Bono, Geldof, Hertz, Labour Party Conference and the G8 NGOs
repost | 25.09.2004 00:40 | G8 2005 | Globalisation | London
Scotsman covers bono run up to Labour Party Conference.
Expect a lot more of this in next week as the PR machines get up to speed.
Expect a lot more of this in next week as the PR machines get up to speed.
Bono still hasn't found what he is looking for: debt relief
http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=1123652004
STEPHEN McGINTY
Sat 25 Sep 2004
WHEN Bono takes to the stage next Wednesday afternoon peering through his trademark wraparound shades, the audience will be composed, not of screaming fans, but the sober-suited ranks of the Labour Party conference.
Brighton is the latest stop in an unconventional tour - both Republican and Democratic party conventions have already been addressed - by a man described in the US political press as "the world’s second most important politician".
Enjoying the spotlight of guest speaker, an appellation previously given to political heavyweights such as Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela, the lead singer of U2 (real name Paul Hewson), will challenge the government to help eradicate Third World debt.
He will argue that the technology and financial resources now exist, for the first time in human history, to wipe out global poverty, and that the only thing lacking is the political will. He is expected to explain how, in 2005 - the 20th anniversary of the Live Aid concerts - a huge coalition of churches and organisations, under the banner name Make Poverty History, will rally in Edinburgh on 2 July, the eve of the G8 summit at Gleneagles Hotel, to engender that political will.
The singer recently said: "2005 is our chance to go down in history for what we did do, rather than what we didn’t do. This campaign is critical and is coming to a stadium and pulpit near you."
Noreena Hertz is well-placed to judge Bono’s sincerity and his chances of success. The distinguished fellow at the University of Cambridge has been described as the "Nigella Lawson of economics" on account of her elegant looks and her capacity to make the laws of supply and demand seem sexy. A more appropriate soubriquet would be "Bono’s brain".
The singer derived so much food for thought from her first book, The Silent Takeover, a critique of globalisation, that he co-operated with her on her most recent work, IOU: The Debt Threat and Why We Must Defuse It.
She has also contributed briefing papers to Bob Geldof and DATA (debt, AIDS, trade, Africa), the lobby group founded by Bono in 2002.
"Everyone I spoke to reiterated how hard Bono has worked on debt cancellation," explained Ms Hertz, who is speaking in Edinburgh next month. "He is an incredibly knowledgeable guy. In conversations with him I can talk at the same level as I would with any economist back at Cambridge.
"But he has more than just knowledge, he has tenacity. He’s prepared to pound up and down the corridors of power, attend meetings and do what has to be done to move these ideas forward. He’s not into playing politics to sell records. He is genuinely passionate about it."
A particular passion for the plight of Africa was kindled after the applause of Live Aid had died away. In the summer of 1985 Bono and his wife, Ali, spent a few months as volunteers at an orphanage in Ethiopia. It was an experience he has never forgotten. So 14 years later, in 1999, when Jamie Drummond, a debt campaigner with Jubilee 2000, requested his help in persuading the American political establishment to commit to debt cancellation, he gave his full support.
Extensively briefed on the issue by Jeffrey Sachs, an economics professor at Harvard University, Bono quickly became a more successful and articulate advocate of debt cancellation than even Bob Geldof, his close friend and founder of Band Aid.
As Geldof explained: "He’s charming, he’s persuasive. And the politicians can go home to their daughters and say: ‘I had a meeting with Bono today’."
The difference between the two men’s approach was clearly demonstrated during a lunch at the Berkeley Hotel in London with James Wolfensohn, the head of the World Bank. Bono told Hertz: "Yeah, Bob was like, you ****ing this and you ****ing that, and how can you ****ing sit here in your ****ing seat, you ****. And Jim Wolfensohn is a real debonair sort of gentlemen, and he looked over at me with that look of ‘help’ on his face. But we got on."
In the US, Bono’s devout Christianity endeared him to even the most tight-fisted Republican senators. Jesse Helms, the Republican senator and chairman of the Senate committee on foreign affairs, a notoriously conservative and gruff man, shed tears during his meeting with the singer as they discussed scripture and their children. Mr Helms became a powerful ally.
George Bush, who has pledged $5 billion to fight world poverty, explained this during a meeting with the singer: "I appreciate your heart and to tell you what an influence you have had, Dick Cheney walked into the Oval Office and he said: ‘Jesse Helms wants us to listen to Bono’s ideas’."
The singer insists his approach is pragmatic: "We don’t argue compassion. We put it in the most crass terms possible: we argue it as a financial and security issue for America."
He can also lend additional star appeal. In 2002 when he persuaded Paul O’Neill, the US treasury secretary, to accompany him on a ten-day tour of African states, he also persuaded Chris Rock, the film star and comedian, to join them.
THE singer, however, does have his critics. In March 2002, Time magazine ran a cover story headlined: ‘Can Bono Save the World?’ A new book, Bono The Puppet by Aleksandar Mitic, a journalist and Tony Dosen, a marketing executive, to be published later this year, will argue that he cannot, and will say that he has achieved very little.
The singer, they argue, is like Woody Allen’s Zelig, "a person popping up everywhere, being at the focus of world events, hanging out with the world’s key actors" but who has little to show for his efforts. "Where are the results?" said Mitic, who is based in Belgrade. "There is a lot of talk, a lot of op-ed pieces, a lot of publicity stunts and photo ops, but very few results."
The Edge, the band’s lead guitarist, is said to have been concerned that Bono’s continual campaigning and public meetings with conservative leaders such as Mr Bush and Mr Helms threaten the band’s image. Bono responded: "I said: ‘I’d have lunch with Satan if there was so much at stake.’ It is very important not to play politics with this. Millions of lives are being lost for the stupidest of reasons: money."
A scrutiny of the statistics illustrate how far he and his campaigners have to go. At the G8 Summit in Cologne in 1999, the world’s richest nations agreed to cancel $100 billion of debt for the 42 most heavily indebted poor countries. By May 2003 just $36.3 billion had been cleared.
Yet the issues of concern to DATA extend beyond writing off debt. In 2005 they hope to make real progress in forcing the G8’s hand on foreign aid. In 1974 each member promised to donate 0.7 per cent of their GNP, but 30 years on they donate less than half this figure. Britain, for example, is on course to donate 0.47 per cent, the equivalent of £3 billion, by 2008.
The UN’s Millennium Summit in 2000 pledged to cut by 50 per cent the number of people living in absolute poverty, those who survive on less than $1 a day, by 2015. Five years later this remains a distant dream. Another concern to Bono is the issue of fair trade with the Third World. In the 1980s and 1990s Third World countries agreed to cut and cap the subsidies they gave their farmers as part of reforms insisted upon by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, who also demanded steep cuts on duties on imported food.
In return, the richer nations promised to reduce their own subsidies, a move that has never materialised. As a result, countries such as Haiti are flooded with cheap rice, while their own farmers have lost their indigenous market.
But Paul Chitnis, the chief executive of the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund, (SCIAF) believes Bono’s work is invaluable in attracting the interest of a new generation. "I’ve heard him speak and, for a rock star, he is remarkably well-informed and articulate. His strength is that he can take a complicated subject and make it ‘trendy’ and of interest to a much wider audience."
In his own words
"We're in this position - I think it's our duty to abuse it." Power goes to Bono’s head, 1993
"A hardened terrorist is not going to put down his weapon because Bono says war is bad."
Bono, 2002
"There are potentially another ten Afghanistans in Africa, and it is cheaper by a factor of 100 to prevent the fires than to put them out."
Bono, 2002
"The US was the neighbourhood bully, inept in the foreign policy, beating up on the wrong guy everywhere. With The Joshua Tree, we were writing about Central America and the dark side of the US. Now, America looks smart and dare I say it, sexy again."
Bono, 2002
"We are always beating Tony and Gordon up for not doing enough, but today we have to say this is extraordinary."
Bono, after the Prime Minister and the Chancellor pledged to spend £1.5 billion tackling AIDS in poorer countries, 2004
"We are the first generation that can end not just AIDS, but extreme poverty. For the first time in history, we have the brains, we have the cash, we have the drugs. But, do we have the will?"
Bono, 2004
http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=1123652004 STEPHEN McGINTY
Sat 25 Sep 2004
WHEN Bono takes to the stage next Wednesday afternoon peering through his trademark wraparound shades, the audience will be composed, not of screaming fans, but the sober-suited ranks of the Labour Party conference.
Brighton is the latest stop in an unconventional tour - both Republican and Democratic party conventions have already been addressed - by a man described in the US political press as "the world’s second most important politician".
Enjoying the spotlight of guest speaker, an appellation previously given to political heavyweights such as Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela, the lead singer of U2 (real name Paul Hewson), will challenge the government to help eradicate Third World debt.
He will argue that the technology and financial resources now exist, for the first time in human history, to wipe out global poverty, and that the only thing lacking is the political will. He is expected to explain how, in 2005 - the 20th anniversary of the Live Aid concerts - a huge coalition of churches and organisations, under the banner name Make Poverty History, will rally in Edinburgh on 2 July, the eve of the G8 summit at Gleneagles Hotel, to engender that political will.
The singer recently said: "2005 is our chance to go down in history for what we did do, rather than what we didn’t do. This campaign is critical and is coming to a stadium and pulpit near you."
Noreena Hertz is well-placed to judge Bono’s sincerity and his chances of success. The distinguished fellow at the University of Cambridge has been described as the "Nigella Lawson of economics" on account of her elegant looks and her capacity to make the laws of supply and demand seem sexy. A more appropriate soubriquet would be "Bono’s brain".
The singer derived so much food for thought from her first book, The Silent Takeover, a critique of globalisation, that he co-operated with her on her most recent work, IOU: The Debt Threat and Why We Must Defuse It.
She has also contributed briefing papers to Bob Geldof and DATA (debt, AIDS, trade, Africa), the lobby group founded by Bono in 2002.
"Everyone I spoke to reiterated how hard Bono has worked on debt cancellation," explained Ms Hertz, who is speaking in Edinburgh next month. "He is an incredibly knowledgeable guy. In conversations with him I can talk at the same level as I would with any economist back at Cambridge.
"But he has more than just knowledge, he has tenacity. He’s prepared to pound up and down the corridors of power, attend meetings and do what has to be done to move these ideas forward. He’s not into playing politics to sell records. He is genuinely passionate about it."
A particular passion for the plight of Africa was kindled after the applause of Live Aid had died away. In the summer of 1985 Bono and his wife, Ali, spent a few months as volunteers at an orphanage in Ethiopia. It was an experience he has never forgotten. So 14 years later, in 1999, when Jamie Drummond, a debt campaigner with Jubilee 2000, requested his help in persuading the American political establishment to commit to debt cancellation, he gave his full support.
Extensively briefed on the issue by Jeffrey Sachs, an economics professor at Harvard University, Bono quickly became a more successful and articulate advocate of debt cancellation than even Bob Geldof, his close friend and founder of Band Aid.
As Geldof explained: "He’s charming, he’s persuasive. And the politicians can go home to their daughters and say: ‘I had a meeting with Bono today’."
The difference between the two men’s approach was clearly demonstrated during a lunch at the Berkeley Hotel in London with James Wolfensohn, the head of the World Bank. Bono told Hertz: "Yeah, Bob was like, you ****ing this and you ****ing that, and how can you ****ing sit here in your ****ing seat, you ****. And Jim Wolfensohn is a real debonair sort of gentlemen, and he looked over at me with that look of ‘help’ on his face. But we got on."
In the US, Bono’s devout Christianity endeared him to even the most tight-fisted Republican senators. Jesse Helms, the Republican senator and chairman of the Senate committee on foreign affairs, a notoriously conservative and gruff man, shed tears during his meeting with the singer as they discussed scripture and their children. Mr Helms became a powerful ally.
George Bush, who has pledged $5 billion to fight world poverty, explained this during a meeting with the singer: "I appreciate your heart and to tell you what an influence you have had, Dick Cheney walked into the Oval Office and he said: ‘Jesse Helms wants us to listen to Bono’s ideas’."
The singer insists his approach is pragmatic: "We don’t argue compassion. We put it in the most crass terms possible: we argue it as a financial and security issue for America."
He can also lend additional star appeal. In 2002 when he persuaded Paul O’Neill, the US treasury secretary, to accompany him on a ten-day tour of African states, he also persuaded Chris Rock, the film star and comedian, to join them.
THE singer, however, does have his critics. In March 2002, Time magazine ran a cover story headlined: ‘Can Bono Save the World?’ A new book, Bono The Puppet by Aleksandar Mitic, a journalist and Tony Dosen, a marketing executive, to be published later this year, will argue that he cannot, and will say that he has achieved very little.
The singer, they argue, is like Woody Allen’s Zelig, "a person popping up everywhere, being at the focus of world events, hanging out with the world’s key actors" but who has little to show for his efforts. "Where are the results?" said Mitic, who is based in Belgrade. "There is a lot of talk, a lot of op-ed pieces, a lot of publicity stunts and photo ops, but very few results."
The Edge, the band’s lead guitarist, is said to have been concerned that Bono’s continual campaigning and public meetings with conservative leaders such as Mr Bush and Mr Helms threaten the band’s image. Bono responded: "I said: ‘I’d have lunch with Satan if there was so much at stake.’ It is very important not to play politics with this. Millions of lives are being lost for the stupidest of reasons: money."
A scrutiny of the statistics illustrate how far he and his campaigners have to go. At the G8 Summit in Cologne in 1999, the world’s richest nations agreed to cancel $100 billion of debt for the 42 most heavily indebted poor countries. By May 2003 just $36.3 billion had been cleared.
Yet the issues of concern to DATA extend beyond writing off debt. In 2005 they hope to make real progress in forcing the G8’s hand on foreign aid. In 1974 each member promised to donate 0.7 per cent of their GNP, but 30 years on they donate less than half this figure. Britain, for example, is on course to donate 0.47 per cent, the equivalent of £3 billion, by 2008.
The UN’s Millennium Summit in 2000 pledged to cut by 50 per cent the number of people living in absolute poverty, those who survive on less than $1 a day, by 2015. Five years later this remains a distant dream. Another concern to Bono is the issue of fair trade with the Third World. In the 1980s and 1990s Third World countries agreed to cut and cap the subsidies they gave their farmers as part of reforms insisted upon by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, who also demanded steep cuts on duties on imported food.
In return, the richer nations promised to reduce their own subsidies, a move that has never materialised. As a result, countries such as Haiti are flooded with cheap rice, while their own farmers have lost their indigenous market.
But Paul Chitnis, the chief executive of the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund, (SCIAF) believes Bono’s work is invaluable in attracting the interest of a new generation. "I’ve heard him speak and, for a rock star, he is remarkably well-informed and articulate. His strength is that he can take a complicated subject and make it ‘trendy’ and of interest to a much wider audience."
In his own words
"We're in this position - I think it's our duty to abuse it." Power goes to Bono’s head, 1993
"A hardened terrorist is not going to put down his weapon because Bono says war is bad."
Bono, 2002
"There are potentially another ten Afghanistans in Africa, and it is cheaper by a factor of 100 to prevent the fires than to put them out."
Bono, 2002
"The US was the neighbourhood bully, inept in the foreign policy, beating up on the wrong guy everywhere. With The Joshua Tree, we were writing about Central America and the dark side of the US. Now, America looks smart and dare I say it, sexy again."
Bono, 2002
"We are always beating Tony and Gordon up for not doing enough, but today we have to say this is extraordinary."
Bono, after the Prime Minister and the Chancellor pledged to spend £1.5 billion tackling AIDS in poorer countries, 2004
"We are the first generation that can end not just AIDS, but extreme poverty. For the first time in history, we have the brains, we have the cash, we have the drugs. But, do we have the will?"
Bono, 2004
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