They know it’s Christmas
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Today marks the release of a new version of “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” a charity single released by Bob Geldof’s Band Aid 30 in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the original 1984 song. The first release was created to raise money for a then-unfolding famine in Ethiopia. The slightly-rewritten 2014 version is designed to raise funds for the Ebola crisis in West Africa. Early sales numbers indicate that the single is. It raised $1.6 million dollars in pre-orders a few moments after the song premiered on a British television program Sunday night. “Do They Know It’s Christmas” is also, for the moment, the top-selling song on iTunes. While raising money for a cause like Ebola is generally a good thing, like many who study Africa, I’m skeptical of this effort. Band Aid’s efforts betray an ignorance of Africa and perpetuate negative stereotypes and the “White Savior” narrative. Moreover, those who purchase the single or make other donations to Band Aid have no assurance that their money will be used well. 1. They know it’s Christmas. People in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone definitely know it’s Christmas, because many of them are Christian. The latest round of Afrobarometer surveys found that in a weighted sample of respondents in Liberia,
while about 54 percent identify as Muslim. In Guinea, , while 89 percent are Muslim. The fact that West Africa is religiously diverse and some areas are predominantly Muslim, however, gives us no reason to expect widespread ignorance of the fact that Christmas exists and that celebrations of Christmas occur during a specific season, or think that Muslims in Guinea and Sierra Leone are generally unaware when their Christian neighbors celebrate Christmas. This notion is supported not least by the fact that Christmas is a public holiday in both and . 2.
The song is demeaning. The original version
was awash in negative stereotypes of Africa and the Ethiopian people Live Aid purported to help. The song treated Africa as an homogeneous place, “where nothing ever grows, no rain or rivers flow” and “where the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears.” It also claimed that “there won’t be snow in Africa this Christmastime,” a factual inaccuracy that betrayed the lyricists’ ignorance of both basic
and . In addition to conflating an entire continent with one country, Band Aid’s portrayal of the crisis ignored the man-made dimensions of Ethiopia’s 1984 people were starving not simply because of the regional drought, but because of direct interference by governing officials who used starvation to punish the ethnic groups they considered to be political enemies. The 30-year anniversary version features rewritten
that somehow manage to be even more inaccurate than the original ones were. Let’s start with these lines: There’s a world outside your window, and it’s a world of dread and fear Where a kiss of love can kill you, and there’s death in every tear And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom. The idea that no one in Liberia, Sierra Leone, or Guinea will be celebrating Christmas, or that “Christmas bells…are the clanging chimes of doom” it betrays a total ignorance of the importance of Christianity in each country’s culture, the sense of joy and celebration that can arise among all people even in the most dire of circumstances, and the fact that most West Africans – even in the Ebola outbreak zone – are not in fact suffering from Ebola. While the epidemic is serious and has affected far too many people, it has still affected very small percentages of each country’s population. The latest
counts a total of 14,413 confirmed cases of Ebola that can be traced to the West African outbreak. In the case of each of the three most heavily-affected countries, far less than 1 percent of each country’s population has been diagnosed with the disease.
Ebola infection rate data: ; Population data:
We know that the number of confirmed cases does not reflect the actual number of people infected with Ebola in the course of this outbreak. But even if we were to quintuple the number of cases in each country, the epidemic has still only affected 1 percent or less of each country’s population. This point is not meant to diminish the severity or seriousness of the outbreak in any way, nor should we let slip from our minds for even a moment the tragedy of the 5,177 lives already lost to Ebola. It is, however, important to understand that lyrics like “there’s death in every tear” are completely inaccurate. Moreover, for the typical consumer of pop music who might download the Band Aid track without doing much background research, it gives the incorrect impression that everyone in West Africa (the affected states are never actually named in the song) is spreading Ebola with every tear shed for the lives lost. “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” is othering. It treats “Africans” as an homogeneous whole of diseased people who are suffering without help from outsiders. As we have
spreading such inaccurate and misleading information can lead to dangerous prejudice and discrimination against people of African descent, affecting their employment opportunities, health, and safety. 3. It mostly ignores Africans & their efforts to fight Ebola. Of the 30 artists who participated in recording “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” 2014, , Angelique Kidjo, is African. The song perpetuates the myth of the
portraying Africans as passive and helpless people in need of external assistance from white people in the global north. This is not reflective of reality. “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” ignores
working to fight the virus and the countless, heroic health workers who have been on the front lines of the epidemic since it began. 4. We don’t know where the money’s going.
It turns out to be pretty difficult to get any solid information on where funds raised from the sale of “Do They Know It’s Christmas” are going.
Buried in the Band Aid Web site’s , we learn that, “All proceeds from the Band Aid 30 competition will be donated to the intervention and prevention of the spread of Ebola.” Setting aside the question of how this effort constitutes a “competition,” donors are being asked to put a tremendous amount of trust in the organization. is still listed as “relief of hunger and poverty in Ethiopia and the neighbourhood thereof.”
From available evidence, it appears that the Trust has not yet decided to whom to give the funds donors have been told will be used to fight Ebola. Band Aid might give the funds to reputable aid agencies like those in the
or . Or they might not. Donors to this effort have no guarantees that their funds will be well spent. This is particularly problematic with an organization like Band Aid whose record of effectiveness is questionable. As Peter Gill shows in his book “ Ethiopia’s authoritarian Derg regime often attempted to manipulate NGO activities to serve government aims its forced resettlement schemes that exacerbated the effects of the famine. There is a over whether Band Aid did more good or harm, or whether the unintended consequences of its efforts killed as many people as it saved.
There are also
that some of the money raised for Ethiopians through the Band Aid/Live Aid efforts actually paid for weapons that caused further harm in the region. As of this writing, donors have no assurances from Band Aid that their money will be used well. What should a person of good will who wants to help those suffering from Ebola do? Skip the bad music and give directly to , , or another reputable organization. Even better,
through Africa Responds, which channels resources to pre-vetted community organizations.
The Band Aid single will raise a lot of money, and we can hope that the charities selected to benefit from it will use those resources better than they were used the first time around. But this is not the most effective way to help. It isn’t worth the “othering” of Africans – and the very real dangers people of African ancestry living all over the world face as a result of such negative stereotypes.
Laura Seay is an Assistant Professor of Government at Colby College. She studies African politics, conflict, and development, with a focus on central Africa. She has also written for Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, Guernica, and Al Jazeera English.
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Incorrect emailWHAT`S THE PRIZE OF THE PANTS如何回答 使用IT IS还是THEY ARE 为什么选择这个答案?囧TZ错了就是询问裤子的价格可能拼写有误_百度作业帮
WHAT`S THE PRIZE OF THE PANTS如何回答 使用IT IS还是THEY ARE 为什么选择这个答案?囧TZ错了就是询问裤子的价格可能拼写有误
囧TZ错了就是询问裤子的价格可能拼写有误
裤子是以复数表示 因为是两个裤统 所以 一般是说One pair of pants are fifty dollars.在此 是以pair为单位 所以 应该回答These pants are fifty dollars.
what's只是对的价格所以用单数，你回答的是裤子的价格，所以应该用they are 回答，因为裤子一般都是以复数形式出现的完成句子。1. It’s not just because they ____________（不能理解它是什么意思）.2. F 2 F ____________百度知道
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I think teenagers should be allowed to ____________ （与朋友们外出）.7. F 2 F ____________（表示面对面）. My life ____________ （有了很大的改变）in the last few years.3.4
完成句子. I get nervous before big parties and then I ____________（出皮疹）, we should be allowed to ____________（设计自己的校服）. 9。1. It isn’t good to borrow your friends’ books ____________（未经允许）. It’s not just because they ____________（不能理解它是什么意思）.8.2.5. I don’t think twelve-year-olds should be allowed to ____________ （穿耳洞）.10.6. If we can’t wear our own clothes. What do you think I should tell ____________（其余的学生）. Homophone often use letters and numbers that ____________（听起来像单词或单词的一部分）
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without permission9;&&& 8;&nbsp，pimple表示疱疹的含义. without为介词表示无或不带有的含义. get pimples&nbsp，or表示或者的含义，故本句空格处填stands for face to face. the rest of表示其余的含义;&nbsp。 3;&nbsp，故本句空格处填 has changed a lot，parts of word表示单词的一部分。7. get表示得到或获得的含义;&&&nbsp. F为face的缩写;2，a lot 修饰动词表示多的含义. the rest of the students&&&nbsp，permission为名词允许的含义. has changed a lot
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出门在外也不愁问题分类：初中英语初中化学初中语文
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1.On my birthday my parents told me they had my&gift& outside in the back yard. At once I rushed out to the yard. There was my bike,but it wasn’t the bike (that I thought it would be.) This one was pink, old and worn with age.请问此段中outside是作什么词性?括号内是什么从句?讲一下这个从句的结构.
2. It was so disappointing! I thought I&hurt my parents’ feelings because I could see the disappointment on their faces and I was sure they could see it on mine. I &got on&the old bike and rode it, (feeling bad that I had made my parents feel this way.) 请问此段中括号内的怎样译? 还有feeling为什么要加ing ? .this way指什么?
3.&They gave me a life lesson about&love &When you give something out of love, it doesn’t matter what it is in fact. What matters is the love that is in it. 请译这个句子,另give out of 是什么意思?
4.&Do remember, a gift that cost two dollars isn’t any less valuable（有价值的）than one that costs one hundred dollars, or even more.译这个句子?另any less 是什么意思?
5.what's the weather like in winter in Beijing?请问:天气怎么样为什么不是how而是what?怎样区分这两个特殊疑问词?
6.汉译英: 一些老人还没有习惯生活的变化.some old people haven't ()()()()()()().
7. would you mind my watch videos on the Internet now? 请问为什么是my watch videos
而不是me to watch videos?
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