What is the legacy of Live Aid, twenty years later?
We live in an age of charity fatigue: benefit shows everywhere. There is so much that is still wrong in the world, including hunger in Africa. Yet Live Aid — based on initial sales of the DVD — is an event and institution that has transcended its time. It was not a charity. I’m not interested in charity. I believe that if somebody is in a wheelchair and you want to help that person, you put your hand in your pocket. Cancer — you put your money in, and it goes to research. Live Aid was a political lobby for change. And there were several cultural factors at play, which you could not have anticipated. Go back twenty years: mobile phones. Only the extreme rich had them. Faxes were unknown. Only important people had answering machines. The common form of international communication was telex. There was no global television. CNN was a baby; MTV was groping its way to a market. Live Aid proved that we were all connected, while simultaneously addressing a massive issue — not a cause — us
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- What is the legacy of Live Aid, twenty years later?
