Band Aid 30 is officially the fastest selling single of 2014. Yet this attempt by successful musicians to heal Africa through song has not met with universal cheer. Instead, a fickle and febrile debate has raged over whether this is something to be approved of. Unless you subscribe to the ‘primacy of celebrity-hating’ school of foreign policy, approval should be bestowed.
As soon as news broke that Band Aid was reforming to raise funds for ebola victims, the instinct was to deride. The Guardian posted a comment piece slamming it as a condescending and reductive portrayal of Africa. Nick Dearden, director of the World Development movement, feared that Band Aid would neglect the more complex and deep-seated problems of the ebola-stricken regions of the continent. I look forward to Dearden’s three-minute pop smash that sets all that out. Damon Albarn then went on Channel 4 News with some meandering burbles, again to the effect that celebrity interventions often demean Africans.
The Right was then marshalled against Band Aid 30 when Jayne
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