http://www.artisannews.com/ans101/templates/?a=460&z=105

Grammy Award Winner Alicia Keys performed in Philadelphia for the Live 8.

The concerts, which came as a follow-up event to the Live Aid concerts in 1985, took place in cities around the world, including Rome, Berlin, and Paris to raise money for impoverished, famine-ridden countries.

Keys joined Kanye West, Stevie Wonder, Destiny’s Child, Rita Marley and others to increase awareness about poverty in the world. Backstage at the Live 8, Keys said that even though Americans sometimes feel empathetic yet disconnected from poverty-stricken countries, it is still possible to help.

“I think it’s really important to represent the United States on this side because I feel in particular, America, from what I’ve seen, because I live here, has a sense of disconnect when it comes to Africa or places that are very far because many of us, most of us will not get the opportunity to physically see those places with our own eyes. We feel empathy but it’s kinda like, ‘Well what can I possibly do?’ You feel a little disconnected so I feel like as an American I do wanna say it isn’t that hard and it isn’t that difficult to say ‘I don’t want this to happen’ because we are a global community and this isn’t just about America, this isn’t just about Europe. It’s about all of us standing for life. So, thank you.”

More than one million people attend the free event, and 26 million people sent text messages worldwide in support. 200,000 demonstrators also marched in Edinburgh, Scotland, where the members of the G8 met strategize on how to eradicate third-world debt. The demonstrators marched to push for the G8 to alleviate African debt and to provide more aid.

With people like Alicia Keys and the Live 8 organizers encouraging people to stand for life, there is hope for the impoverished countries of the world.

Video: http://www.artisannews.com/ans101/articlefiles/460-alicia_keys_on_live_8.ram
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Source: www.artisannews.com