“Your Voice against Poverty“

     Rostock, June 7^th. 80,000 people came to see the “Your Voice Against Poverty“-concert in the IGA park. It was a concert against poverty in the Third World during the G8 summit. National and international artists came to show their solidarity with people in poor countries in the world.    

     Despite the heat it was a great party, it had almost festival character. The guests were well-known. Bono Vox, Leadsinger of the British band U2 and the famous German Singer Herbert Grönemeyer appeared. Before the concert Grönemeyer had had a talk that had even turned into a dispute with the German woman chancellor Angela Merkel. Grönemeyer is the man who organized the event and was the headliner, too. He was the last to enter the stage and he directed some words to Angela Merkel. “Keep your promises” was the message that was sent to the woman chancellor. His words: ”Angela Merkel made a promise and she has to keep it. It´s manslaughter through culpable negligence not to keep this.”     

      He called the Africans proud and noble people. ”If we suffered their fate, we would have been prescribed twenty psychiatrists.” Afterwards he sang his song “Mensch” in a duet with Bono. A song that is about humanity. A song that demands not to allow any excuses anymore. “Politicians want to talk their way out of out of their duties”, said “Gröni” and: ”The politicians visit the casino in the evening” he added in an aggressive way. Bono and Bob Geldof sat next to him. Bono took the same line: ”I would shake the devil´s hand to reach our goals”. They seem to know about their function between popularity and politics.    

     On the venue there was a great mood. In the crowd: kids, students, parents, families. Many were wearing shirts with the name of the performing bands.  Surprisingly there were only a few banners. One of the demonstrators was holding a banner proposing an alternative way of living while Seeed and Beatsteaks were on. Other guests were Die Toten Hosen, Silbermond, Mohammed Yunus (Nobel peace prize winner), people from the eight poorest countries in the world, and many more.    

     Everyone knew that Gröni would be the last one on stage. He brought Bono with him on stage. Bono convinced with his German language skills more or less. But he tried. That´s what the presidents should also do.

written by S. S., 11.06.2007