| Celebrities, musicians and comedians go online in support of Jubilee 2000 |  |
| Celebrities, musicians and comedians go online in support of Jubilee 2000 | |
The run-up to the G8 Summit in Cologne saw a frenzy of online events to draw attention to debt and the Jubilee 2000 campaign. Tearfund, the Guardian, BBC and Jubilee 2000's Drop the Debt Special all featured chats with well-known personalities linking them with an online public - and in one case linking UK Chancellor Gordon Brown with Elinata Kasanga, a subsistence farmer from Balakasau, Zambia.
The events received huge audiences. 3.5 million people visited the Drop the Debt Site alone. Microsoft Internet Service (MSN), who helped host the chat with Bono, even broke some net records. MSN special events producer Niall MacAnna, said afterwards that their chat room had never been so full. "We anticipated a huge response," said "But we were overwhelmed that night and doubled our record with almost 2 million page visits."
It is not too late to read the chats. Over the next few months, we will be featuring further online events, so keep make sure you bookmark our page.
Jubilee 2000 Coalition, with Comic Relief put together a Drop the Debt special to encourage a potential worldwide online audience of 160 million to sign the petition and find out more about the campaign. MSN kindly agreed to design, host and publicise the page with a series of online events.
Comic Relief kicked off the events with coverage of the Debt Wish Tour - 2 nights of comedy and music - which was broadcast on television. Live backstage during the show, top British comedians including Lenny Henry, Sean Hughes, Stewart Lee and Richard Herring participated in webchats.
The chat with U2's Bono, had an unprecedented worldwide audience of 2 million. Bono explained why he had become involved in the campaign, his plans for the millennium, and gave advice on writing songs. The session ended with the first-ever online song between Bono and hundreds of his supporters. The interview transcript as well as video footage of the chat is available on the site.
The next online event was a chat with Thom Yorke from Radiohead - one the most original and exciting bands of the 90's. His presence sparked a huge debate about debt, music and politics, and a look at the power relationships between the North and South.
The site also includes video footage of Anthony Minghella's acclaimed 3-minute film, put together for Comic Relief's contribution to the Jubilee 2000 campaign.
BBC organised an online feature on debt to coincide with the broadcast of Comic Relief's Debt Wish Tour and the run-up to the Cologne Summit. It featured background on the campaign, a chat with Tony Robinson (known for his role as Baldrick in the renowned comedy series "Blackadder") and Gordon Brown, UK Chancellor, as well as audio and video BBC clips of footage of Honduras facing the debt crisis in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch and the Brits music awards which launched the British music industry support for Jubilee 2000.
The Guardian have dramatically increased their coverage of the campaign with detailed analysis of the debt proposals, editorials and a look at the human face of debt. During the week before Cologne, Ann Pettifor, Director of Jubilee 2000 Coalition in the UK, had a lively debate on the campaign with online readers.
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