starvation alongside “surpluses”.
Now most people are aware of the contradictions between starving millions and the food mountains like the beef, cereals and skimmed milk in two hundred warehouses around Britain. But, so the argument goes, we must “do something now“. The same was said for the famines in the Seventies in Biafra and elsewhere, and now, ten years on, the charities, the politicians and the bureaucrats are back where they started. Whether we shall be in the same position in another ten years’ time — with a world of even greater productive capacity, and world hunger falling in the TV ratings depends on whether we start running society sanely, or just end up running on the spot.’
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2020/07/observations-two-steps-forward-two.html
Asked what major famines have occurred since 1985 the computer says:
Ethiopia (1983–1985):
North Korea (1994–1998):
Sudan (1984–1985, 1988, 1998):
Somalia (1991–1992, 2011):
Southern Sudan (2008, 2010s):
Yemen (2015–present):
Nigeria (2020s):
South Sudan (2017–present):
Sudan (2023–2024):
Like the Great War was supposed to be the war that ended all wars Live Aid, no matter how well intentioned, merely made a small dent on the yet one more of the human tragedies that capitalism is responsible for.
The computer says that the reason famines continue to occur is because, ‘ Modern famines are rarely caused by a lack of food globally, but by broken distribution networks, war, and government policies that prevent access to available resources.’
The September 1985 Socialist Standard highlights the ‘real causes of world hunger.’
‘So while it may be comforting to believe that Live Aid has significantly helped those suffering in Africa from the insanity of capitalism, it is dangerous because it ignores the real causes of world hunger. To perpetuate the myth that charity can solve that problem obscures the urgent need for political action to get rid of capitalism. We can eradicate famine: we have the technology, knowledge and productive capacity to produce enough food for everyone and to transport it to wherever in the world it might be needed. There is no need for people to starve but they will continue to do so as long as we produce goods for profit. To remove capitalism requires a much bigger commitment on the part of the working class than it takes to give a fiver to the Live Aid appeal. But whereas giving money to charity might give you a feeling of having “done something” to help the hungry (which lasts until the next awful pictures of unnecessary suffering are flashed onto your TV screen), working for socialism will bring the reward of knowing that you are helping to create a truly humanitarian society in which no-one, wherever they live, will die of hunger. And then we can all listen to pop music without feeling guilty.’
Janie Percy-Smith
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2013/10/politics-of-live-aid.html