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  • 标题:Live 8: Greatest show on earth: No excuses.. now we act to end
  • 作者:GORDON BROWN
  • 期刊名称:Sunday Mirror
  • 印刷版ISSN:0956-8077
  • 出版年度:2005
  • 卷号:Jul 3, 2005
  • 出版社:Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd.

Live 8: Greatest show on earth: No excuses.. now we act to end

GORDON BROWN

YESTERDAY we saw the world unite in one cause - to be the generation that accepted the challenge and seized the opportunity to end extreme poverty in Africa.

Twenty years ago at Wembley, the call was for charity and donations to the powerless and the poor.

Yesterday at Live 8, the call was for justice and the empowerment of the powerless and the poor.

More than a million people watched concerts in parks and arenas in London, Cornwall, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Philadelphia, Ontario, Tokyo, Johannesburg and Moscow.

In London more than 200,000 crowded into Hyde Park to watch Live 8 - the biggest ticketed event in British history, and surely the greatest gathering of British and American talent ever seen.

Stars such as Paul McCartney, who found his fame in the 1960s, shared a stage with modern stars like Joss Stone, who was not even born when the Live Aid concert was held.

Billions more watched on TV as some of the world's greatest musical stars joined forces to raise awareness of the world's greatest challenge.

All are angry that 30,000 children are dying needlessly every day from preventable disease.

All are angry that 110million children will not go to school this week because they have no schools to go to.

I joined many millions of British people watching the events in Hyde Park from home.

For me the concert was a huge testament to the determination, the passion, the courage and the burning sense of injustice that has fired the organisers of Live 8.

It has been my privilege to work with Sir Bob Geldof and Bono over recent years. Few people understand better the current plight of the African continent.

And few understand better its amazing diversity, energy and potential.

It is the vision of an Africa empowered as much as the reality of an Africa impoverished that drives their work and the work of all the charities and church groups.

An Africa that instead of children dying needlessly has health systems that immunise the young and care free of charge.

An Africa where all children go to school, to gain the education that can unlock their potential.

An Africa free of crushing poverty, built on transparent and democratic government where the African people themselves drive forward their development.

This is the vision of Africa that has inspired all those who performed and campaigned yesterday - all the thousands who have given their time, energy and talents to the great cause of our lifetime.

When I spoke last night at a rally of campaigners and churchgoers in Edinburgh, I said that Saturday's concerts and rallies had been a beacon of hope pointing the way to a better future.

I said that we have come a long way, but we have a long way to go.

We have agreed debt relief for the poorest countries, a new plan to help AIDs sufferers, a timetable for ending trade barriers, and European countries have agreed to double their aid to Africa - an extra pounds 22billion per year by 2010.

But we do indeed have a long way still to go.

And it is not a journey that ends at Gleneagles, but which must carry on until we have succeeded in turning despair into hope.

We heard the message yesterday: no more delay, no more excuses, no more broken promises - the world demands an end to poverty.

Copyright 2005 MGN LTD
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

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