What really happened at Live 8 London - I was there!- Page 2

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 7/4/05 at 5:56am

Gordon Brown has been very supportive of the Live 8 demands, yes. But I found a Guardian article (I don't know how reliable they are), that suggests the final outcome may be a toss up. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1520698,00.html To be clear, I want to be proven wrong on this. I'm aware of the demands, and I hope you're right. I didn't realize that the EU subsidies were so substantial. Blair has already expressed desire to eliminate CAP in order to diminish African poverty - Did you know that 40% of the UK's budget is spent on agriculture, even though only 5% of the population are farmers?? I doubt the EU would do this willingly, but if I remember correctly, Britain starts its presidency of the EU this month, so perhaps there may be a turn for the better.

Updated On: 7/4/05 at 05:56 AM

[Forester]

Posted: 7/4/05 at 10:48am

When it come giving access by lower or eliminating subsidies for the farmers, I highly doubt it. Did you know that CAP ammount to 45% of EU budget? French receive the highest portion of CAP. A European farmer receive around $20,000 a year from subsidies.

A European cow receive around $1,000. Compare that to the approximately $8 received per African cow, you can see why there is no way an African farmer can compete fairly against a European farmer. What's more, there are dumping of excess through aid and other project which seems to do good, but in reality, damages the local market by collapsing the local price.

[vbplayer]

Posted: 7/4/05 at 11:20am

Raith, I love using "Snopes" to dispel rumors.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 7/4/05 at 11:50am

Interesting that Mariah Carey is booed for singing a new song at Live 8, how dare she, it's sick. Then The Scissor Sisters do the exact same thing and not a word is said.