2 July 2005

Noa's performance at Live 8, Roma (italy)

An estimated 3 BILLION PEOPLE watched LIVE 8 the greatest, greatest show on Earth. They came together with one message - make poverty history.

The G8 brings together the leaders of the worlds most powerful countries - the USA, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia. The G8 leaders meet every year and have it within their power to alter history. This year we asked them to use that power to make poverty history. By doubling aid, fully canceling debt, and delivering trade justice, the G8 could change the future for millions of men, women and children. But we knew they would only have the will to do so if tens of thousands of people showed them that enough is enough.

We asked for the delivery of the Africa Commission which boiled down to these 3 things:

More and better aid - Millions of people in poor countries rely on aid from foreign donors for essential things such as food, water, education and healthcare. When spent well it can enable communities to develop and become independent. However with food shortages and AIDS ravaging poor countries, much more aid is needed to lift the many millions who still live and die on less than a dollar a day out of poverty. We asked for a doubling of aid to poor countries especially in Africa.

It's also vital that this aid is focused on poor people's needs rather than on the needs of those who give it. This means aid being spent on areas such as basic health care and education without conditions that do more harm than good. We asked that the aid given by rich countries is given without harmful conditions so that it can be used in the most useful way in the poor countries that need it.

Drop the debt - Many poor countries are still trapped in a cycle of unpayable debts to big international lending institutions like the World Bank and IMF. At the start of 2005 some poor countries were still paying more on debt repayments than on their health and education budgets combined. We asked for 100% debt cancellation for all those countries which need it and will spend the extra money well by providing things like education and basic healthcare for all. Live (

Trade justice - Currently the global trading system is skewed in favour of the rich countries. Through a complicated system of tariffs and subsidies rich nations prevent poor ones from being able to generate wealth, and trade their way out of poverty. The solution is obvious - challenge and change the rules so they work for poor countries. Re-write them so poor countries can develop, build their own industries, grow stronger, and one day compete as equals. Rich countries used trade rules to protect themselves as they developed - which is how they got where they are now. Now we need to use trade rules to end world poverty as we know it. We asked for a rewriting of the global trade rule book so that poor countries have a better chance of trading with us and with each other to work themselves out of poverty.

ROME CAST:


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