Bono weighs in on Africa's future

U2 singer Bono believes that the future is bright for Africa. The celebrity activist says that Africa will soon become an economic powerhouse that may even eclipse China.

From the Guardian, writer John Mulholland inverviews Bono on his optimistic outlook for the continent.

Most people are saying that the 21st century will be China's. You say that it will be Africa's. Why?

Well, go talk to the Chinese. Why are they pumping so much investment into Africa? Why are they creating such a huge presence in Africa? They know where the future is. Ask them.

You know, these African lions are going to be a match for the Asian tigers. If the right economic plans are made and civic society can keep the vision honest, it will make our interest irrelevant. I never felt so good to feel so useless. These African lions will put us out of business.

I look at Mo Ibrahim and, although he might be an elder statesman, I see him as the new voice of Africa. People like him, they are drowning out our voices and so they should.

And so the future of aid in Africa is?

We mustn't forget that in general aid budgets are under threat, although thankfully not in the UK. And we mustn't forget that people's lives are dependent on it in the near term. And smart aid gets great results. A global alliance for vaccines has averted more than 5 million deaths this last decade and the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria saves more than 4,000 lives a day. It's just about getting the balance right for the future and ensuring our smart aid today builds self-sustaining systems for the future .

And in terms of aid, let's remember the good stories that came out of debt cancellation and the Gleneagles promises. Let's not forget these success stories. In most cases, as verified by the World Bank, Africa's governments spent that money wisely and pulled millions of people out of poverty and despair. And that has helped destroy the mythology that money is wasted.

But we mustn't forget that there are concrete things we can do to speed Africa's path to the future, things that don't involve money. As part of the global grassroots Publish What You Pay coalition, ONE has lately been focusing on the extractive industries. We've seen the rush to extract oil, gas and minerals from poorer countries across the world. Our concern is how best to protect those countries and ensure citizens benefit. How to stop them going down the road of other countries suffering from the resource curse. How can you do that?

So the movement we're part of lobbied for an amendment to a finance bill in the US last year, to make legally sure that companies that are taking resources out of Africa have to disclose what they pay governments for the right to do that.

Now we're seeing leaders in Europe catching on, with Sarkozy telling me he'll push this at the EU. We're also looking for British leadership on this. Our mission is to make this a global requirement. So eventually there'll be no place to hide, and civil society groups will be able to challenge their government if the money they are making from the nations' resources isn't being used in the right way. Mo Ibrahim has said that this deal is bigger than debt cancellation for Africa. I'm proud to support the "publish what you pay" campaign that has been leading this issue for years.

The Ibrahim interview

Bob Geldof is getting good at editing publications. Sir Geldof had earlier edited an issue of a magazine, this week Geldof and Bono were given control of Canada's Globe and Mail. The special issue was used as a preview of the G-8 summit coming to Canada later this year.

As a part of this issue, the Globe and Mail had an interview with Mo Ibrahim, African businessman turned government watchdog. Ibrahim built a mobile phone network in Africa, then sold it billions. He is now using part of the money in a foundation that calls for good governance in Africa. The foundation issues an annual award for good governance but that award had no winner last year.

From the Globe and Mail, writer Gordon Pitts interviews Ibrahim.

Is the idea of good governance progressing in African states?

We see slow improvement.

Why is it happening?

The end of the Cold War was essential for Africa. The superpowers used to have client states, to which they’d say: “It doesn’t matter if you are a dictator or not, as long as you are in my camp – in the scramble for resources or votes in the UN or whatever.” It made for bad company. I think the Cold War was worse for Africa than colonialism.

Now, we are starting to notice the rise of the civil society in Africa. And new technology: There are 450 million mobile phones in Africa now, out of 950 million people, so it has really enabled people to communicate with each other.

Do you agree with those who say aid is the problem, not the solution?

In most part, it is a silly discussion. Whenever there is disaster or famine somewhere, we cannot stand by and watch. On HIV, malaria, Darfur, or Somalia, we need to help our brothers and sisters. So there is not much discussion about humanitarian aid.

And we must really focus on developmental aid. We need to deliver better aid and untied aid. Actually, we need to deliver aid to end aid. Nobody in Africa loves to be a beggar, or a recipient of aid. Everywhere I go in Africa, people say ‘when are we going to stand up on our feet?’

Africa as a continent is rich, but Africans as a people are poor. The answer is governance. We really need to get our act together to improve the quality of life of our people. Developmental aid will speed up this process.

What about just borrowing more capital from banks?

That is just a fantasy. Unfortunately, our malfunctioning banking system doesn’t deal with Africa. They think Africa is too risky. You cannot rely on Goldman Sachs or whoever to really help – those guys just love subprime mortgages and all the other crap.

We should also support projects that help economic integration. Africa is disconnected. Internal African trade is about 8 per cent of the trade total. In Africa, we have 53 little countries and we are intentionally determined not to communicate and trade and move goods between each other. It’s stupid.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/g8-g20/africa/mo-ibrahims-search-for-good-governance/article1562666/

Controversial economist Moyo takes aim at rock stars

The economist Dambisya Moyo is making a lot of news lately to drum up sales for her latest book "Dead Aid". As a part of the book tour, the economist criticized rock stars who promote African Aid such as Bono and Bob Geldof.

Moyo is of the opinion that foreign aid breeds corruption. She claims that aid makes African leaders more accountable to the donors than to the African public.

From the Sydney Morning Herald, Damiem Murphy records Moyo's complaint to rock starts who try to drum up aid for Africa.

Finally somebody has shown the chutzpah to say "enough already" to those wealthy world-weary worrywarts Bono and Bob Geldof. Sydney-bound Dambisa Moyo, a Zambian-born economist, says the singers have glamorised aid to Africa to such an extent that it is damaging the very people it is supposed to help.

Moyo's book Dead Aid has received huge publicity in the US and Europe, not least because she is been bold enough to speak out against the beatific Bono and the sainted Sir Bob and such feel-good moments as the Live Aid concert of 1985.

Moyo, who is heading to Asia to promote her book, hopes to get to Sydney next month. "Celebrities have raised millions, but it only served to further corrupt governments with the leaders able to steal money without suffering any consequences for years while at the same time the people have been made further aid-dependent. Today Africa is far poorer than it was 40 years ago."

Moyo argues that aid has not only perpetuated African poverty, but also worsened it, and thinks it would be a good idea for all aid to be halted within five years. A firm believer in market forces, she thinks African countries should look towards other sources of finance as India and China did over the years when billions was being given to Africans.

"You get the corruption - historically, leaders have stolen the money without penalty - and you get the dependency, which kills entrepreneurship. You also disenfranchise African citizens, because the government is beholden to foreign donors and not accountable to its people."

"Stand Up Against Poverty" inspires a new U2 song

It was the largest demonstration that the world has ever seen. It broke a Guinness World Record for the "for the biggest mass mobilization on a single issue".

Yet it failed to make headlines here in the US. Was there any coverage on the 24 hour news networks about "Stand Up Against Poverty"?

Anyway, the protest has inspired Bono to write a new song on exactly what the protest was about, standing up to the leaders of the developed world, and make them be accountable to the promises they made.

Reuters interviewed Bono on carrying on the theme of "Stand Up Against Poverty in song. Lesley Wroughton talked with the rock star/activist.

"It's not finished yet but it's inspired by this concept of stand up. It's a little diamond, though," Bono said, speaking by telephone from Los Angeles.

"It's not a 'let's hold hands and the world is a better place sort of song.' It's more kick down the door of your own hypocrisy," he said.

"Although they were not a legal contract, and we wish they were, there is a moral contract that was made," Bono said.

"To break a promise to yourself, to your partner, to your family, a politician to his constituents, are all bad things to do -- but it's a heinous crime to make a promise to the poorest most vulnerable people on earth and break it. That's just not acceptable," he said.

He said while the MDGs may be "the worst acronym in the history of activism," the Stand Up and Take Action events around the world on Oct 17 to 19 showed that people knew what they stand for.

"The numbers show that people are aware that those promises were made and why politicians can't think 'oh we can get away with it because no one really knows about it'" Bono said.

Bono praises McCain, Obama and Americans

from CNN

Global activist and U2 frontman Bono attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York to push world leaders to join his ONE campaign in fighting disease, poverty, and hunger. He talked to CNN's John Roberts on "American Morning" about recent successes and what's next.

ROBERTS: All this talk has been about the economy collapsing, $700 billion bailout. Congress is absolutely absorbed with that. Did that in any way affect what you were trying to do this week? Are people more focused on this economy than in helping out developing nations?

BONO: We got good news this week. I know normally I'm on your program with bad news -- the whingeing rock star -- but it's great. There's a disease, malaria -- it's 3,000 African kids die every day of mosquito bites. Sounds mad, but it's true. And people have committed and it looks like the funds are on the table so that that disease will be no more by 2015. That makes people like me punch the air and everyone who wears a ONE T-shirt and all our white band campaigners on college campuses all over the country -- it was a great day for them yesterday so we're celebrating that. I know it's extraordinary, that while you're having this meltdown on the markets, that people could even concentrate on this stuff, but I'm really grateful that they did. We had both [presidential] candidates make very powerful statements about the necessity for nonmilitary tools, for instance, in foreign policy. This is an America that both candidates want to show to the rest of the world -- the greatness of America.

ROBERTS: So you're hearing what you want to hear from these candidates?

BONO: Yeah. And you couldn't imagine a few years ago that you would have candidates so close to an election talking about this stuff, so yeah. Video Watch Bono say how he uses his star status on politicians »

ROBERTS: You were talking to Christine Romans outside the studio, who just did that piece for us a few minutes ago on what else could you do with $700 billion. What could you do with $700 billion?

BONO: We wouldn't be asking for that kind of money. These are serious matters, people have lost their jobs. But I think the bill for the whole world -- so America would be like a third of it -- for $25 billion you could absolutely change the world. You could put kids in school, most kids in school. You could eradicate diseases like malaria, as we're saying. We could change the water supplies. But what's important is that people who want to change the world, want to see their country, they see it as a patriotic act to show the world innovation of America, technology of America, pharmacology of America.

ROBERTS: For $25 billion, you could put every kid who's out of school in the world into school? That seems like a lot of people for $25 billion. Pretty good return on your investment.

BONO: It's a great return on investment. You heard me on your program before talking about debt cancellation. Strangely Americans don't know that because of debt cancellation there are already an extra 29 million African children in school. That's incredible. Because people got out on the streets on the (RED) campaign and stuff like that, there's now 2.5 million Africans on AIDS drugs, which are expensive. So your country is turning for me in the right direction on these issues.

ROBERTS: So you're hearing some of what you want to hear, particularly on the malaria issues. But the European Union had promised to increase aid by $50 billion between 2005 and 2010. It looks like they're going to fall $40 billion short.

BONO: They are, but they're still ahead of America. That's the bad news. You don't want to get me into the ring.

ROBERTS: Absolutely! Come on.

BONO: We've had meetings with Sarkozy this week as well as talking with McCain and Palin and as well as always talking with the Obama campaign. We do keep up the pressure on the Europeans, but the Europeans are way ahead of America on aid, just to put it in context. But you're right. They're not coming through on all of it. We will torture them too. That's our job.

ROBERTS: You talk a lot about these United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Let me go over a couple of those. It was supposed cut global poverty in half by the year 2015. Universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment by 2010. Begin to reverse the incidence of malaria by 2015. How far along that road are we?

BONO: The Millennium Development Goals are in a bit of trouble. It is astonishing to me ...

ROBERTS: Whose fault is that?

BONO: You know, politicians. They love signing checks, but they don't like cashing them. They love the photograph. These G-8 meetings, you'll see myself and my partner Bob Geldof arm-wrestling with politicians up against the wall.

Link to full article. May expire in future.

Bono, Geldof hammer G8 for aid "disgrace"

from Africasia

High profile rockers-turned-campaigners Bob Geldof and Bono on Wednesday hammered G8 countries for falling far behind in aid pledges to Africa and urged France to take a stand as next EU president to end the "disgrace".

Flanked by French tennis star Yannick Noah and Benin singer Angelique Kidjo, the pair of Irish rock'n'roll aid icons said a 2005 pledge by G8 nations to deliver an extra 22 billion dollars to Africa by 2010 was currently only 14 percent fulfilled.

"It is a disgrace that the rich world has failed so miserably," said Geldof. "It is a disgrace that the lucky part of the world give a small fraction of its wealth to poor who live just 12 kilometres away," he said, referring to the smallest distance between Europe and Africa.

With French aid to Africa cut back last year and the country due to take on the key post of rotating European Union presidency next month, President Nicolas Sarkozy had a special role to play, the campaigners said.

"European credibility is on the line," Bono said.

Yet aid reaching the world's poorest continent was making a measurable difference on the ground, the celebrity activists said.

Around 100,000 African lives a month now were being saved through programmes run by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, said its executive director Michel Kazatchkine.

Increased assistance meant more than two million Africans were on life-saving AIDS medication against only 50,000 five years ago, while 29 million children had entered school for the first time between 1999 and 2005.

"This is a continent that is going to take off," said Bono, referring to Africa's six percent annual growth rate.

"We are their neighbours, we should be their partners. If we fail, we have no right to that special relationship."

Ireland had done well out of aid, as had Germany and France, he added. "Aid is a necessary foundation for the building-blocks of the 21st century," said the U2 frontman.

Both Bono and Geldof were in Japan recently to urge Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to recapture Tokyo's position as the global leader in overseas development as the next G8 summit approaches in July in Hokkaido.

France's Sarkozy too, whom the pair have met several times, "could be a great help to us" in his six months at the EU helm, Bono said.

But as the country that propelled human rights onto the world stage, France must dig into its own pocket too to help Africa.

While Britain and the United States were on course to meet their G8 commitments, and Germany had taken difficult steps, France needed to pump up its aid flows "in the next few weeks so we can say we have at least half of the G8 on course," Bono said.

[Book excerpt] Forgiving debt could change the world

from The Tennessean

Rock star Bono leads the way in helping the 'bottom billion'

By CHARLES M. NORTH and BOB SMIETANA
Excerpted from Good Intentions

In 1985, not long after performing in the Live Aid concert, which raised more than $200 million for famine relief in Africa, the Irish rock star Bono and his wife, Ali, traveled to Ethiopia. There they spent five weeks working with the Christian charity World Vision at an orphanage and food-distribution program. The lead singer of U2 wanted to find out about poverty and famine firsthand. What he saw seemed beyond belief: a nation of proud, almost regal people reduced to absolute, wretched poverty. In recalling that trip, Bono told Brian Williams of NBC News about "waking up in northern Ethiopia and mist leaving the ground and watching people coming, walking all through the night, coming, thousands of them coming to a feeding station to beg for food—to beg for their lives."

When it came time to leave, Bono told Ali that he would never forget what he had seen in Ethiopia. "Of course, you'll forget," she replied.

She was right. There are some problems too big even for a rock star to solve. Despite his best intentions, the challenge of poverty in Africa was something the then-twentysomething Bono was not ready to grapple with. So, Bono went back to "life as normal" in the developed world. He lost himself in work and family, putting thoughts of Ethiopia out of his mind.

Like many Christians who try to address global poverty, Bono realized that the problems poor people face appear insurmountable. A billion people live on less than one dollar a day. Many governments and economies in poor countries are in shambles. AIDS, famine, malaria, contaminated drinking water, and disease conspire to kill millions each year. According to a report from the World Health Organization, 22,000 people die each day from poverty-related causes, most of which are preventable.

People living on less than a dollar a day suffer from "extreme poverty." They miss more meals than they eat and live in ramshackle housing, without even the basics of a roof and a chimney. They lack basic clothing items such as shoes, have no clean water or access to sanitation, and have little or no health care; their children rarely attend school at all; their babies die at dramatically high rates; and poor nutrition makes 10-year-old children as small as American 7-year-olds. Extreme poverty means that life is a daily struggle to survive, and too many lose the fight. As William Easterly, a former World Bank economist, puts it, poverty is "dying babies, starving children, and oppression of women and the downtrodden."

To put the numbers in perspective, consider this. In 1981, more than 1.4 billion people lived in extreme poverty. Since then, thanks mainly to the remarkable economic growth of China, India and other Southeast Asian countries, more than 400 million people have been lifted from that misery. Left behind, however, are the "bottom billion"—a group more than three times the population of the United States, living in desperate, almost unspeakable conditions and with little hope of escape. One out of every six people in the world falls into this category.

Unlike the rest of the world, things have gotten dramatically worse in sub-Saharan Africa, where the number of people living in extreme poverty has nearly doubled since 1981, and where war, famine, and AIDS claim millions of lives each year.

In the 1990s, nearly a decade after his first trip to Africa, Bono began to see a ray of hope. When he learned that African nations were paying more than $250 million per month, more than had been raised at Live Aid, to repay loans to the world, he found a cause to believe in. Most of that loan money had been squandered by inept governments or stolen by kleptocratic leaders like Mobutu Sese Seko, who allegedly pocketed more than $5 billion during 30 years as president of what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. If the burden of those loans could be lifted, and enough new aid money for relief and development could be spent in the developing world, then the bottom billion might stand a fighting chance.

That's the argument he made in 2004, while speaking to leaders of the British Labour Party, which included current Prime Minister Gordon Brown and former Prime Minister Tony Blair. The plan was already working, Bono said. In Uganda, where debt had been canceled, "three times as many children" were going to school. Still, more had to be done; so Bono asked the British government to "double aid, double its effectiveness, and double trouble for corrupt leaders" in Africa.

Bono pleads for the poor

While speaking in the United States at the 2006 National Prayer Breakfast, Bono made an impassioned plea for what is known as the "ONE Campaign," which aspires to "make poverty history." Following up on debt relief pledged but not fully delivered by the G8 summit, a gathering of some of the wealthiest and most powerful countries in the world, the ONE Campaign wants the United States and other rich nations to spend an additional 1 percent of their national budgets to provide "clean water for all; school for every child; medicine for the afflicted, an end to extreme and senseless poverty."

"One percent is not merely a number on a balance sheet," Bono said.

One percent is the girl in Africa who gets to go to school, thanks to you. One percent is the AIDS patient who gets her medicine, thanks to you. One percent is the African entrepreneur who can start a small family business, thanks to you. One percent is not redecorating presidential palaces or money flowing down a rat hole. This one percent is digging water holes to provide clean water.

Bono made the same comments a few months later at a leadership conference sponsored by Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, Ill. After sharing the story of how he came to faith in Jesus, Bono said that he had experienced a second conversion while visiting Africa and seeing firsthand how poverty destroys people's lives. He asked the more than 8,000 leaders gathered at Willow Creek (and more than 70,000 others who tuned in via satellite) to get their churches involved in ending "stupid poverty," the kind that causes children to die from easily curable diseases.

So is Bono right? Can forgiving debt and the ONE Campaign save the bottom billion? And should Christians act to make these visions come true, to make extreme poverty "history"?

Bono's Willow Creek remarks followed an address by Bill Hybels, the church's pastor. He told a story about a recent trip he had taken to a village in Zambia. Willow Creek feeds and educates about 1,100 AIDS orphans in that village, so that at least in that one place "there are no AIDS orphans uncared for," Hybels said.

One day, Hybels met an old woman who was dragging a bag of a life-sustaining maize product given out by the church. She was caring for two orphans and two of her grandchildren, and the five of them were dragging the bag along the road. Hybels offered to carry the bag to her home, which was about two miles away. During that journey, Hybels said, he had a moment of "penetrating clarity." When church leaders are faithful and effective, he said, when they preach the Word of God and help people come to faith and teach them that to be a follower of Jesus Christ means to have compassion for the poor and to care about widows and orphans, "then people live." If church leaders fail to do these things, "people die."

Bono pleased at Japan's pledge to double aid, but wants more

from Africasia

Rock star and poverty activist Bono said Tuesday that Japan's pledge to double its aid to Africa was "a fantastic news" but poor nations deserve more, a day before an African development meeting in Yokohama.

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is expected to formally announce the plan -- which will see assistance doubled by 2012 -- at the conference this week.

A Tokyo official last week said the money was part of Japan's efforts to help the impoverished continent fight poverty and civil war.

"The Japanese government told us about doubling aid. It's a fantastic news. But you have to ask the question, is it really doubling the aid, or just one piece of aid?" Bono told reporters after giving a speech at Tokyo's Keio University.

"The bilateral aid was doubled, but we have to see now as we're going to G8, if the whole of the aid, multilateral aid, will be doubled?" he said, referring to the summit of the Group of Eight richest nations that Japan hosts in July.

The aid to international organisations such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation also needs to be doubled, said the U2 frontman, a guest at the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV), which begins on Wednesday.

"I think that the Japanese people want it. It's going to happen," he said.

Japan has long used aid as a key diplomatic tool. It was the world's leading donor in 1991, but its overall assistance is slipping as it tightens its belt to deal with massive debts.

During his speech to some 800 university students, Bono said "the poorest of the poor deserve more than" Tokyo's pledge.

Asked about what he expects ahead of TICAD IV, he said: "The best success story in Southeast Asia was started from Japan. So we've come hear to learn from you, how'd you do things better in Africa?"

Bono says Germany's efforts to help fight poverty have made him a fan

from the Canadian Press

BERLIN — Bono's got some kind words for Germany.

"This new Germany" is not shy about showing the world what values are worth fighting for, the activist and U2 co-founder said Tuesday. Bono made the remarks after meeting with lawmakers to tell them about efforts to fight poverty and stem the spread of malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis in the developing world.

Speaking to lawmakers, Bono said his visit was aimed at letting them know that using money to fight poverty was helping.

"They should know that their cooperation has had some success," he said, adding that efforts by Debt AIDS Trade Africa and others were producing real results in Africa and elsewhere.

"The good news, help works," Bono said, referring to a 2007 aid package that he said could save up to four million lives in the coming three years. The rock star also praised a debt relief law passed by the government of former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, which Bono said let another 29 million children in Africa attend school.

Bono encouraged German lawmakers to continue working toward halving global poverty by 2015 as part of the UN's Millennium Goals program.

"That's why I'm a fan of Germany and why I want to come back," he said.

Bono meets Pentagon chief to discuss poverty

from Reuters

WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - U2 lead singer and activist Bono visited the Pentagon to discuss Africa and the fight against global poverty with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, representatives of the two men said on Wednesday.

Among the topics at the 20-minute meeting on Tuesday afternoon were U.S. plans to set up a new U.S. military command for Africa, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.

"I think this was a chance for two people who care about the problems facing the continent of Africa to talk about their shared interest in solving those problems," Morrell said of the meeting that was not publicized in advance.

A spokeswoman for DATA, the group co-founded by Bono to fight poverty and AIDS in Africa, said the singer had been in Washington to meet members of budget committees in Congress.

"He also met with Secretary Gates to discuss global poverty and the connection between fighting poverty and peace and stability," Kathy McKiernan said.

Bono has met frequently with world leaders to push for spending on foreign aid and debt relief. But this was his first meeting with Gates, a former director of the CIA who replaced Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon in December 2006. (Reporting by Andrew Gray; editing by David Wiessler)

"In the Name of Love: Africa Celebrates U2"

from Jazz Quad

On April 1, 2008, Shout! Factory will release In The Name Of Love: Africa Celebrates U2, an album celebrating the music, culture and future of Africa, and an unprecedented musical homage to Bono and U2 for their ongoing humanitarian relief efforts aiding the beloved continent. A portion of the record's proceeds will directly benefit The Global Fund.

Produced by Shawn Amos and Paul Heck, In The Name Of Love: Africa Celebrates U2 features Grammy Award-winning/nominated African artists as well as top up-and-coming talents including Angelique Kidjo, Les Nubians, Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, Vieux Farka Tour, Vusi Mahlasela and the Soweto Gospel Choir. Initially inspired by his work in South Africa while running the Quincy Jones Listen Up Foundation, Amos re-entered the music industry with a heartfelt initiative to cultivate greater awareness of the emerging socio-economic success stories happening within many of the country's regions. Amos, a longtime fan of U2, witnessed Bono's direct philanthropic impact via the launch of the ONE campaign and (RED), and his poignant outspoken public commentary on the immediate financial needs facing Africa.

Amos felt it was essential that African musicians unite and collectively share their voices of pride, accomplishment and appreciation for both their native country and icons like Bono who've substantially embraced the fight against the global AIDS crisis, extreme poverty and the spread of malaria. On December 1, 2006 at the World AIDS Day benefit concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Amos approached Red Hot producer Paul Heck about co-producing In The Name Of Love: Africa Celebrates U2. Several notable African artists were performing as part of Heck's live production of Red Hot + Riot: The Music and Spirit of Fela Kuti including Les Nubians, Tony Allen, Cheikh L and Keziah Jones. Heck expressed support for the budding project, and quickly became an invaluable partner with his strong ties to various well-established African artists and knowledge of a handful of buzz-worthy upstarts. Together, they consulted with the artists appearing at the World AIDS Day event, bringing Amos' personal dream a step closer to becoming a reality.

“Paul and I wanted to develop an easy entry point for the growing global community where they could get more involved and learn something deeper about Africa,” says Amos. “It's really a focus on the key successes of several regions, and the African artists who originate from these areas. It's our goal for the public to learn more about all the good that's happening in Africa. We are trying to garner excitement about the culture, in addition to drawing people toward the struggles of Darfur, etc. This is a project which celebrates Africa!”

12 original interpretations of classic U2 hit songs and some of their more obscure material are featured on In The Name Of Love: Africa Celebrates U2. The collection kicks off with Angelique Kidjo's powerful multilingual cover of the 1991 chart-topper, “Mysterious Ways.” Aerosmith's Joe Perry joins Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars for an upbeat, guitar-driven take on “Seconds,” a track from U2's third studio release, War (1983). Rising Malian star Vieux Farka Tour offers a trancy, Sahara Desert blues-influenced rendition of “Bullet The Blue Sky,” an absolute standout performance of one of U2's most-played live in concert tunes. Additional highlights include Les Nubians dubbed-out dancefloor ready version of “With Or Without You,” the Soweto Gospel Choir's epic a cappella version of “Pride In The Name Of Love,” and Tony Allen's Afrobeat translation of “Where The Streets Have No Name.” Paul Heck notes that, “I was amazed when we approached the artists of how quickly they chose the songs they wanted to do. Many of them grew up listening to U2, and knew the songs so well.”

In The Name Of Love: Africa Celebrates U2 sets itself apart from an array of other tribute albums as Amos and Heck have captured a compassionate human element at its core. The liner notes include demographic information, e.g., each artist's country of origin, date of independence, population size, main export, major issue facing the region, recent actions taken to improve its current state, and relevant websites with additional information. All of the songs were recorded exclusively for this album, and a portion of its proceeds will directly benefit The Global Fund, the world's largest international financier of the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

Shout! Factory is a diversified entertainment company devoted to producing, uncovering and revitalizing the very best of pop culture - The Stuff You Grew Up On But Never Outgrew. Founders Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos have spent their careers sharing their music, television and film faves with discerning consumers the world over. Shout! Factory's DVD offerings serve up classic, contemporary and cult TV series, riveting sports programs, live music, animation and documentaries in lavish packages crammed with extras. The company's audio catalogue boasts Grammy-nominated boxed sets, new releases from storied artists and lovingly assembled album reissues. These riches are the result of a creative acquisitions mandate that has established the company as a hotbed of cultural preservation and commercial reinvention.

Bono at 'poverty task force' talks

from The Press Association via Google

U2 frontman Bono has attended talks aimed at improving Ireland's efforts to combat world poverty.

The Irish Hunger Task Force which also includes leading economists, aid experts and academics will meet in University College Cork.

The group is also due to travel to Malawi before compiling a report for the Government by next Summer.

The Task Force was launched by the Government in September 2006 and forms part of Ireland's efforts to achieve the first Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty and hunger by 2015.

The group will identify additional contributions Ireland can make to help in the international fight to reduce poverty.

Bono, who has become as famous for his aid work as for his music, is part of a panel of experts chaired by Joe Walsh, former Minister for Agriculture.

The Task Force discussions in Cork are the second set of discussions held by the panel.

Bono gets medal for his work in Africa

from The Charlotte Observer

PHILADELPHIA --
Irish rocker and activist Bono, accepting the Liberty Medal on Thursday night for his humanitarian work in Africa, exhorted Americans to keep working to solve the world's problems and spoke of those who are without freedom.

"When you are trapped by poverty, you are not free. When trade laws prevent you from selling the food you grew, you are not free," said Bono, wearing his trademark sunglasses even at night as he stood just steps away from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.

"When you are a monk in Burma this very week, barred from entering a temple because of your gospel of peace ... well, then none of us are truly free," he said.

Bono and the organization he co-founded - Debt AIDS Trade Africa - received the award from former Liberty Medal recipient Pres. George H.W. Bush at the National Constitution Center.

The award comes with a $100,000 prize, which Bono said will be donated to the organization. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former finance minister of Nigeria who sits on the group's policy advisory board, accepted the award for the Washington-based group.

Bono, who fronts the band U2, co-founded Debt AIDS Trade Africa in 2002 to work with religious groups on global disease and hunger issues.

In 2005, U2 also was a headliner for the Live 8 concerts held to raise awareness about African poverty and pressure world leaders to cancel debt for the poorest African nations.

Calling America "my country," Bono said he's a fan of the United States despite its problems because of the country's contributions to the world.

"Your America is where Neil Armstrong takes a walk on the moon," Bono said. "Your America gave Europe the Marshall Plan. Your America gave the world the Peace Corps."

"America is not just a country, it's an idea, isn't it? It's a great and powerful idea," he said. "The idea that all men are created equal, that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Bono exhorted Americans to pledge to continue to help the world.

"America has so many great answers to offer," he said. "We can't fix all the world's problems, but the ones we can we must."

The Liberty Medal was established in 1988 to honor individuals or organizations whose actions represent the founding principles of the United States.

Last year, former presidents Bush and Bill Clinton won the medal for putting politics aside to help raise more than $1 billion for disaster relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 tsunami in southeast Asia. Previous winners have included Afghan President Hamid Karzai, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

The medal was first awarded in 1989, and six recipients have subsequently won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Being hailed here 'a very big deal'

from The Philadelphia Inquirer

By Dan DeLuca

Inquirer Music Critic
When Bono was but a boy, the rock-star-to-be heard John Lennon whispering inspirational words in his ear.

"That changed the way the world looked outside my bedroom window when I was 12 years old," says Bono, lead singer of U2 and cofounder of DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa), a Washington-based advocacy group.

Tonight, Bono and DATA will be honored with the Liberty Medal at the National Constitution Center, whose president, Joseph M. Torsella, cited Bono for proving through his activism "that the office of 'citizen' is the most important in the world."

The award puts the 47-year-old Nobel Peace Prize nominee in rarefied company - over 18 years the award has gone to statesmen and justices, world leaders and scientists, to Nelson Mandela and Vaclav Havel, former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, now chairman of the Constitution Center.

On the phone from his home outside Dublin, Bono talks about the African triple killers of AIDS, malaria and extreme poverty. And he says accepting this medal in Philadelphia, the American home of both Live Aid and Live 8, is "a very big deal."

"In the American body politic," he says, "there's no poetry like the poetry of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution."

Bono doesn't just talk: He "speechifies." He may have a reputation as a pompous world-saver, but in conversation he's relentlessly charming and self-critical, referring to himself as "annoying," adding: "I'm sick of the sound of my own voice. I'm not kidding you." And he mocks the trademark tinted glasses that serve as his Superman's cape: "Without them, I'm an amorphous mass."

He says there's a symbiotic relationship between his day job as front man for one of the biggest rock bands in the world and his second career "moonlighting" as a celebrity agitator lobbying for aid and debt relief for Africa, "a magical, extraordinary place."

To show how he became convinced that music could save the world - growing up in Dublin as the son of an amateur opera-singer father and a mother he lost when he was 14 - he starts to sing.

"Oh my love for the first time in my life, my eyes can see," he sings, slipping into Lennon's "Oh My Love" a cappella. "I see the flowers, oh I see the trees, nothing is clearer in our world."

"That was, like, church," he recalls. "It just made me think - when Bob Dylan was added into that mix, and later, Joe Strummer - that the world, you could kick it into shape a bit. You should never think that things have to be the way they are. You should always question it. And challenge it. And I think we've been doing that since the beginning."

Though tired of hearing his own brogue, he vows to continue to employ it. "Music gave me a soapbox, and I'm going to use it," he says with a laugh. "It gave me a platform and a loud-hailer [bullhorn]. It's put me in a place where people are foolish enough to listen to what I have to say. So use the moment."

U2 rose to superstardom in the 1980s with heroic, stadium-size anthems such as "I Will Follow" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." While his band mate The Edge's guitars rang out, Bono was the guy in the mullet literally waving a white flag. "I still am," he quips, "but with a better haircut."

U2 played at Live Aid, Bob Geldof's 1985 African famine charity concert. The next year Bono and his wife, Alison (the couple have four children), traveled to Ethiopia to work in an orphanage for six weeks.

"Once you become a witness," he says, "it becomes very hard to walk away, knowing you stand a good chance of landing a punch on the problem."

He didn't get deeply involved in African issues until the late '90s, when he joined the Jubilee Movement, a lobbying effort to erase the debt of the world's poorest countries and free up money for health care and education.

That marked the transition of Bono - real name Paul Hewson, but long known by a version of his teenage nickname, Bono Vox, which loosely translates from Latin as "good voice" - from rosy-eyed idealist to real-world pragmatist. He started hanging out with guys like Jeffrey Sachs, the economist who heads the U.N. Millennium Project, with whom he is pictured in GQ as two of 15 men "we believe will change our future."

Bono says his "least favorite verb in the English language is 'to dream.' I think these years that we're living in are about doing. Even Nike. . . figured that out."

So what's he done lately? Besides "reapplying for the job of best band in the world," beginning with U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind in 2000, he's been working as a professional persuader with leaders from George W. Bush to George Soros.

"Many of these stars are counseled by their agents to show a human side," says Sen. Richard Durbin (D., Ill.), who has worked with the rocker on global AIDS issues. "Bono's different. He's clearly committed, and he knows what he's talking about."

And he uses his celebrity, Durbin says, as a super-lobbyist on both sides of the ideological divide. "He can get in to see the president, or Jesse Helms. I don't know that anybody can say no to Bono."

That's because the guy who cofounded DATA, and the anti-poverty One campaign, isn't just another activist. He's Bono, who joined with Geldof in organizing Live 8, guest-edited the July issue of Vanity Fair on Africa, and spearheaded the product (Red) campaign, the alliance with retailers like Apple and the Gap to raise money to supply antiretroviral drugs for HIV-positive people in Africa.

Along the way, the singer skewered by the Mekons in 1989 as "the Dublin messiah, scattering crumbs" has come in for plenty of flak. Paul Theroux, in a New York Times op-ed piece called "The Rock Star's Burden," argued that by treating Africa as a place that needs to be saved, Westerners do more harm than good. And (Red) has been attacked for making self-satisfied consumers feel they can eradicate AIDS by buying a T-shirt at the Gap.

Bono, a former teenage chess prodigy who tries to think ahead, has heard the criticisms.

"They say the real route out of extreme poverty is to grow the middle class. Growth, opportunity, commerce. I agree with them. But having been in rooms where we see people begging for their lives, where there's not even rage in their eyes, I have to ask: What are we going to do in the meantime?"

The (Red) campaign, says the 5-foot-7 rocker, uses the same strategy as Achtung Baby, the 1991 U2 album. "It's like judo," Bono says. "You use the force of what's coming at you - all this media, all this commerce - to defend yourself." (Red) has raised $45 million, he says.

For his activism to be effective, Bono knows that U2, which is working on a new album with producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, must make music that resonates.

"There's enormous pressure to be relevant," says the singer, who feels that "great music is written by people who are either running toward or away from God." (Count him among the former.) "Which is different than successful, and a lot harder."

Harder still is the task of pressuring world leaders to live up to meeting goals like the $25 billion pledge by the G8 in 2005 for African development by 2010.

For the Irishman who plans to wear his leopard-skin boxer shorts - yes, he'll have pants over them - to tonight's gala, the key is to get the American people on his side.

"What I love about America started in Philadelphia," Bono says. "It's the expression of those values that the world needs to see. The America that liberated Omaha Beach, that rebuilt Europe with the Marshall Plan. That put a man on the moon.

"That's the trick. That's how we hold them accountable. It won't be because Bono is in or out of a photograph. . . . It'll be because the American people want to show the world what they're capable of."

Bono to lead singers 'for the poor' at G8 summit

from Inspire Magazine

U2 lead singer Bono will be heading a group of artists as they perform an alternative programme at the Group of Eight (G8) Summit, concert organisers have announced.

With the slogan Your Voice against Poverty, Bono and German singer-song writer Herbert Gronemeyer will hold the concert in Rostock, near Heiligendamm, on June 7.

Heads of State and government of Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, US, Canada, Japan, and Russia will attend the summit to be held in Rostock city from June 6 to 8.

Bono was honoured earlier this month at the 38th NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) Image Awards for his contribution to the fight against Aids and global poverty.

The NAACP and The ONE Campaign announced an unprecedented new alliance at the awards, joining together for the first time in a life-saving partnership in the fight against global Aids and extreme poverty in Africa and the world’s poorest countries.

Bono to Host ’Your Voice Against Poverty’ Concert at G8 Summit

from Christian Today

by Kevin Donovan

U2’s frontman Bono will be heading a group of renowned singers as they perform an alternative programme at the Group of Eight (G8) Summit, concert organisers have announced.

With the slogan ‘Your Voice against Poverty’, Bono and German singer-song writer Herbert Gronemeyer will hold the concert in Rostock, near Heiligendamm, on June 7.

Heads of State and government of Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, US, Canada, Japan, and Russia will attend the summit to be held in Rostock city from June 6 to 8.

Bono was honoured earlier this month at the 38th NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) Image Awards for his contribution to the fight against Aids and global poverty.

The NAACP and The ONE Campaign announced an unprecedented new alliance at the awards, joining together for the first time in a life-saving partnership in the fight against global Aids and extreme poverty in Africa and the world’s poorest countries.

Bono to be Honoured at NAACP Awards for AIDS and Poverty Work

from Christian Today

U2's Bono is to be honoured at the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) Image Awards tonight for his contribution to the fight against AIDS and global poverty.

by Gretta Curtis

U2's Bono is to be honoured at the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) Image Awards tonight for his contribution to the fight against AIDS and global poverty.

The organisation will present the singer with the Chairman's Award during tonight's ceremony. Other special honourees include Bill Cosby and Soledad O'Brien.

In other news, the US-based audio Bible, which features some of Hollywood’s biggest names, was recently chosen as a nominee for “Outstanding Gospel Artist - Traditional or Contemporary” in the 38th NAACP Image Awards.

Released by Zondervan, Inspired By... The Bible Experience: New Testament Audio CD is a dramatised reading of the entire New Testament. It includes voices from over 200 prominent actors, including Blair Underwood (Jesus), Samuel L Jackson (God), Angela Bassett (Esther), Denzel Washington (Solomon), Cuba Gooding Jr (Judas).

Other nominees for the NAACP Awards include Gnarls Barkley, Chris Brown, Mary J. Blige, Beyonce, Corinne Bailey Rae, Fantasia, India.Arie, Prince and Jay-Z.

The awards will air live in the US this Friday 2 March, on FOX Channel.

Bono prods US Congress to fight AIDS, poverty

from Yahoo News via AFP

U2 megastar Bono met with incoming Democratic leaders of the US Congress in his bid to increase awareness about the world fight against AIDS and poverty, lawmakers said.

House of Representatives "Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi and incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid met with Bono ... to discuss the importance of increased funding for global AIDS and poverty initiatives," the lawmakers' offices said in a joint statement.

The Irish singer, an untiring advocate of boosting rich nations' participation in the fight against disease and poverty, went to the White House in February to ask
President George W. Bush for more US aid to end world poverty.

Bono urges Japan to lead fight against poverty

from The Guardian

Justin McCurry in Tokyo

Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, received a ringing endorsement from the unlikeliest of people today: the outspoken rock singer and poverty campaigner Bono.
The U2 singer, who is in Japan on the latest leg of the band's Vertigo 2006 tour, ditched his usual criticism of rich nations and said the world could learn from Japan's commitment to developing countries.

"The world doesn't really understand that Japan in the 90s led the world not just as a percentage contribution to the world's poor but as the volume contribution," he told reporters after the meeting at Mr Abe's office.

Despite evidence that Japan is dragging its heels on the millennium development goals agreed at last year's G8 summit, Bono said he believed Tokyo would make good on its promises.

"Japan made a promise in the G8 in Gleneagles to double its aid to Africa," he said. "Some countries make promises and they don't keep them. Japan, we trust to fulfil their promise, and the world believes in the honour of a Japanese promise."

Bono suggested that Mr Abe's popular image as a rather dour, quiet man was wide of the mark. "I found prime minister Abe to be a very warm man, very interested in these issues, and I was surprised he gave me twice the time I was asking for," he said.

The singer lauded Japan's pivotal role in setting up a global fund to fight Aids, TB and malaria in 2000, saying that hundreds of thousands of people are now receiving the drugs they need thanks to the initiative. "I told the prime minister that this is one of the greatest ideas of the 20th century," he said.

Japan's efforts to help the developing world have been hit by falling aid budgets and a lack of popular interest in Africa's problems.

In return for Mr Abe's pledge to continue the fight against global poverty and disease, Bono presented the Japanese leader with a pair of his trademark Giorgio Armani "Red" sunglasses, which are sold partly to fund Aids programmes.

Mr Abe then showed he could be every bit as rock 'n' roll as his new friend by immediately trying them on. "I've always seen George Bush looking at my sunglasses ... and George Bush never put them on," Bono said. "The last pope put them on, and prime minister Abe - very cool."