Celebrities – the trolls of (virtual) global development?
Brendan Rigby 's post on his facebook probably captures a sentiment that many of us share: Duncan Green of From Poverty to Power (...) says that this Geldof-led band reformation feels like a mistake/step backwards. I agree. Surely, we've come further than this in 30 years in representation, knowledge and public campaigning? Why is Africa and African countries still the stage for the egos and guilt of others? My initial response was short and simple: I'm going to sit this one out. The default rituals of celebrity involvement are getting too tiresome for me. People like Geldof don't really want to listen, learn and change and are wasting my time... But then I heard a distant knock on the my development blogging door and as an inner voice urged me to keep that door shut. I opened it nonetheless and let them in: The celebrity development trolls who usually operate on a strange reverse-hibernating system and wake up as important festivities in the Northern part of the p