Now that “Dezemba” is finally upon us we must prepare to endure the spectacle of a group of ageing UK pop stars singing to the world again and again: “Well, tonight, thank God it’s them instead of you.” This is one of the more offensive lyrics from the UK charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas, recorded by the “supergroup” Band Aid in November 1984 to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
Earlier this week, the band, fronted by Bob Geldof and featuring the likes of Bono, Sting, and Chris Martin, released a 40th-anniversary version of the controversial single amid some fanfare and without a shred of self-awareness. The re-released song, which is a mash-up of three previous recordings, is a masterclass in how Western depictions of Africa — even those intended to be well-meaning — often perpetuate problematic narratives and harmful stereotypes about our continent and its people.
Those more familiar with the song will likely recall some other objectionable lyrics, including the reference to Africa as a place “where nothing ever grows; no rain nor rivers flow” and the claim that our continent is “a world of dread and fear”.
We know, of course, that this song was written and recorded in a different era and with the best of intentions, and that in the 40 years since its release (and re-release), it has managed to raise £190m (R4.36bn) in funding for aid and relief efforts on the continent. But the song also recycles a reductive and paternalistic representation of life in Africa.
For context, the 2024/25 annual budget of South Africa’s department of higher education alone is 33 times the size of the R4.36bn Geldof and his friends have raised with this single since 1984.
The original cover artwork for this Live Aid single, designed by the artist Peter Blake, is also a stunningly degrading depiction of two starving African children, their black-and-white photo cutouts placed in stark relief with the colourful riches and luxury toys enjoyed by a group of (presumably) Western children.
Yet a September 2024 report from the UK House of Commons found that: “In 2022/23 there were 7.2-million people, or 11% of the UK population, in households experiencing food poverty, including 17% of children.” Physician, heal thyself!
It would be one thing if this unfortunate episode were consigned to the dustbin of cultural history as a relic of a less enlightened time. But every year we continue to hear about musicians in the UK singing “Do They Know It’s Christmas”, and every decade, we are subjected to a self-congratulatory anniversary re-release of the song with the same, unreconstructed lyrics.
Last week, Geldof gave an extraordinarily obtuse interview to the UK Sunday Times in which he exclaimed: “Why would Band Aid scrap feeding thousands of children dependent on us for a meal? Why not keep doing that? Because of an abstract wealthy-world argument, regardless of its legitimacy?”
The fixation on certain well-worn stereotypes — electoral corruption, flawed governance, poverty, disease, and violence, to name a few — is particularly damaging because it features much more frequently in stories about Africa compared to countries on other continents
African children are not dependent on Geldof for a meal. African people and families all over the world do more than his song ever has. Data from the World Bank demonstrates that remittances — money sent home by African workers in the diaspora — represent the largest source of external finance for African countries. Flows to Sub-Saharan Africa in 2023 amounted to $54bn. While the funding raised by the Band Aid Charitable Trust has undoubtedly provided relief to many, it would be remiss to claim that it is comparable to the money raised by Africans helping one another.
Worse still, any funding raised by perpetuating false, generalised and exaggerated narratives about the continent does exponentially more harm than good.
The international nonprofit organisation Africa No Filter (ANF) points to the tangible economic consequences of stereotypes that define Africa only by its worst issues. New ANF research demonstrates that African countries could be losing up to $4.2bn (R76bn) annually in interest payments alone due to biased and unfair global media coverage.
The fixation on certain well-worn stereotypes — electoral corruption, flawed governance, poverty, disease, and violence, to name a few — is particularly damaging because it features much more frequently in stories about Africa compared to countries on other continents, and undermines African countries ability to create sustainable economic growth and meaningful partnerships.
It would be equally reductive to apportion the blame for Africa's development challenges solely to negative media coverage or the impact of harmful cultural exports such as Geldof’s song. The negative aspects of our continent's economic trajectory have been shaped by a combination of both internal and external factors. The historical legacies of colonialism and apartheid still weigh heavily. Internally, years of incompetent governance and political instability have left a mark. But as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie remarked in her celebrated 2009 TED talk, there is great danger in telling only a single story. And the problem with stereotypes is that they never show a complete picture.
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