Sydney, AU (EMI MUSIC AUSTRALIA) - HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS TO ATTEND
FREE CONCERTS IN EUROPE AND AMERICA,
WHILE BILLIONS WATCH ON TV
AND PARTICIPATE ONLINE
TO DEMAND G8 ACT TO END POVERTY
HERE'S THE PROBLEM... Every single day, 50,000 people are dying, needlessly, of extreme poverty. More than were dying at the time of Live Aid. Dying of AIDS, dying of hunger, dying of diseases like TB and Diarrhoea. Dying, often for want of medicines which we can buy over the counter in a chemist.
HERE'S THE OPPORTUNITY... On 6 July 2005, the 8 leaders of the world's richest and most powerful countries meet for the G8 summit in Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland. In front of these 8 men will be a plan to drop 100% of the debts owed by the world's richest countries by the world's poorest countries, to double the amount of high quality aid which is spent in those countries adding an extra $50 billion, and to change the injustices of the trade laws so that those countries can build a future for themselves.
These 8 men will have it in their power to save literally millions of lives. There's never been an opportunity like this before - and may not be again in our lifetime. The G8 could put an end to the greatest scandal of our time...
HERE'S THE EVENT... At the G8 summit, those 8 men will have the choice to change the way our world works... but they won't unless enough people tell them to. That is why LIVE 8 is happening. To make them do the right thing.
20 years on Bob Geldof, the driving force behind 1985's Live Aid, has consistently refused to revive Live Aid - but he now believes this July's G8 conference is a unique opportunity. 'Charity will never really solve the problems. It is time for justice - and 20 years after Live Aid, people now demand it of these 8 men.'
LIVE 8 will be held on 2 July 2005. Five simultaneous free concerts are confirmed with the cream of international rock and pop artists performing in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome and Philadelphia. Hundreds of thousands will attend with billions more watching the international broadcasts.
Historic venues have been selected. Hyde Park, London, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Philadelphia - the Cradle of America and the Live Aid City in 1985, the historic Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and the staggering Circus Maximus in Rome - and plans for concerts in the other G8 capitals are being developed.
HERE'S THE NEWS... This is not a charity event. The concerts will be FREE. They are not fundraisers but rallying points for the largest political constituency ever mobilised to call for justice for Africa and the world's poor. They will focus the whole world's attention on the critical decisions to be made by the G8 four days later.
HERE'S THE POINT... The aim of it all is to make poverty history. 'Today, like every other day, 50,000 people will die unnecessarily,' says Richard Curtis, the writer and co-founder of Comic Relief, which is part of the Make Poverty History Campaign. 'If 50,000 people died in London on Monday, in Rome on Tuesday, Berlin on Wednesday, in New York on Thursday and in Paris on Friday, the G8 leaders in Gleneagles would find the money and the solution to the problem as they walked from the front door to the reception desk.'
