http://www.flickr.com/photos/downingstreet/2888095467/There was a sort of envy of the Irish when I was formulating my opinions on things political. On a scale of one to twenty of things which determine my identity as a human being, nationality for me might be round about number twenty. Nevertheless, in many parts of the world the national question is still to be resolved and the little Scotsman in me had to look across the Irish sea and come to the conclusion that my Celtic cousins had at least taken the bull by the horns on that one. Moreover, there was this sneeking admiration for the fact, or so it seemed, that the Irish were not prepared to bury their heads in English arses just to get on, or are they? No, the reference here is not to Martin McGuiness and Gerry Adams and enter Sir Bob "I am going to the House of Lords" Geldorf and Mr "I am from the north side of Dublin" Bono.
Let us commence with Bono and he is discussed at length in an article by the Irish journalist, Shane Hegarty,who gives us not only some insight into the moral bankruptcy of the small man with big sunglasses who once praised the UK prime minister for "doing the things he believed in", the reference was to the illegal war in Iraq, but also a peek at someone who so wants to be big and who is in fact not only a wee man but is also a wee man who obviously has a wee brain. According to Mr Hegarty,we have Bono telling us that Martin Luther King's dream is "not just an American dream--also an Irish dream, a European dream, an African dream, an Israeli dream . . ." oops, the pregnant pause and on he goes ". . . and also a Palestinian dream." Yes, Hegarty hits the nail on the head when he says: "This was his big shout out to the Palestinians… You can't help but marvel at this latest expression of Bono's Sesame Street view of the world. Hey Middle East, we just have to have a dream to get along." One might wonder if those big sunglasses have an efffect on Bono's thinking. Something is certainly clouding this silly man's "vision".
That brings me to Bob and what was that sentimental shit all about back in 1985? Of course, it made for a wonderful afternoon in the garden in Maisach and the music was good. However. there was my friend the "colonel" telling me in Addis a few months ago that a lot of the money raised went to fund the civil war that was raging at the time. Yes, it would appear that the effect of "live aid" on Ethiopia can be neither explained in simple terms, nor was it entirely benign. Of course, with Bob in charge, it never could be and we only have to go back to the G8 conference in 2005 and there he is, with his love affair with New Labour in full swing, wooing them, getting as far up their arses as any Scotsman has ever managed and defending Tony Blair, George Bush and the other G8 leaders for saving millions of African lives. Nothing changed in Africa after 1985 and twenty years later the G8 didn't deliver a fraction of what was called for. The G8 couldn't decide on a date to do away with beef and sugar subsidies that were undermining African famers, there was nothing new on debt relief and the increase in aid was far lower than the promised figure. Nevertheless, maybe Bob was being honest and actually did think it was a success. After all, we can sure that the results were as he expected. Most certainly, we can be sure that Bob doesn't cultivate his intellect to the point where he sees the real source of the problem as residing in the very governments he was going out of his way to praise and in those institutions which support their disgusting scam; namely, the WTO, the World Bank and the IMF. Yes, when it comes to a lack of morals and a lack of grey matter, Bono has some competition.
Finally, the Bono's and Bob's of this world are many and many of them see the television pictures and they see an opportunity. Of course, some of them are well intentioned. However, when stars perform in Haiti for a benefit concert we should, at least, be skeptical, or at least, until some of those stars point to the root of the problem. Haiti, of course, is just one more country that was raped and restructured by the World Bank and the IMF, the people drifted from the land into the sweatshops and the badly built slums of Port au Prince and there many of them were to die. Nevertheless, it would be wrong to criticise those who are at least well meaning. The criticisms start with the Bonos and the Bobs when they themselves seek to profit directly from other people's misery and when they actually lend their support to those institutions and countries who are causing the problem. In conclusion, the evidence would seem to suggest that you don't have to be a Scotsman to crawl up an arse, that the Irish can be very good at it too. Indeed, my mind is now drifting to an early post and to Sting and, lo and behold, even an Englishman can be a very wealthy two-faced, hypocritical, arse licking, fucker. Now, isn't that a surprise!
No comments:
Post a Comment