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Photo provided by ONE agit8

International leaders convene today in Northern Ireland for tomorrow’s G8 summit. Together they will craft policy on major decisions about the world we live in.  ONE wants us to use our voices to call for commitments toward chronic malnutrition globally as an important step towards the end of  extreme poverty, and preventable disease.  ONE’s Agit8 campaign highlights the force of change inspired by protest music throughout history. They have compiled an amazing playlist of protest music over the years, and you might be surprised at the meaning behind some of your favorite songs.

Photo provided by ONE agit8

Growing up in Boston. a city that  has been one of the most prolific incubator towns in our country for new music, listening to music was a huge part of our lives. Whether at the Boston Symphony Orchestra with my parents as a child, or in a basement club as a young adult, it is what we did. Later working in film production,  I had the opportunity to meet and work with great musicians like Aerosmith, and James Taylor. My friend Lisa and I were even able to get our favorite indie band at the time, Chucklehead into a T.V. commercial we were on.  The power of music weaves through each of our own personal soundtracks to take us back to specific time periods in our lives.  When I think of music to change the world by, forever permeating my consciousness is the   ‘We Are The World” track written by Michael Jackson.

In my mind those first startling images that woke up global awareness to the famine crisis in Ethiopia are inextricable from the music that followed. It stirred us to action, starting in London with Bob Geldof’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas”, and once our eyes were opened, there was no turning away. That sparked the USA to follow suit with We Are The World, and to me suddenly music seemed to become a powerful humanitarian driver.  Songs have always inspired changed in the world, as evidenced by the history that ONE has compiled.  From the nursery rhyme Ring Around The Rosie, thought to refer to the Plague epidemic in England in the late 1600’s, to Woodie Guthrie’s This Land is Your Land written in response to the blind American patriotism he saw surrounding U.S. involvement in World War II.

The Band Aid/Live Aid initiatives marked the greatest outpouring of collective compassion for a faraway people the world had seen.- ONE.org

When the world came together through music in response to the Ethiopian famine in 1984 the seeds of inspiration, and eventual formulation of the ONE campaign were planted. To see the background of its formation check out the amazing documentary  Give Us The Money-Why Poverty about how Bono and Bob Geldof used their celebrity to become agents of change.  A global awareness was sparked by those events in the mid eighties, and has since caught fire. Music continues to be a driver of change and solidarity for people, and right now we have the opportunity to use our voices and join the ONE campaign to be heard. If you love music, and it moves you, you can get involved with the Agit8 campaign and let the music speak to you, or for you here.

Photo provided by ONE agit8

About ONE

Co-founded by Bono, ONE is a campaigning and advocacy organization of more than three million people taking action to end extreme poverty and preventable disease… because the facts show extreme poverty has already been cut in half and can be virtually eradicated by 2030.

We’re not asking for your money. We’re asking for your voice.

Find out more at ONE.org