New York offered this Saturday a gigantic benefit concert for the climate and against poverty to which a dozen stars paraded, from Metallica to Mariah Carey, and international leaders such as Ursula von der Leyen and, through a video, the Biden couple.
Behind this event, which has been held every year for ten years at the end of the UN General Assembly, is the philanthropic NGO Global Citizen, an international digital platform created by the Australian Hugh Evans and which wants to bring together “globalized citizens” sensitized to the scourges of hunger, underdevelopment, climate change or discrimination.
Pour gagner son billet pour Central Park – l’immense poumon vert de Manhattan – il fallait s’inscrire sur le site de Global Citizen, signer des pétitions et relayer des messages sur les réseaux sociaux afin de faire pression sur les political and economic leaders of the planet.
Broadcast on many televisions and platforms, the New York concert was held at the same time as another in Accra, Ghana, despite the time difference.
US climate law
President Joe Biden and his wife Jill assured in a video message that the United States was committed to the “combat” for the climate and had adopted a law this summer that includes 369 billion dollars in investments to “improve health, promote justice and generate clean energy”. .”
The two leaders of the Democratic majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, took the stage in person to defend Washington’s environmental policy.
Before them, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, was also at the concert in Central Park to tell the “citizens of the world (that she had heard them).”
“We must end famines (…) Europe is mobilizing 600 million euros for food security in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific”, he assured.
But after five hours of mini-concerts and consensual messages from political leaders and US corporate sponsors of the festival, it took the mighty metal sound of legendary hard rock band Metallica to pump up the thousands of fans gathered in Central Park.
The Californians in their late sixties delighted their audience for an hour with a version of their legendary title “Nothing Else Matters” sung by Mickey Guyton, who claims the title of America’s first black country music artist.
bollywood star
The “Global Citizen Festival” also vibrated thanks to the dynamic young Italian rockers of the group Maneskin and the New Yorkers of the Jonas Brothers, one of whose three brothers is married to the star of Indian Bollywood cinema, Priyanka Chopra, mistress of ceremonies. in the central Park.
World-renowned New York pop artist Mariah Carey performed an upbeat version of her classic “Hero,” accompanied by classical dancer Misty Copeland. Between two mini-concerts, political and economic leaders took turns on stage.
The Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, conveyed the alarmist messages of her counterparts from the small Pacific and Caribbean countries threatened by global warming, which they hammered at the UN throughout the week. “Yes, my friends, our time is running out,” she warned.
Violence against women has also been denounced: An Iranian refugee lawyer in Berlin, Anuscheh Amir-Khalili, spoke at the scene of the death in Iran of the young Masha Amini detained by the morality police, triggering demonstrations and their repression.
“I saw my sisters forced to flee aggression, oppression and femicide around the world (…) We must speak up for oppressed women,” she said seriously to applause.
Source: BFM TV
