THEY STOOD TOGETHER despite their gargantuan egos, creative differences and even adulation for each other, to pull an all-nighter. They tried, improvised and perfected their lines. And they made a change, worth $63 million, for the famine-affected people in Ethiopia. ‘We Are The World'—penned by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson, and released in March 1985—was a fervid appeal to human compassion and decency, a call to action like no other, as the people behind it knew that a beautiful song has the power to unite the world. Jackson called it “a love song to inspire concern about a faraway place close to home”.
Between 1983 and 1985, a famine in Ethiopia, caused partly by drought and partly by a debilitating civil war, is estimated to have killed between four lakh to five lakh people (according to some accounts, the death toll is about 10 lakh) and displaced more than 20 lakh people. The desperation and deaths, which reminded people of the kifu qen (evil days) or ‘Great Famine’ that happened a century earlier, decimating nearly up to onethird of Ethiopia's population, moved the world to tears.
Singer, activist and The Boomtown Rats frontman Bob Geldof, who learned about the “biblical famine” from a BBC news report by Michael Buerk, had, in December 1984, brought together a charity supergroup—Band Aid—of predominantly UK and Irish singers that included the likes of Paul McCartney and Sting, and came out with a single, 'Do They Know It's Christmas?', to raise money for the victims of the famine.
This story is from the April 14, 2024 edition of THE WEEK India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 14, 2024 edition of THE WEEK India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
There Is A Wind Blowing Against The BJP, And It Will Only Pick Up Speed
Interview - Akhilesh Yadav, Former Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh
Between hospital and home
Transitional care centres can add a lot to India's health care system
EFFORT VS EFFECT
The government's attempts to ensure quality drugs is evident, but how well new policies can be monitored on the ground remains to be seen
A way to let go of fear
Accepting the use of adult diapers is a journey with various stages-denial, concealment, rejection and reluctance
Mandeeps & a miracle
Two strangers, one deadly disease and an act of kindness. How Mandeep Mann saved Mandeep Singh, an acute leukaemia patient, by donating his stem cells
The A, B, C of cosmetic surgery
Between eight to 10 lakh cosmetic surgeries happen in India every year. Who is an ideal candidate, and what are the risks and results you can expect?
Vaccines and meningitis
In sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east, and encompassing the northern part of Nigeria, there exists a region known as the African Meningitis Belt (AMB).
Celebrating diversity and inclusivity
As Indians battle it out in our nation's 18th general election, it is again time for voters to reflect on the \"Idea of India\"-or rather, on two duelling ideas of India that are now before us and between which the nation must choose at the ballot box.
Defendant: an Hermès handbag
When Hermès was hit with a class-action lawsuit last month for \"antitrust\" activities, it didn't see it coming. Most of the luxury world has all eyes on this suit, filed by two interested consumers who claim they were denied a purchase, and whether it would go to trial.
A legacy, bound
Amal Allana's biography of her father, Ebrahim Alkazi, is as much personal as it is historical