sun city

I came across this video thanks to Mark Anthony Neal, who posted it on his blog the other day. The 'Artists United Against Apartheid' project, while now, seems dated and cheesy, made a significant impact as a piece of agitprop in the eighties. The "Sun City" video made me think of more recent artist collaborations for a "cause" like the Haiti "We are the World" song or the somewhat better "Wavin' Flag" song. No doubt, these songs lack the overt politicization and condemnation  that "Sun City" had. People like to front about how much money was raised for earthquake earlier this year, but sadly, the majority of donations or aid or whatever you want to call it doesn't even reach Haiti (or other "developing" countries). They go to paying salaries, travel fees and other administrative expenses. (For more on foreign aid relief, see Paul Farmer's five HUGE "Lessons from Haiti's Disaster."