Stars rock New York to fight poverty
US: The Black Keys, Foo Fighters and Neil Young rocked New York's
Central Park on Saturday with a free concert highlighting efforts to
combat extreme poverty around the world.
An estimated 60,000 people flocked to the Manhattan park's Great Lawn
for the event organized by the Global Poverty Project. Unlike past
benefit concerts, the main aim was to raise attention, not money.
Tickets were free, but to qualify, online concertgoers had to
accumulate points by watching videos on globalcitizen.org about various
elements of extreme poverty, ranging from malaria to mothers dying in
childbirth.
Points also added up when those applying passed on information via
social networks like Twitter.
The Global Poverty Project says it has more than met its goal of
securing pledges worth more than $500 million this year from aid
agencies and other donors, some of which were announced between sets at
the concert.
But the concert itself was about bringing the anti-poverty message to
ordinary people.
With the United Nations wrapping up its annual General Assembly, this
was the perfect moment to push for mass participation in the cause,
Global Poverty Project CEO Hugh Evans said.
“Politicians, you know what they do?” Evans licked his finger and
stuck it in the air. “They look to see where the wind is blowing. Civil
society decides where that wind is blowing,” he told journalists near
the stage, with the Manhattan skyline in the background.
“We want to build a movement. It can't be just one concert.” In
addition to the concert headliners, there was a rendition of John
Lennon's “Imagine” by John Legend and performances from K'naan and Band
of Horses.
AFP |