<
https://theconversation.com/band-aid-sang-feed-the-world-40-years-ago-where-is-hunger-still-an-issue-today-244564>
"The 40th-anniversary remake of Band Aid’s
Do They Know It’s Christmas?
charity hit was released on November 25. The new mix, which features vocals
recycled from previous versions of the single, still includes the original
track’s “feed the world” message and lyrics.
The original single was written and released in 1984 in response to harrowing
news images of famine in northern Ethiopia. These pictures inspired two pop
stars, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, to bring together some of the biggest names in
pop music at the time to record the song.
In the four decades since then, there have been several related Live Aid
concerts and re-releases of the single. And the Band Aid Charitable Trust is
thought to have raised more than £140 million for long-term development
projects and emergency aid.
There has been much debate about some of the stereotypes represented in Band
Aid’s original lyrics, as well as on whether the song’s effect on the charity
sector has been positive. But the Band Aid Trust says that the charity has
helped as many as 350,000 people in the last seven months alone through a host
of projects in Ethiopia, Sudan, Somaliland and Chad. And, without doubt, it
raised public awareness of the issues facing Ethiopia in the 1980s.
Yet in terms of the global persistence of famine, things have not got better in
the intervening 40 years. There are many regions of the world where people are
still suffering from acute food insecurity, defined as hunger so severe that it
poses an immediate threat to people’s livelihoods and lives.
According to the
Global Report on Food Crises, which is produced by the Food
Security Information Network and 16 partner agencies, nearly 282 million people
in 59 countries and territories worldwide experienced high levels of acute food
insecurity in 2023.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which provides data on
countries requiring external assistance for food, also suggests that 45
countries currently lack the resources to deal with food insecurity.
Thirty-three of these countries are in Africa, nine are in Asia, two are in
Latin America, and one (Ukraine) is in Europe."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
