This weekend the biggest concert in the history of the world was held to increase awareness of poverty in Africa and put pressure on the G-8, who are meeting in Scotland this week, to solve the problem of poverty. Every three seconds a child dies in Africa. 50,000 people die there everyday. There were a couple of really poignant public service announcements running on television this weekend. The first shows a series of famous people snapping their fingers every three seconds to show the death toll, someone’s daughter, someone’s son. The second asked if 50,000 people died in Manhatten on Sunday, if 50,000 people died in Moscow on Monday, if 50,000 people died in Vancouver on Tuesday and so on covering cities in the developed world for a whole week, wouldn’t we find out what was happening and fix it. Aid is not enough. Corrupt governments need to topple. Debts need to be forgiven. Trade needs to be fair. These are the things the G-8 can change. And that’s what the Live 8 concert was all about. If you want to help, go to www.live8live.com and give them your name to take to the leaders of the world. You can also upload your photo and join the collage of faces that will be lining the streets of Edinburgh for the leaders to see.

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