The debate about ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’

The 2024 ‘Ultimate Mix’ of Band Aid’s fundraising single ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ was released on Friday, November 25. I remember listening to the original in December 1984, when I was still living in England. I was very moved by it, especially because it was the time of the dreadful famine in Ethiopia, particularly in its northern regions.

The estimated number of deaths ranged from 400,000 to a million. In his introduction to the 1984 performance, David Bowie, said ‘The figures are really alarming. Over the next 12 months, it is projected that well over 360,000 children under four years will die in Ethiopia – 1,000 a day’.

Bob Geldof quoted someone saying, ‘This place is the closest to Hell on Earth’. He said himself, ‘We cannot have people dying on our screens every night for ever. This must stop. It really must stop’. And on the screen were some of the horrific scenes shot by Mohamed Amin, Kenya’s photojournalist, whose documenting of the famine was shown around the world. The images stayed in my mind.

I was impressed by the Band Aid’s production, too, because it featured some of my favourite singers and bands of the time, such as Paul McCartney, Bono, Sting and Status Quo. It became an instant global phenomenon, raising £8 million within a year, selling over a million copies in just a week, and topping charts around the world.

However, when a version was released in 2014, I paid more attention to the lyric:

At Christmas time it’s hard, but when you’re having fun

There’s a world outside your window

And it’s a world of dread and fear

Where the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears

And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom

Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you

And there won’t be snow in Africa this Christmastime

The greatest gift they’ll get this year is life

(Oooh) Where nothing ever grows

No rain nor rivers flow

Do they know it’s Christmas at all?

They were singing about Africa and not just northern Ethiopia – an Africa that is ‘a world of dread and fear’; where ‘the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears; where ‘there won’t be snow this Christmastime’; where ‘nothing ever grows’; where ‘no rain nor rivers flow’. Did the writers of the lyrics, Bob Geldof himself and Midge Ure, not know about the Rivers Nile and Congo?

Did they not know anything about the rainforests, the fields of maize, and plantations of bananas, oranges and coconuts? Had they never heard of the snows of Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya? Had they never seen the Christmas decorations and heard the carols in the shopping malls of cities across the continent? Worse than this geographical ignorance, the words were myopic, careless and patronising.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised at the ignorance about Africa in the UK at the time the song was first written. In 1984, I was part of a research project that involved talking with over 200 African post-graduate students in five universities spread across England and Scotland. This is one of the stories I heard. Mary was a Kenyan student studying at Hull University on the east coast of England. She said that one day an English student knocked loudly on the door of Mary’s room:

‘Heh, I’ve just heard on the radio that something terrible has happened in your country,’

‘What is it? Tell me.’

‘It’s in So… So… Soweto. Several students have been shot by the police.’

‘I’m really sorry to hear that. But I think I should tell you that Soweto in South Africa is further from my country, Kenya, than Moscow is from here.’

There were many stories like this.

Hopefully, British people are better informed about things happening in Africa these days. Certainly, Band Aid’s ‘Ultimate Mix’ of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ hasn’t had the widespread acclaim that the 1984 original had. The singer-songwriter, Ed Sheeran, had participated in the 2014 version but, this time, he complained that he had not been asked to have his vocals featured on the new mix.

He said he would have declined if he had been invited, because his view about such charity efforts have changed. This is what he wrote on Instagram: ‘A decade on and my understanding of the narrative associated with this has changed, eloquently explained by Fuse ODG. This is just my personal stance. I’m hoping it’s a forward-looking one. Love to all’.

Fuse ODG is a Ghanaian-British musician. This is his Instagram post as shared by Ed Sheeran: ‘Ten years ago, I refused to participate in Band Aid because I recognised the harm initiatives like it inflict on Africa. While they may generate sympathy and donations, they perpetuate damaging stereotypes that stifle Africa’s economic growth, tourism, and investment, ultimately costing the continent trillions and destroying its dignity, pride,e and identity. By showcasing dehumanising imagery, these initiatives fuel pity rather than partnership, discouraging meaningful engagement.’

He said his mission is to ‘reclaim the narrative, empowering Africans to tell their own stories, redefine their identity, and position Africa as a thriving hub for investment and tourism’.

When interviewed by The Times on November 23, this is how Bob Geldof responded to Ed Sheeran’s criticism: ‘This little pop song has kept millions of people alive…. 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?

No abstract theory, regardless of how sincerely held, should impede or distract from that hideous, concrete real-world reality. There are 600 million hungry people in the world — 300 million are in Africa. We wish it were other, but it is not. We can help some of them. That’s what we will continue to do’.

Bob Geldof has also said that the criticisms made by such people as Ed Sheeran and Fuse ODG are good because they stimulate a debate about the need for such aid and the manner in which it should be given. As someone who has spent the last 40 years in humanitarian and development work, I certainly agree with him on that point. But I will not be buying his new mix of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’

John Fox is Chairman of iDC Email: [email protected]