http://www.worldpressfreedomday.org/
What I have always liked about Bono is that he doesnt get up there and try to make this a pretty celebrity cause.. he brings it down to the root and to the uglyness thats underneath it . he's not afraid to do that. This is a guy who I think right know might just be very angry about the way things are going or the lack of action. my question though is that.. why is there inaction in so many other people.. I know what I think .. but why are more people not enagaged.. After all we supposedly learned from Rwanda for the Holocaust etc.. Where do you think we are failing on this emergency and if it's that we are failing to engage ordinary citizens how do we engage them and get them out of that nice comfy spotWAN: You?ve never been afraid to take a stand on what some consider sensitive issues. Can you describe what sparked your devotion to take up Africa?s cause?
Bono: I first went to Africa, to Ethiopia to work in a feeding station following Live Aid in 1985. One summer that stayed with me for a lifetime. But I don?t see Africa as a cause. To me, this whole thing is about justice. The fact that 6,300 people die in Africa everyday of AIDS, a preventable treatable disease, for lack of drugs that we take for granted in Europe and America - that?s about justice, not charity. That we hold children to ransom for the debts of their great great grandparents is not a charity issue, it?s a justice issue. That we won?t let the poorest of the poor put their products on our shelves yet we flood their markets with ours? This is about justice. DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa), the organization I work with, takes that as the starting point.
It?s an amazing thing to think that ours is the first generation in history that really can end extreme poverty, the kind that means a child dies for lack of food in its belly. This should be seen as the most incredible, historic opportunity but instead it?s become a millstone around our necks. We let our own pathetic excuses about how it?s ?difficult? justify our own inaction. Let?s be honest. We have the science, the technology, and the wealth. What we don?t have is the will, and that?s not a reason that history will accept.