Matthew Arnold, Culture and Anarchy (1882)
A good deal of energy and a huge number of decibels were expended in Hyde Park and other Live 8 venues on Saturday night – and much of it was clearly laudable. Although some doubt arises regarding the almost inadvertent ease with one can become a moral hero these days: perform a couple of golden oldies in front of a cheering crowd, log on to a web site, turn up to a pop concert and clap, simply switch on the TV and all praise is heaped upon you. Doubtless there will be more vigorous morality displayed this week in the form of more or less persistent walking, as anarchists and other concerned parties march, stomp and limp their way around Edinburgh.
Of course it is right that we should be concerned about starvation. Yes, pictures of starving babies should provoke us to tears, although whether this weep-along-clap-along morality is entirely tasteful while one is slurping from a jug of Pimms and listening to Elton John’s sentimental inanities is a matter of conjecture. Of equally questionable taste but of hugely symbolic value was Madonna’s seconding of a highly bemused and embarrassed black woman – one of the successes of Live Aid - and dragging her round the stage as she performed ‘Like a Prayer’.
Is Bob Geldof a prophet crying in the wildness, or at least in Hyde Park? Well, he may lack the beard but he definitely has the hair. More seriously, he is most certainly a hero in Arnold’s sense, displaying as does the Hebraic virtues of a “paramount sense of the obligation of duty, self-control, and work” together with an “earnestness in going manfully with the best light he has.” More seriously yet, he and the other organisers are clearly good men and obviously well intentioned. The question is, of course, whether his light is not darkness, whether his call to action might not make matters much worse.
So, how are the G8 leaders to take up the ‘white man’s burden’ that Geldof so earnestly wishes to thrust upon them? More money could be sent, more debts relieved. But as we know from recent history, only a pathetically small proportion of the money will get through to those who really need it. At best most will end up in the Swiss bank accounts of kleptomaniacal African politicians or be spent on luxury Western goods; at worst, it will be used to prop up the oppressive regimes that are largely responsible for the people’s suffering in the first place. Do we really wish to strengthen the position of tyrants like Mugabe or buy his mistresses more fur coats?
Perhaps military force should be used to administer Western largess and to make sure that it gets to the right people. Perhaps Sir Bob and his weep-along-clap-along followers would like us to invade Chad, Nigeria and Zimbabwe. Anarchists for Neo-colonialism? It is almost as catchy as 'Make Poverty History'. Certainly we could do that, although whether the West has a taste for such large scale military intervention in Africa is more than a mite doubtful.
Certainly there are thing that could be done if only we can blink away the self-indulgent tears. First, we should make the provision of aid dependent upon the transparency of its disbursement. Secondly, we could attempt to impose an absolute moratorium on arms sales to African dictatorships (we might also ban the sale of luxury limos while we are at it). Above all, we could follow the US lead and agree to drop farm subsidies. The anarchists are clearly in the wrong place; they should be outside the Elysee Palace and blockading French farms.
Of course it is right that we should be concerned about starvation. Yes, pictures of starving babies should provoke us to tears, although whether this weep-along-clap-along morality is entirely tasteful while one is slurping from a jug of Pimms and listening to Elton John’s sentimental inanities is a matter of conjecture. Of equally questionable taste but of hugely symbolic value was Madonna’s seconding of a highly bemused and embarrassed black woman – one of the successes of Live Aid - and dragging her round the stage as she performed ‘Like a Prayer’.
Is Bob Geldof a prophet crying in the wildness, or at least in Hyde Park? Well, he may lack the beard but he definitely has the hair. More seriously, he is most certainly a hero in Arnold’s sense, displaying as does the Hebraic virtues of a “paramount sense of the obligation of duty, self-control, and work” together with an “earnestness in going manfully with the best light he has.” More seriously yet, he and the other organisers are clearly good men and obviously well intentioned. The question is, of course, whether his light is not darkness, whether his call to action might not make matters much worse.
So, how are the G8 leaders to take up the ‘white man’s burden’ that Geldof so earnestly wishes to thrust upon them? More money could be sent, more debts relieved. But as we know from recent history, only a pathetically small proportion of the money will get through to those who really need it. At best most will end up in the Swiss bank accounts of kleptomaniacal African politicians or be spent on luxury Western goods; at worst, it will be used to prop up the oppressive regimes that are largely responsible for the people’s suffering in the first place. Do we really wish to strengthen the position of tyrants like Mugabe or buy his mistresses more fur coats?
Perhaps military force should be used to administer Western largess and to make sure that it gets to the right people. Perhaps Sir Bob and his weep-along-clap-along followers would like us to invade Chad, Nigeria and Zimbabwe. Anarchists for Neo-colonialism? It is almost as catchy as 'Make Poverty History'. Certainly we could do that, although whether the West has a taste for such large scale military intervention in Africa is more than a mite doubtful.
Certainly there are thing that could be done if only we can blink away the self-indulgent tears. First, we should make the provision of aid dependent upon the transparency of its disbursement. Secondly, we could attempt to impose an absolute moratorium on arms sales to African dictatorships (we might also ban the sale of luxury limos while we are at it). Above all, we could follow the US lead and agree to drop farm subsidies. The anarchists are clearly in the wrong place; they should be outside the Elysee Palace and blockading French farms.
