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November 25, 2005

Bono says Martin mystifies him, urges PM to give more to Third World

by Stephen Thorne, Canadian Press

OTTAWA (CP) - Irish rock star Bono says Prime Minister Paul Martin's inability to further increase foreign aid mystifies him, especially facing an election in a country that clearly favours more foreign aid.

"I'm mystified, actually, by the man," the U2 lead singer told a news conference Friday. "I like him very much, personally.

"I just think that it's a huge opportunity that he's missing out on. This is important to the Canadian people. I think the prime minister will find out if he walks away from the opportunity to (boost foreign aid) he will hear about it in the election. I am absolutely sure of that."

Bono said he was heartened by polls suggesting most Canadians support a boost to foreign aid. He wants Canada to increase foreign contributions to 0.7 per cent of its gross domestic product.

That would more than triple the $3 billion Canada currently spends on foreign aid each year.

He has also called on Canada to erase foreign debt and advocate fair trade in a world where a billion people live on less than a dollar a day.

Martin said he'd spoken with Bono on the phone for about 15 minutes on Friday morning.

"His role is to push me forward," Martin said at a first ministers' conference in Kelowna, B.C., before reiterating his oft-stated belief that Canada can't commit to the 0.7 per cent target without a firm plan for reaching that goal.

Speaking in support of the Make Poverty History project, Bono said Canada could easily increase Third World aid because it's the only major industrialized country in a surplus position.

"I would beseech the Canadian people, as their politicians meet them on their doorsteps, just . . . say this is the kind of Canada that your kids want to grow up in, this is the kind of Canada the world needs now."

Bono is in Ottawa for a U2 concert but spent the day meeting with party leaders, saying he wants to appeal to the better nature of people in what he calls a better country.

He said Canada's humanitarian tradition and moral convictions are the reasons he's a "fan" of Canada and why he comes here with his band to play.

"The Canadian people are ahead of the prime minister on these global poverty issues," he said. "There is something about Canada that sets it apart.

"This is it. It's this kind of leadership, this sense of decency and a kind of awakeness to what's going on in the wider world - that's what sets Canada apart."

Bono and Martin have been friends for some time - he spoke to the Liberal party convention two years ago - and has long campaigned for Canada to give 0.7 per cent of its GDP to world relief.

He said he's "crushed" by Martin's refusal to meet the target. He said he thought that Martin, as a former finance minister, would "make the numbers work" in a surplus economy.

"I just want to appeal to the better nature of what I always thought of as a better country," he said.

A Conservative MP later suggested the party would increase foreign aid to the 0.7 per cent target.

International co-operation critic Helena Guergis said Canada's foreign aid contributions are roughly half of what they were under the previous Conservative government.

"Bono's efforts towards ending global poverty are both noble and heroic (and) a Conservative government would ensure that such calls are no longer ignored," said Guergis.

International Trade Minister Jim Peterson met Bono briefly seeking his support for the Doha development round and talks taking place later this December in Hong Kong aimed at opening world markets to less-developed countries.

Peterson handed Bono a letter pointing out the benefits of free trade for developing countries. He asked the singer-activist to go to Hong Kong.

He stressed the talks are a unique opportunity to lift millions out of poverty and emphasized the need for opinion leaders like Bono to motivate the public to support opening up markets to the developing world.

"For developing countries, the road to prosperity is riddled with unfair barriers and difficult obstacles," Peterson wrote, citing billions of dollars spent by wealthy nations to unfairly subsidize their own farmers.

"The rich remain rich, and poorer countries suffer the consequences," said Peterson. "We must open up our markets to developing countries.

"We must rein in the obscene level of agricultural subsidies in the U.S. and the EU, which continue to deny essential economic opportunities to the world's poorest."

Posted by Jonathan at 11:09 PM | Comments (1)

November 21, 2005

Bono And The Christian Right

(CBS) The members of the Irish rock band U2 have always believed that their group was about something more than making records and playing concerts.

The themes of their music, often about social injustice, ranging from the American civil rights movement to genocide in Bosnia, have helped them sell more than 130 million albums around the world and gross nearly a billion dollars on the concert trail. And offstage, their lead singer, known by his teenage nickname "Bono," is equally impressive. His political activism, working to help erase third world debt and supplying Africa with AIDS drugs, has made him a political force.

Correspondent Ed Bradley takes a look at U2 and the double life of their lead singer.

After 25 years of touring, most critics say U2 is as good today as they've ever been, still selling out some of the world's largest stadiums and arenas when touring around the globe.

"It's only rock and roll where people are burned out at 40. I want to see what can happen with a band if they keep their integrity, keep their commitment to each other, and can we create extraordinary music," says Bono, speaking to 60 Minutes while on tour in Milan, Italy this past summer.

"You know what would have happened - and I'm not making a comparison, because I don't feel worthy to touch their hem - but what would have happened if the Beatles lived, and didn't, you know, disappear up their own arses but actually stayed in contact with the world, were awake. Didn't let their money buy them off. You know I'm still hungry. I still want a lot out of music," Bono says.

Bono has said when fans are screaming, it's not about the band, it's about them. "It's unexplainable what a song means to you. Because, remember, songs, it's not like a movie you see once or twice. A song, it gets under your skin and that's why [we] abandon ourselves to it," says Bono. "It has a sense of kind of uplift, of getting airborne."

"Everything feels possible. And maybe more things are possible than we think," he adds.

And at every concert, the band tries to make that happen. Before the show, fans are asked to join a campaign to help end world poverty. And during the performance, Bono sings of social justice and argues for religious harmony.

Bono's passions are shared and supported by the band, drummer Larry Mullen, Jr., bassist Adam Clayton and the guitarist who calls himself "The Edge."

"I think early on the heroes that we had were people like Bob Marley, John Lennon, The Clash," says The Edge. "And those bands all had the same combination of rock 'n roll, the rage, railing against injustice. And the politics. We connected with that in a major way."

The four of them formed their bond and their politics as teenagers in Dublin, Ireland. Larry Mullen wanted to start a band to play in pubs. Instead, he got one intent to take on the world.

Mullen says being Irish helped shape the bands' political and social concerns. "I mean we lived all our lives with the terrorist situation in northern Ireland. And with the British army and seeing that on the news night after night, atrocity after atrocity," says Mullen. "But more than anything else, for the British folks Irish people were all terrorists. So when we went to Britain, it was always a lot of resistance to U2. And that's why we came to America."

In 1980, American music fans embraced them. By 1987, following their masterwork album "The Joshua Tree," critics began to call them the biggest rock band in the world. Tours and CDs since then, including their latest, have added to their popularity.

But along the way, they found another calling: getting help to the starving, troubled continent of Africa. The band did their part at the 1985 Live Aid concert.

Bono continued on, behind the scenes and in front of news cameras, to lobby world leaders to action.

Bono once said, "I'm available to be used, but I'm not a cheap date." And he stands by that quote. "No, I'm not a cheap date. I'm in the checks business. You know, and not just people signing the checks, but people cashing them. And I'm ready to spend my, whatever you want to call it, the currency of my celebrity, if that's what it takes to get there."

He gets a lot of credit for lobbying President Bush, who he has met several times. Today, the Bush administration contributes to one of his biggest causes, AIDS medication for Africa.

"People openly laughed in my face when I suggested that this administration would distribute antiretroviral drugs to Africa," Bono remembers. "They said, 'You are out of your tiny mind.' There's 200,000 Africans now who owe their lives to America."

How does he get support for his projects? "It was probably that it would be really wrong beating a sort of left-wing drum, taking the usual bleeding-heart-liberal line," says Bono.

Instead, he enlisted the ruling right of American politics.

"Particularly conservative Christians, I was very angry that they were not involved more in the AIDS emergency. I was saying, 'this is the leprosy that we read about in the New Testament, you know. Christ hung out with the lepers. But you're ignoring the AIDS emergency," says Bono. "How can you? And, you know, they said, 'Well, you're right, actually. We have been. And we're sorry. We'll get involved.' And they did."

His proudest achievement may have been helping convince the G8 industrial nations to sign an agreement that will forgive more than $40 billion in loans to Third World countries, 18 of them so far.

"And these countries, instead of paying that money servicing old debts, can spend it on health, education and infrastructure in the countries. It's an amazing achievement," says Bono.

But for all his success as an activist, Bono remains a rock star at the core.

He and the rest of the band members have vacation homes in the South of France, the epicenter of celebrity lifestyle.

How did he end up in the South of Frances, as opposed to Italy or Spain?

"There's been, always been, an Irish/French thing going back to what's called the Flight of Earls. And in the 19th century. So, they're very tolerant of loud Irish people here, as you can see," says Bono laughing. "As you can see I like to keep a low profile," he adds.

Fact is, Bono's celebrity profile could hardly be bigger. Rock star sunglasses aside, he dispenses with the trappings of celebrity as much as possible.

Bono doesn't travel with security and doesn't have a posse. "I've always, you know, our thing, and being in U2, is like, how do you be, but not have to have all that bulls*it that goes with being famous and so, answer number one, live in Ireland. Ok? That helped," says Bono.

Bono also jokes about keeping his low profile in the South of France. "Why live in France? Because the French are so snobbish... The French are so into themselves that they don't even notice you."

Truth is, Bono and the band are treated like royalty on the French Riviera and spend as much time there as possible.

On tour this summer, they commuted to many of their European concerts from the South of France in a private jet.

Poking fun at themselves is something they do well, and often. At the height of their early fame almost 20 years ago, Frank Sinatra joined in at one of his Las Vegas concerts.

"During the show, he stood up, he stopped us and made us kind of stand up and do the wave thing. And we were dressed in, you know, rags, just in comparison," remembers Bono. "And he just stopped. He said, 'You're number one all around the world.' He said, 'Look at you. You haven't spent a dime on your clothes.'"

Today, they do spend millions on their concert production. Every detail of their sets is state-of-the-art, even a cappuccino machine under the stage.

And the attention to detail goes for the music, too. The band gets a lot out of their instruments. Part of their secret is guitar technology.

"It's like a programmable switching system. So I can go through any combination of effects," explains The Edge.

But Larry Mullen makes his job as simple as possible. He doesn't do big drum solos. "It's fairly simple and straightforward. But because of my...I'm not that good. And I concentrate quite hard," he says laughing.

Mullen and Clayton focus on creating the engine that drives the music. Bono and Edge are the navigators, trying to take each song and each concert to new heights.

This is where the band's two worlds collide. Their global fame has given Bono a political voice. U2's politics give their music a little something extra.

And Bono is confident U2 will be remembered in the future.

"Actually oddly enough, I think my work, the activism, will be forgotten. And I hope it will. Because I hope those problems will have gone away," says Bono. "But our music will be here in 50 years and 100 years' time. Fact that our songs occupy a sort of an emotional terrain that didn't exist before our group did."

Posted by Jonathan at 05:11 AM | Comments (7)

November 08, 2005

Achtung, baby! U2 aiming to crash Games finale

By Patrick Donovan and Peter Ker

THE kings of motor sport are idling, laughter is taking a holiday and there will be no new movies. But Irish rock singer Bono plans to crash Melbourne's Commonwealth Games party.

One of the world's biggest music acts, Bono's U2 is expected to play two shows at Telstra Dome next March in front of up to 80,000 fans on the same weekend as the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony.

After 18 months of negotiations, promoter Michael Coppel Presents is expected to announce the two shows for Telstra Dome on March 24 and 25.

If the dates are confirmed, several hundred thousand people can be expected in the city centre for the shows and sold-out Games events at the MCG and Vodafone Arena.

Blue-ribbon Games events such as the men's and women's 4x100 metre running relays, finals in the women's pole vault -- likely to feature Australia's Tatiana Grigorieva -- and sold-out finals of the netball competition are the pick of Games finals on those days.

The Age believes the rock shows are not of major concern to Melbourne 2006 organisers, who have had strong ticket sales for the nights in question.

But the prospect of adding tens of thousands of concert-goers to Melbourne's public transport system -- which is expected to carry 70 per cent of Games patrons -- is a headache for the State Government, which is already under fire for its public transport policy.

Adding to the pressure, much of Melbourne, including the Docklands precinct around Telstra Dome, will be mired in traffic restrictions on those dates.

The men's 50-kilometre walk travels through Docklands on the day of the first U2 concert, causing many streets around Telstra Dome to be blocked off between midnight and 3.30pm.

Games chairman Ron Walker played down concerns and denied that Games organisers had tried to get the band to play at the closing ceremony.

Most major events have observed an unwritten rule not to schedule events during the Games, from March 15 to 26. Even movie distributors such as Village Roadshow have opted to not release new films during the Games, despite the period coinciding with school holidays.

As well as sports events, the Games will include a multimillion-dollar program of cultural events throughout the city -- including at Docklands.

The Grand Prix and the Comedy Festival are among organisations to have rescheduled around the Commonwealth Games. Plans for Moomba have shifted several times. It will now take place on Monday, March 13.

Rumours of the U2 tour increased after Bono phoned horse trainer Lee Freedman to congratulate him on Makybe Diva's Melbourne Cup win, saying he hoped to meet the mare when he was next in Australia.

Posted by Jonathan at 04:44 AM | Comments (2)

November 02, 2005

This Generation's Moon Shot

A rock star turned activist challenges the world to wipe out poverty and disease

By BONO

I was a 9-year-old boy in Dublin when a man first walked on the moon. It wasn't just any man--it was an American. I thought I already knew something about America from Elvis, the movies and the hip gear sent home by Irish people who crossed the Atlantic. But now American meant something new. It meant having a sense of infinite possibility, doing the things everyone says can't be done. Even this freckle-faced Irish kid could see that America went to the moon not just because it was a scientific milestone--a career move for the human race--but because it was an adventure.

More than ever, we need to renew that sense of adventure and purpose. Never before has the West been so scrutinized. Our convictions and credibility are under attack. Who are we? What are our values? Do we have any at all?

We can't answer these questions by going back to the moon. But there is a goal out there worthy of our generation. It's earth-bound this time, but no less exhilarating. It is the defeat of humanity's oldest foe: disease.

Just a few years ago, this was Mission Impossible; today it is tantalizingly within our reach. It is no longer crazy to suggest that we can eliminate tuberculosis and malaria from the planet. It is no longer unthinkable to imagine a world without AIDS or extreme poverty. And this isn't hope talking, or faith. This is hard science pointing us toward a better, healthier world.

In the past year we learned that for the first time there's a vaccine that offers real, if partial, protection against malaria. No more death by mosquito bite is a goal that is within sight. Two new vaccines have been developed for rotavirus, the main cause of diarrheal disease. Today nearly a million people with HIV in poor countries are on lifesaving antiretroviral drugs--more than double the total just 18 months ago.

That's enough to get even a rock star out of bed in the morning.

The question now is whether politicians will prove themselves the equal of scientists. Biomedicine today is where high tech was in the 1990s--it's where the energy and excitement are. But scientists alone can't get lifesaving vaccines and treatments to the people who need them most--not without our help.

On that score, there is cause for optimism. From NGOs to CEOs, truckers to nurses, philanthropists to pharmaceutical companies and even Presidents and Prime Ministers, people are putting their talents, time and money to work in the fight against deadly diseases. Just check out Bill Gates.

Momentum is building, but disease is still way out in front. The numbers are so big that they can numb us into indifference: 5,000 people dying every day from tuberculosis, 1 million dying every year from malaria. Behind each of these statistics is someone's daughter, someone's son, a mother, a father, a sister, a brother.

We cannot save every life. But the ones we can, we must. It is--or it ought to be--unacceptable that an accident of longitude and latitude determines whether a child lives or dies. In America and in Europe we have dealt with polio, malaria and TB with the ruthless efficiency they deserve. Beyond our own borders, we have offered excuses instead of solutions. We need to stop this two-steps-forward, one-step-back tango that we have been dancing for years and start marching.

The good news is that a lot of people have their boots on.

This year millions of people gathered to persuade world leaders to invest more in fighting poverty and disease in Africa. In July they listened: the Group of Eight pledged an additional $50 billion annually to poor countries, half of it for Africa. The G-8 also agreed to write off $56 billion in old multilateral debt for 38 of the world's poorest countries. And they promised to get AIDS drugs not just to everyone who can afford them but to everyone who needs them--a great promise, if they keep it.

We must keep the pressure on our governments if we want them to follow through. As voters and taxpayers, we must give our leaders permission to invest just a fraction of our taxes in $5 mosquito nets and drug treatments that cost pennies apiece. Right now in Washington, Congress is deciding whether to provide $3.6 billion in global AIDS funding, including $600 million for the global health fund, thanks to Democrat Dick Durbin and Republican Rick Santorum. If this money is not approved, people across Africa will have to be taken off lifesaving medications. How mad is that?

Beating AIDS and extreme, stupid poverty, this is our moon shot. This is our civil rights struggle, our anti-apartheid movement. This is what the history books will remember our generation for--or blame us for, if we fail.

Posted by Jonathan at 04:58 AM | Comments (6)

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