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rfmcdonaldI like the earnestness of "Do They Know It's Christmas?", written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure and performed by Band Aid support victims of the 1984-1985 Ethiopian famine. It's an important song, not only musically but because of its role in the emergent global noosphere: a spontaneously assembled and performed song, it was released globally and became a huge hit because its listeners wanted to help people in a distant country of which they knew little.
Is it therefore wrong to criticize it? Hardly; the practice of charity deserves as much attention, and as much critical attention, as any other practice.
The song title might have made for a rousing chorus, but it was nonsensical. Of course the Ethiopians knew it was Christmas. Ethiopia has been a Christian country for centuries, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (an Oriental Orthodox Church associated quite closely with the Christianities of the Copts and the Eritreans) dating to the 4th century, long before Britain, Germany, or Russia were brought into the fold, never mind the rest of the planet. Yes, the Ethiopian calendar marks Christmas as coming on the 7th of January, but I don't think that absolves the songwriters. As for the line "there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime," it's worth noting that Ethiopia's climate is such that, even in the most mountainous areas of the relatively temperate Ethiopian plateau, snow is a rare occurrence. Charity's certain a good virtue, but a charity that doesn't seem to take notice of the particulars of the people it seeks to help has issues.
Charity misunderstanding its objects is one thing; charity misunderstanding the causes of the objects' suffering is another.Amartya Sen's suggestion, drawn from his studies of the 1943 Bengal famine, that famines are products of non-democratic regimes which lack the ability and/or interest to intervene in cases of food markets' failure, is controversial in many instances (see here for a Sen-supporting paper, see here for a more critical response). Sen's theory is perfectly applicable to the 1984-1985 famine in Ethiopia, triggered by climate issues but immensely exacerbated by the Derg's governance, as its counterinsurgency campaigns destabilized the agrarian economy that was already being mismanaged by the Derg's restrictions on peasant mobility and autonomy that culminated in the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. Millions weren't dying and suffering for no particular reason to do with humankind; millions were dying and suffering because of specific decisions being made by specific people. The song, and, it seems, the contemporary press reaction to the famine, didn't touch on this.
I'm being a bit hard on this song, I know. Despite not touching on the realities of the people suffering and the causes of their suffering, it is a good song, it is a song that highlighted an egregious case of mass human suffering, and it is a song that by its reception demonstrates the emerging noosphere, or at least the emergence of some sort of concern for the fate of even people far over the horizon. It's just that the song is but a first step on the path towards true global community, a reaction to suffering without going much deeper. This isn't as good, but baby steps. We have to start somewhere, don't we?
Is it therefore wrong to criticize it? Hardly; the practice of charity deserves as much attention, and as much critical attention, as any other practice.
The song title might have made for a rousing chorus, but it was nonsensical. Of course the Ethiopians knew it was Christmas. Ethiopia has been a Christian country for centuries, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (an Oriental Orthodox Church associated quite closely with the Christianities of the Copts and the Eritreans) dating to the 4th century, long before Britain, Germany, or Russia were brought into the fold, never mind the rest of the planet. Yes, the Ethiopian calendar marks Christmas as coming on the 7th of January, but I don't think that absolves the songwriters. As for the line "there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime," it's worth noting that Ethiopia's climate is such that, even in the most mountainous areas of the relatively temperate Ethiopian plateau, snow is a rare occurrence. Charity's certain a good virtue, but a charity that doesn't seem to take notice of the particulars of the people it seeks to help has issues.
Charity misunderstanding its objects is one thing; charity misunderstanding the causes of the objects' suffering is another.Amartya Sen's suggestion, drawn from his studies of the 1943 Bengal famine, that famines are products of non-democratic regimes which lack the ability and/or interest to intervene in cases of food markets' failure, is controversial in many instances (see here for a Sen-supporting paper, see here for a more critical response). Sen's theory is perfectly applicable to the 1984-1985 famine in Ethiopia, triggered by climate issues but immensely exacerbated by the Derg's governance, as its counterinsurgency campaigns destabilized the agrarian economy that was already being mismanaged by the Derg's restrictions on peasant mobility and autonomy that culminated in the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. Millions weren't dying and suffering for no particular reason to do with humankind; millions were dying and suffering because of specific decisions being made by specific people. The song, and, it seems, the contemporary press reaction to the famine, didn't touch on this.
I'm being a bit hard on this song, I know. Despite not touching on the realities of the people suffering and the causes of their suffering, it is a good song, it is a song that highlighted an egregious case of mass human suffering, and it is a song that by its reception demonstrates the emerging noosphere, or at least the emergence of some sort of concern for the fate of even people far over the horizon. It's just that the song is but a first step on the path towards true global community, a reaction to suffering without going much deeper. This isn't as good, but baby steps. We have to start somewhere, don't we?
