Led by Coldplay, anti-poverty concert heads for Europe
NEW YORK: Global Citizen, New York’s annual concert that pushes for an end to extreme poverty, on Tuesday announced an expansion to Europe to press leaders at the G20 summit in Germany.
Rockers Coldplay will headline the free concert on July 6 in Hamburg along with pop singer Ellie Goulding, chart-topping electronic duo The Chainsmokers and one of Germany’s biggest stars, Herbert Gronemeyer.
Global Citizen, which has taken place since 2012 in Central Park as world leaders gather each September for the UN General Assembly, aims to build public support for foreign aid with an aim of eradicating the world’s most severe poverty.
The concert does not sell tickets, instead distributing them to people who take actions through Global Citizen such as sending letters to their governments.
Global Citizen said the Hamburg concert, for which it will hand out 9,000 tickets, would press the Group of 20 major economies to make firm commitments on supporting education, health and the planet’s millions of refugees.
The concert will also take a local focus by urging Germany to stay true to its foreign aid promises after its Sept 24 elections.
“Unifying our efforts will help to make our goals of eradicating extreme poverty, improving global access to drinking water and vaccinations, as well as continuously reducing social inequality a tangible possibility for the foreseeable future,” Gronemeyer said in a statement.
“A start has already been made and against all odds people who see themselves as global citizens of one world act alongside one another in order to get there,” said the singer and actor, whose 2002 album “Mensch” is the topselling German-language album ever.
Germany and its Nordic neighbors have historically been bastions of support for international development assistance.
The Hamburg summit is expected to be attended by US President Donald Trump, whose first budget plan calls for a significant reduction of foreign aid by the world’s largest economy along with a major boost in military spending.
The concert comes after Global Citizen’ s first international expansion in November when some 80,000 fans came out in Mumbai for a concert that also featured Coldplay as well as rap great Jay Z and prominent Indian acts.
More than 10 per cent of people in the world lived on US$ 1.90 or less each day in 2013, although the figure has tumbled by 25 percentage points since 1990 amid concerted global efforts, according to World Bank data. — AFP