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FT editor Roula Khalaf selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
And there will be no snow in Africa this Christmas/The greatest gift you will receive this year is life (oooh)/Where nothing grows, neither rain nor river flows/Do you know it’s Christmas?
Forty years ago, these unbearable letters for Do you know it’s Christmas??, written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, captured the West’s emotional response to what television host Michael Buerk had called a “biblical famine” in Ethiopia. They represented a sincere, if condescending and clumsy, effort to confront the unfolding tragedy and raise money. The song was number one for five weeks and grossed £8 million.
This week, singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran said he would prefer his voice, recorded for a 2014 revival of the Band Aid charity single, to be left out of a 40th anniversary version to be released this Christmas. “It’s been a decade and my understanding of the narrative associated with this has changed,” he said. You are right.
Sheeran shared a post by British-Ghanaian vocalist Fuse ODG, who said the lyrics “perpetuate harmful, suffocating stereotypes.” Africa’s economic growth, tourism and investment [and] it feeds pity instead of association.”
At this point, some readers will denounce another “woke” deconstruction of good intentions. They would be wrong.
In Ethiopia, which adopted Christianity in 325 AD. C., a few centuries before its architects carved glorious churches in the rocks of LalibelaPeople knew very well that it was Christmas. Calendar confusion was not the problem. The problem was drought and, more importantly, dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam’s willingness to crush the rebellion using famine as a tool of war.
Singing that may not have aroused so much sympathy. It certainly would have been harder to scan. But at least it is an approximation to the truth. As Amartya Sen has written, any lasting effort to eradicate hunger, in Ethiopia or anywhere else, must start with politics, not the climate.
He songThe unfortunate use of the word “Africa” supposedly came after Ure pointed out that Ethiopia had too many syllables. It was an unfortunate artistic shift, combining a tragedy in one country with the supposed reality of an entire continent of 54 nations. bigger than China, India, the United States and Europe combined.
It’s true that there won’t be much snow this Christmas in Africa, which can be quite hot, especially in the Sahara, although there will be some on the summits of Mount Kilimanjaro, several thousand kilometers to the south. Regarding the “lack of river flows”, it might be pertinent at this point to remember the Nile and the Congo, the longest and deepest rivers in the world, respectively.
Treating Africa as a single country, as well as geo-literate, may have practical implications. When there was an Ebola outbreak in Guinea in 2014, tourists canceled safaris to Kenya, 8,000 kilometers away. That’s the equivalent of removing New York from your bucket list because there are problems in Santiago, Chile. Some financiers believe African states and companies pay too much to borrow because investors do not understand African risk.
This is not a false reinforcement. Forty years later, tragedies are still unfolding in some parts of the continent. In Sudan there is a terrible civil war that could also cause famine. There is drought in the Horn of Africa and in the Sahel a jihadist insurgency and a chain of coups threaten stability. Ethiopia has been through another cruel war, although since Mengistu was overthrown in 1991 it has been one of the world’s fastest growing economies.
In short, there are things to celebrate, things to regret, and things to shake your fist at. Nigeria’s Afrobeat stars are filling stadiums, a Tanzanian writer has won the Nobel Prize, artists from across the continent are wowing audiences at the Venice Biennale.
Africa’s cities pulse with youthful creativity and in too many cases are ruled by elderly thugs. The use of mobile money has spread to practically every corner of the continent. In the last 40 years, the average life expectancy has increased by 14 years. British economist Joan Robinson’s characterization of India holds true for Africa: whatever you say about it, you can also say the opposite.
Admittedly, all of this can be difficult to capture in a song, especially one designed to open tear ducts and wallets. But the Band Aid single is already years past its sell-by date. Geldof knows this and rates it as one of the two worst songs in history. He also admitted to writing the other one. This Christmas, hum if you must. Just skip the lyrics.