Bono moves debt crusade to the streets

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rafmed

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Follower got this article to my attention:


Sunday Times: Bono moves debt crusade to the streets


July 8, 2002
From The Sunday Times:

July 7, 2002

Bono moves debt crusade to the streets
By Maurice Chittenden

The Irish rock star Bono is threatening to take his campaign against Third World debt, Aids and
poverty onto the streets in protest at a lack of action by world leaders.

The lead singer of the band U2 has been lobbying world leaders including George WBush, Tony
Blair and Jacques Chirac for more than a year in an effort get western democracies to cancel
Third World debts and increase support for poor nations.

However, he was angered by the results of the recent G8 summit in Kananaskis, Canada, where
the leaders of the world's most powerful economies rejected a proposed Pounds 40 billion aid
and investment package for Africa.

Venting his frustration at the time, he said: "What I'm looking at is a lot of rhetoric, a lot of old
numbers just kind of fiddled with ... I just hoped they'd have had the imagination to make a giant,
giant leap here." Friends say his anger has grown over the past two weeks and that he wants the
debt campaign to become more active. He thinks that quiet diplomacy has failed and that public
protest may prove more effective.

It could mean that Bono is seen waving placards on the streets with other demonstrators at the
next summit rather than being cosseted inside with presidents and prime ministers.

"He is very annoyed at the G8's failure to do any more. He is talking of making the debt campaign
more of a protest movement," said a close associate.

The singer believes that his lobbying organisation Data (Debt, Aid, Trade for Africa) could marshal
a groundswell of popular support from the streets. Supported by Bob Geldof and Sir Anthony
Hopkins, he hopes to replicate demonstrations such as those organised in Birmingham four years
ago where 70,000 people formed a human chain in support of debt relief as the city hosted a G8
summit.

Bono, who is supported by Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder and world's richest man, and George
Soros, the financier, who have helped to fund a Washington office for Data, said: "The G8 know
that this year they've failed to respond to Africa's needs with sufficient vision. Incremental steps
and distant promises are still their trademark.

"The commitments made in Kananaskis must be swallowed into something much more ambitious
to make a historic new partnership with Africa real. To give up at the start would be to give in to
the cynics, and dash the hopes of the millions whose lives hang in the balance here."

Bono has had meetings with some of the world's most powerful politicians to bend their ears about
Africa. Last October he broke away from a U2 tour to go to Ottawa to meet Jean Chretien, the
Canadian prime minister, who hosted the most recent G8 summit.

In May this year he went on a 12-day trip through Africa with Paul O'Neill, the US Treasury secretary.
They were dubbed "the odd couple" as they put on matching tribal costumes given to them by
Ghanaian villagers.

But Bono has already hinted that he could drop quiet diplomacy if it fails to yield results. "If I'm
speaking to you next year and there hasn't been a real historic movement to deal with the problem
of Aids, to deal with a continent like Africa bursting into flames while we all stand around with
watering cans, I'm going to feel like I've been had," he said recently The 42-year-old father of four
said last week that he was not getting any more mellow. "I'm getting angrier and that's what makes
me believe that with some smart thinking and simple changes to our lives we can drastically
improve the lives of so many other people," he said.

O'Neill, his esrtwhile travelling companion, said last week that America was ready to help African
countries to improve their living standards but he remained wary of debt forgiveness and aid
without conditions.

"I would agree that debt forgiveness may help, but it alone is not the solution," he said.

Instead of funding vague "sympathetic themes", said O'Neill, America would demand measured
improvements in specific areas, including drinking water, primary education and Aids prevention.

"In the past, too much aid has been scattered into the winds of lawlessness, corruption and
unaccountability," he said at the opening of a meeting of the United Nations economic and social
council.

"For 50 years we have accepted and expected too little from development aid."




Great! IMO Bono is coming back to where he belongs, fighting with the people
 
Once again,


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I think it?s the right thing to do. He tried the other way. It seems that it won?t work, despite all his efforts along with the people from Drop the Debt organization and others. He surely might be mad about that. So now let the people talk and do something. I really hope he comes to next edition of the World Social Forum in January 2003, in Porto Alegre, Brazil. That?s where the other fighters for a better world and a new economic order has got together since last year.
 
follower said:
I think it?s the right thing to do. He tried the other way. It seems that it won?t work, despite all his efforts along with the people from Drop the Debt organization and others. He surely might be mad about that. So now let the people talk and do something. I really hope he comes to next edition of the World Social Forum in January 2003, in Porto Alegre, Brazil. That?s where the other fighters for a better world and a new economic order has got together since last year.


So do I. I think he should try some protest type stuff, the way the civil rights activists did. They had peaceful protests against racism and hatred and they were quite effective. They got the Voting Rights Act and all the other civil rights laws. These laws are not perfect but they're better than what we had before the protests took place. Before the protests African Americans were getting busted for not vacating their bus seats for whites. They need to put pressure on the politicians like this and things will change.
 
I think that a combination of political pressure and peaceful protest is the right way to go. I must say though, I'm very wary of the angry violent protest types that seem to be merely content to stir up trouble and anarchy and don't provide any valid solutions or answers to the problems they rage against. However, Bono is a smart guy. I can't see him tossing his brain out the window.

In a few days I should be done with my 40 page senior paper on the World Bank and the IMF. If anyone is interested in reading it and getting a background on how the debt problem came into being, let me know. I need feedback anyways. ;)
 
sulawesigirl4 said:
I think that a combination of political pressure and peaceful protest is the right way to go. I must say though, I'm very wary of the angry violent protest types that seem to be merely content to stir up trouble and anarchy and don't provide any valid solutions or answers to the problems they rage against. However, Bono is a smart guy. I can't see him tossing his brain out the window.

In a few days I should be done with my 40 page senior paper on the World Bank and the IMF. If anyone is interested in reading it and getting a background on how the debt problem came into being, let me know. I need feedback anyways. ;)


Oh, me too. There's a difference. The civil rights protesters, led by Dr. King, absolutely knew what they were doing. They weren't haters. They were angry about discrimination, but they could articulate their cause as well as anyone. It was about the stupidity and immorality of racism. They were completely peaceful and non-violent--their role model was Ghandi. Ghandi and Martin Luther King are two of Bono's favorite people. They are the protest leaders to follow. Heck, King was a Nobel Peace Price laureate for his efforts. Knowing what the heck you're protesting is the name of the game, and Bono knows his stuff. He's no purposeless bitter anarchist.
 
Good for you Bono!

Damn straight, we're taking it to the streets. It's our world. We can change it. I do not have to accept my government prospering off the backs of people so poor they starve to death in epidemic numbers.

Bono, honey, you name the time and place and I'll be there.

Here's the drill one more time, gang. Let's get this done. I'm at 45 Angels now. Can we make 50 by the weekend? Makes no difference if you let me know that you've called or written, really; I just wanna give props where props are due. What will make a difference is if you call or write.

Some helpful info, again.

Bush 202 456 1414
O'Neill 202 622 0190

http://congress.com for your Senators and Reps

http://www.jubilee.org for useful info, tips on calling, writing, sample letters, devestating facts

Here are the sample letters againMr. Paul O?Neill
United States Treasury Secretary
1500 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20220

June 2, 2002


Dear Secretary O?Neill:

I am writing to express my congratulations and gratitude for the time you recently took to travel through rural Africa to learn more about what can be done to help. Your focus on providing clean water, for example, impressed me. I was excited to hear you describe that task as ?possible? and then express that it would be ?unforgivable? that 40 million Ethiopians go without it! I could not agree more!

As a citizen of a powerful and prosperous country, I believe it is crucial to do all I can do to help. It?s my hope that our aid to the world?s poorest nations will be increased, that their debt will be dropped and that trade laws will change to ensure a fair market.

Again, congratulations and welcome home! I wish you the best of luck as you continue the fight!

Sincerely,
 
Bush letter

President George W. Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I am writing with concerns about the recent $500 million pledged for AIDS relief in Africa. While I am pleased, proud and grateful that the White House is giving this issue attention, clearly more is needed. This amount of money is not adequate to meet the medical, housing, and educational needs of the poorest people in Africa, especially as they combat the growing AIDS epidemic, and as they struggle to repay debt to us! This is simply not just!

I would urge you, your Congress and Sec. O'Neill to consider committing to more aid as an investment in national security; countries that are stable and prosperous are far less likely to listen to terrorists like Bin Laden. I would also urge you and Sec. O'Neill to cancel the debt of these impoverished nations so they can invest in their people by establishing infrastructure, clinics, and schools. If we commit to doing enough now, perhaps the next generation will not have to!

Sincerely,




I'll post a letter tonight to be sent to a company that has been doing the right thing by AIDS victims in Africa. Thanks to Hotpepper for being on top of this and doing the research. I'd ask all Angels to send it. :) Maybe we can coax these drug co. gods into doing their share, too.

SD
 
Yes! Name the time and place, and I'll go there with my sign saying "Stop Global AIDS" or "Drop the Debt" or "Treat the People" or whatever. We need to encourage people who are doing the right thing and protest against the perpetrators of the conditions causing the suffering. This includes rip-off governments, companies, and all of the other guilty parties in the millions of senseless deaths taking place in Africa just because of $$ affairs. As long as these deaths are going on we have to work to stop this insanity. If you ask me this is damned barbaric. Why are people making excuses for the deaths? I want to protest! Drop the debt, give the dollars, and treat the people!
 
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