The JNF Rocks

The Spin: A sweetly smiling Sir Bob Geldof beams out from the half-page Jewish National Fund (JNF) of Australia ad in The Australian Jewish News (24/10/08). The text reads, "'I'm Bob Geldof... and on November 16th I've been asked to address the JNF 2008 Gala Function at the AJC in Randwick. You are of course cordially invited to be there... to meet me, to meet your JNF friends, to show solidarity with Israel so that, with your help, tomorrow's generation will have a Negev worth living in. PS. Tickets are selling rapidly so I suggest you make your booking with the JNF today for what promises to be a function with a difference...'"

The Reality: "Blair speaks about Africa as if its problems are the result of some inscrutable force of nature, compounded only by the corruption of its dictators. He laments that 'it is the only continent in the world over the past few decades that has moved backwards'. But he has never acknowledged that - as even the World Bank's studies show - it has moved backwards partly because of the neoliberal policies it has been forced to follow by the powerful nations: policies that have just been extended by the debt relief package Bono and Geldof praised. Listen to these men - Bush, Blair and their two bards - and you could forget that the rich nations had played any role in Africa's accumulation of debt, or accumulation of weapons, or loss of resources, or collapse in public services, or concentration of wealth and power by unaccountable leaders. Listen to them, and you would imagine that the G8 was conceived as a project to help the world's poor. I have yet to read a statement by either rock star which suggests a critique of power. They appear to believe that a consensus can be achieved between the powerful and the powerless, that they can assemble a great global chorus of rich and poor to sing from the same sheet. They do not seem to understand that, while the G8 maintains its grip on the instruments of global governance, a shared anthem of peace and love is about as meaningful as the old Coca-Cola ad. The answer to the problem of power is to build political movements which deny the legitimacy of the powerful and seek to prise control from their hands: to do, in other words, what people are doing in Bolivia right now. But Bono and Geldof are doing the opposite: they are lending legitimacy to power. From the point of view of men like Bush and Blair, the deal is straightforward: we let these hairy people share a platform with us, we make a few cost-free gestures, and in return we receive their praise and capture their fans. The sanctity of our collaborators rubs off on us. If the trick works, the movements ranged against us will disperse, imagining that thwe world's problems have been solved. We will be publicly rehabilitated, after our little adventure in Iraq and our indiscretions at Bagram and Guantanamo Bay. The countries we wish to keep exploiting will see us as their friends rather than their enemies." (Bards of the Powerful, George Monbiot, 21/6/05, http://www.monbiot.com/)

Perhaps Sir Bob could regale those at the JNF bash with tales of how Mossad palled around with Idi Amin in Uganda or Mobuto Sese Seko in Zaire? Just a suggestion.