NOVEMBER 24 “THIS WEEK IN THE MUSIC OF NONVIOLENT RESISTANCE”
On this day in 2005, Bob Geldof called for fair trade at an awards event in Rome that recognised his antipoverty efforts. “Africa must be allowed to trade itself out of poverty,” he said as he received the Man of Peace award from the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Geldof, an Irish singer-songwriter, is an author and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement.
Geldof has been involved in the Live 8 concert series, Band Aid, Live Aid, Africa Progress Panel, DATA and the ONE Campaign. Geldof’s first major charity involvement took place in September 1981, when he performed as a solo artist for Amnesty International’s benefit show The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball