24 years on, the time is right for Self Aid II

Sunday Tribune, 18 July

Bob Geldof looks like a man who dusts his hair with talcum powder. The greyness isn’t natural. He’s too young for it. He actually looks better than he did when he organised Live Aid 25 years ago. The swine.
On Tuesday, I watched him talk about 13 July, 1985 and wondered how a quarter of a century had managed to slip by. The memories of that day haven’t faded. I still remember the overwhelming feeling of pride while watching Geldof grab the world by the scruff of its neck. Paddy Irishman had come of age.
I probably spent too much time reminiscing about this last week. It was an antidote to Batt O’Keeffe’s clueless witterings about the economy. I found myself wondering what it would be like if Geldof was running the country. Or, at least, doing a Live Aid for Ireland. Then I remembered that this had been done before. It was called ‘Self Aid’. I cringed.
The Self Aid concert against unemployment took place at the RDS on 17 May, 1986. It aimed to raise cash and get firms to pledge jobs. It was well-intentioned, but flawed. How could employers pluck new jobs out of thin air?
My skin crawls when I think about it now. There was this stupid notion that we could change the world, dude. It was all so Brady Bunch: “Hey guys, why don’t we put on a show right HERE!”
What made it worse was that it came right after Live Aid. It seemed low-rent by comparison, despite the presence of U2 and Elvis Costello. The ‘Aid’ inferred the Irish were the Ethiopians of Europe.
Despite the criticism, Self Aid was the biggest event of its kind the country had ever seen. 30,000 attended and thousands more watched on TV. It was reasonably successful, raising money and morale for a few hours.
Our native cynicism hadn’t been strong enough to abort it. Cynicism didn’t have Ireland by the throat back then. People still believed it was possible to change things. That same year, Ryanair took off and revolutionised air travel. That same year Bill Cullen bravely borrowed £20m to start his business.
The people who attended Self Aid were the generation that built an economy out of nothing. They also blew it, of course, but they showed Ireland’s potential.
The Ireland of 2010, by contrast, is dangerously cynical. Cynicism is valuable when it questions a suspect premise. When it becomes cynicism for cynicism’s sake, it breeds fear and inertia. People stop suggesting solutions for fear of being ridiculed. Unbridled cynicism castrates the imagination.
Niall O’Dowd put this best in the IT last week when he wrote. ‘[America’s] positive psychology creates an energy and a drive of its own … It is time for the Irish to stop admiring the complexities of their problems and start to solve them.’
I’m going to suggest something that will leave me open to ridicule. I don’t care if it does. I believe the time has come for Self Aid II.
In 1986, there were 250,000 unemployed and 30,000 emigrating. Today there are 450,000+ unemployed and 120,000 are expected to leave by the end of 2011. Mass anger has returned, so let’s put that energy to some use.
Self Aid One was an embarrassment, but it wasn’t a bad idea. Self Aid 2011 can learn from its mistakes. For a start, nobody should expect it to change the world. There should be no naïve job pledges.
Self Aid II should be an employment-generating event itself. Not long-term jobs, just a few days’ work surrounding the concert and the subsequent trust fund. Stewards, programme-sellers, burger-flippers, secretarial staff, could be drawn from the Live Register. Somebody smarter than me can figure out how to make this happen.
The trust would give money to charities that deal with the direct results of unemployment, like Vincent de Paul and The Samaritans. Maybe it could give seed cash to young entrepreneurs.
The gig would feature acts from U2 down along the line. It would showcase the young talent that’s out there too. Bands like The Cast of Cheers and the incredibly-gifted Bipolar Empire could get their break.
Why stop there? Get the Diaspora involved. Springsteen’s mother is Irish-American. Crowded House’s Finn brothers have Irish roots and have lived in Dublin. They could do their bit.
The acts could be introduced by our army of actors and film-makers: Gleeson, Neeson, Jordan, Cillian Murphy, Colm Meany, Colin Farrell …
Imagine an ‘FU Recession’ gig like that, with no lofty ideals, just an excuse to make a few bob and have a good time. Imagine the message it would send out. “This is not Greece. This is how we protest about the mess our government has made AND we’re making money out of it.”
I’m serious about this. I’m throwing down the gauntlet to anyone who can make this happen: U2, Geldof, Harry Crosbie, whoever. Don’t bother emailing me if you have nothing positive to say about this idea. Politicians, you’re welcome to get involved too. The country needs a morale boost. This is the way to do it.
It doesn’t have to be called ‘Self Aid II’ either. Call it Self 2011. Call it Open For Business. Call it whatever you like.
Just remember: self aid beats self pity, any day.
dkenny@rtibune.ie