The World Affairs Council of Philadelphia have just put up a series of GREAT pictures from Bono's appearance at the WAC's event two weeks ago where Bono was honored as the WAC's "International Statesman" of the Year on October 21, 2005.
Here is the link to the articles/pics:
http://www.wacphila.org/programs/bono_gallery/bono_vox.html
And anyone who is able to post these pics here - please feel free to do so.
There are some CLASSIC BONO shots!
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Bono Speaks
Africa and poverty were on his mind, as usual.
by Cassidy Hartmann
Philadelphia Weekly
In a speech to 1,200 mostly World Affairs Council (WAC) members in Penn's Irvine Auditorium last Friday night, Bono described an encounter with an Ethiopian man during a 1985 visit to Africa.
The man walked up to the U2 superstar with his infant son, and pleaded with him to take the boy, knowing that in Ireland he'd live and receive an education, and that in Africa he'd most likely die.
"In that moment, I think, I started this journey," said Bono, in a surprisingly soft Irish brogue. "I became the worst thing in the world: a rock star with a cause."
The vaulted auditorium echoed with laughter.
With one simple anecdote, Bono was able to reach the hearts and minds of everyone in the room, while also managing to entertain. It's the combination of these abilities that has lifted him from the ranks of celebrity activist to full-blown political player and frequent consultant to the world's most powerful leaders.
"But it's not a cause," he added coolly. "It's an emergency."
With that statement, Bono — dapper in a gray suit and pale yellow tie, yet ever the rock star in his trademark lavender-toned sunglasses — brought the conversation back to what he really cares about: justice for Africa.
It's a goal he's been working toward for nearly two decades, with real progress made in recent years.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Bono started the ONE campaign — an effort to help the poorest people in the world overcome AIDS and extreme poverty — both Sen. Rick Santorum and ACT UP helped get it off the ground.
"I know that sounds odd," Bono said, smirking. "But if they can work together on this, so can we all."
After seven years of skillfully orchestrated coaxing, this past summer Bono helped convince G8 leaders to cancel $40 billion in debt from 18 mainly African countries — with an additional $15 billion for nine more countries on the way — as well as double aid funding to the continent.
"It would be easier if [the problem] was unsolvable," he said. "But it's not. It is immensely doable."
In a roughly 45-minute speech strongly reminiscent of his commencement address to Penn graduates in May 2004, Bono compared the 6,500 Africans dying every day of AIDS to the Holocaust, emphasizing the dangers of indifference.
"Africa is a country bursting into flames. Our generation is the first that can look at poverty and disease and say, 'We do not have to stand for this.'"
Again, Bono's fervor provoked booming applause.
At the end of the speech the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia presented Bono with the International Statesman Award, which honors visionaries who possess wisdom and humanity. Audience members paid $495 a ticket to attend a private dinner and reception with the musician-cum-activist following the program.
A spokesperson for the WAC commented that the Council hadn't hosted an event of this magnitude since it brought former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to speak in 1993, and honored him with the award.
"Every generation has its defining struggle," Bono said just before receiving the honor and flashing his signature peace sign as the crowd rewarded him with a third standing ovation. "I believe this is yours and mine."
© Philadelphia Weekly
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bono Mixes Irony with Honor at Penn
Philadelphia Inquirer, October 22, 2005
Frederick Cusick
Irish rocker Bono drew laughter from an audience at the University of Pennsylvania last night as he tried to diplomatically describe a discussion he had Wednesday with President Bush about aid to Africa.
Bono, an advocate for African aid for more than two decades, broke up the audience of World Affairs Council members in the cavernous Irvine Auditorium as he appeared to struggle to find a nonjudgmental way of saying he had been surprised Bush knew so much about the negative effects of American trade on Africa.
Bono backed away from using the word surprised, and also backed away from saying he was "delighted" by the level of the President's knowledge.
Finally he said he thought Bush was much better briefed about the trade problem than he was.
Trade policies, which prevent African farmers from selling their products on the world markets, are part of the developed world's "corruption" that has fed poverty and disease in Africa, Bono said.
Several hundred World Affairs Council members applauded the U2 front man, whose real name is Paul Hewson, and then went to Penn's museum for a reception and dinner.
They also awarded Bono, who wore his trademark shades and a dark jacket with even darker shirt and contrasting light-colored tie, the organization's International Statesman Award.
Bono noted that a combination of ACTUP, the gay advocacy group, and U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R., Pa.), who has been attacked for making allegedly anti-gay remarks, had helped get additional AIDS funding for Africa.
"If they can work together on this," Bono said, "so can we all."
Speaking of the AIDS problem in Africa, Bono pointed to the moral burden it imposed on residents of the developed world. "It would be so much easier if it was unsolvable, but it's not," he said. "It's immensely doable."
© Philadelphia Inquirer, 2005.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pro Bono
by Brian Hickey
CityPaper, October 20, 2005
You should all be ashamed of yourselves. Yes, you, the ones who let an unvetted blog rumor get your liberal knees jerking quicker than Howard Dean blew a presidential campaign.
Less than four months ago, you were down on the Ben Franklin Parkway, draped in the More Aid For Africa banner. The organizers of Live 8 didn't want your money that day. They told you they just wanted your support. Thanks to an all-day lineup of good tunes and great causes, you gave it to them. And people around the world heard you.
Yet, here you are, bitching and moaning about how über-conservative U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum was making campaign money off Sunday's U2 show at the Wachovia Center.
It mattered little that this is the same Santorum who served as frontman for Bono's conservative connection to enlist the United States in his noble efforts to staunch the decimation of a continent. (Did you even know that when Kanye West took the stage in front of the Art Museum? Would you have still gone if you knew Santorum was also railing against the land of blood diamonds?)
The rumor sent Bono's advocacy group, Debt AIDS Trade Africa (DATA), into full-blown damage-control mode. Rather than working for the debt relief that could make the world a better place, they had to stop and issue a statement that read, in part, "Neither DATA nor Bono are involved in these [fundraisers], and they cannot be controlled. The U2 concerts are categorically not fundraisers for any politician; they are concerts for U2 fans."
Soon, it was made clear that the U2 show hadn't been turned into a Republican fundraiser, that only a few $1,000 tickets were sold to supporters in a luxury box, and that Hillary Clinton was making a similar money-grab. But by then, you'd been exposed for what you truly are: blind reactionaries who march lockstep with your brethren. Just Santorum's name sent you into a predictable tizzy: Pure evil! He's even stolen rock 'n' roll!! That type of far-too-common reaction is beyond ignorance; it defies the moral fabric that makes a person honorable.
As much as you want it to be, the issue here isn't Santorum's views. The fact of the matter is that Bono, an Irishman, isn't beholden to the petty partisan politics that have poisoned our government from D.C. all the way down to small-town zoning boards. He's found a unique way to straddle party lines and garner support from both liberals and conservatives. While starvation and disease are still ravaging Africa — and will continue to do so for the forseeable future unless something drastic is done — Bono's used this unique civics approach for tangible action, rather than inane reaction. If a couple of American pols took Bono's lead, maybe the rest of the world wouldn't be ponying up for a block on the Empire Death Pool.
Sometimes, getting the help he needs for the helpless means lining himself up with a widely reviled character. And so what? If he wants to take the stage and play a gig solely for Afro-relief-centric NAMBLA members, why shouldn't he, provided it's for the greater good?
Pettiness has no place in the debate when the stakes are as high as this, and to call Bono out on his associates' views is dangerously counterproductive. People get tired of playing silly games, and if Bono were to decide it wasn't worth all the hard work to be so randomly vilified (which is as likely as him entertaining NAMBLA), the world would be a worse place for it.
Luckily, he won't leave town believing every last Philadelphian is a blind reactionary, since he has another appearance to make. Tomorrow night, the World Affairs Council will honor the rocker/humanitarian with its "International Statesman Award" at the University of Pennsylvania's Irvine Auditorium.
The award, says Council honcho Claudia McBride, "is reserved for leaders from the political world who've inspired the world and worked tirelessly toward peace and freedom."
It's hard to disagree with McBride when she says Bono's credentials as "a rock star who uses his celebrity to make the world a better place, not one for whom this is a fashionable cause du jour" make him the perfect recipient. It's even more fitting that he receives it in Philadelphia.
Meighan Stone, a spokeswoman for the ONE Campaign, an umbrella advocacy organization under which DATA falls, says our city "has a special place in the imagination of Americans because [it represents] ideas that were radical — democracy and opportunity — and what the American Dream means: compassion, action, ingenuity, exactly the skills we need here."
Funny, but I didn't see too many people standing for those ideals here last week. But fear not, Bono. There shan't be a problem Friday: McBride says the World Affairs Council membership is "split almost 50/50" between Democrats and Republicans.
© CityPaper
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bono: Poverty in Africa is solvable
U2 frontman and human-rights activist Bono calls for action to aid Africa at Irvine Auditorium on Friday. He also addressed the Class of 2004 at its Commencement.
By Ross Avila
October 24, 2005
The Daily Pennsylvanian
Not many speakers at Irvine Auditorium receive standing ovations before they say a word, but that is exactly how Bono was greeted Friday evening by more than 1,200 guests.
The U2 frontman-turned-activist spoke to the crowd — which included just over 100 Penn students — about his work in Africa and called for the next generation of Americans to reject the idea that Africa is a lost cause.
"It would be easier if [poverty and AIDS] were unsolvable, but they're not," Bono said. "Our generation is the first that can look at poverty and disease and say, 'We do not have to stand for this.'"
Bono compared the 6,500 daily deaths in Africa to the Holocaust and said the responsibility falls on young Americans not to ignore those deaths but to do everything in their power to help.
He likened Americans who do nothing to help Africa to Germans who did nothing to stop Nazi trains from taking Jews to concentration camps.
"We will not turn away as the trains roll away," Bono said. "We will lie down in front of the tracks."
Bono expressed his confidence that America will face the problems of debt, poverty and disease in Africa head-on because America "has the spirit to give fate the finger."
As for what made him embrace his humanitarian role, Bono said that spending time in Ethiopia is what made him realize that he had to help.
"Ethiopia didn't just blow my mind," he said. "It opened my mind."
The rock star recounted a story of an Ethiopian man who tried to give him his infant son in order to save the baby from certain death in the impoverished nation.
Bono also touched on foreign policy, asking the audience, "Isn't it smarter to make friends with potential enemies than to defend ourselves against them later?"
He added that military strength alone is not sufficient to defeat terrorism and that the way to end extremism is to alleviate the poverty that breeds desperation.
"The better world happens to be the safer world," Bono said. "It's a pretty good bargain."
Bono's 45-minute speech was punctuated by applause, cheers and three separate standing ovations that affirmed Bono's popularity with Philadelphians and the Penn students that made up at least 100 of the crowd.
"I think the fact that he's a rock star and has that cool aura around him makes the message that he delivers more salient than other figures," said Catey Mark, president of the Social Planning and Events Committee, which helped plan the event. "He is this famous singer, but he still cares so much about humanitarianism."
College freshman Rachel Shah — who did not have a ticket for the event but was granted admission anyway — said that she enjoyed the speech.
"I liked that he wasn't afraid to admit that he's a rock star," Shah said. "He was completely right in saying that the situation is an emergency that goes beyond charity."
The event ended with the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia presenting Bono with the International Statesman Award for his work.
"Bono is an activist in the truest sense of that word," said Jim McGivern, executive vice president of American Water, a water-resource company. "How many other rock stars could do what Bono does?"
© The Daily Pennsylvanian
Here is the link to the articles/pics:
http://www.wacphila.org/programs/bono_gallery/bono_vox.html
And anyone who is able to post these pics here - please feel free to do so.
There are some CLASSIC BONO shots!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Bono Speaks
Africa and poverty were on his mind, as usual.
by Cassidy Hartmann
Philadelphia Weekly
In a speech to 1,200 mostly World Affairs Council (WAC) members in Penn's Irvine Auditorium last Friday night, Bono described an encounter with an Ethiopian man during a 1985 visit to Africa.
The man walked up to the U2 superstar with his infant son, and pleaded with him to take the boy, knowing that in Ireland he'd live and receive an education, and that in Africa he'd most likely die.
"In that moment, I think, I started this journey," said Bono, in a surprisingly soft Irish brogue. "I became the worst thing in the world: a rock star with a cause."
The vaulted auditorium echoed with laughter.
With one simple anecdote, Bono was able to reach the hearts and minds of everyone in the room, while also managing to entertain. It's the combination of these abilities that has lifted him from the ranks of celebrity activist to full-blown political player and frequent consultant to the world's most powerful leaders.
"But it's not a cause," he added coolly. "It's an emergency."
With that statement, Bono — dapper in a gray suit and pale yellow tie, yet ever the rock star in his trademark lavender-toned sunglasses — brought the conversation back to what he really cares about: justice for Africa.
It's a goal he's been working toward for nearly two decades, with real progress made in recent years.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Bono started the ONE campaign — an effort to help the poorest people in the world overcome AIDS and extreme poverty — both Sen. Rick Santorum and ACT UP helped get it off the ground.
"I know that sounds odd," Bono said, smirking. "But if they can work together on this, so can we all."
After seven years of skillfully orchestrated coaxing, this past summer Bono helped convince G8 leaders to cancel $40 billion in debt from 18 mainly African countries — with an additional $15 billion for nine more countries on the way — as well as double aid funding to the continent.
"It would be easier if [the problem] was unsolvable," he said. "But it's not. It is immensely doable."
In a roughly 45-minute speech strongly reminiscent of his commencement address to Penn graduates in May 2004, Bono compared the 6,500 Africans dying every day of AIDS to the Holocaust, emphasizing the dangers of indifference.
"Africa is a country bursting into flames. Our generation is the first that can look at poverty and disease and say, 'We do not have to stand for this.'"
Again, Bono's fervor provoked booming applause.
At the end of the speech the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia presented Bono with the International Statesman Award, which honors visionaries who possess wisdom and humanity. Audience members paid $495 a ticket to attend a private dinner and reception with the musician-cum-activist following the program.
A spokesperson for the WAC commented that the Council hadn't hosted an event of this magnitude since it brought former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to speak in 1993, and honored him with the award.
"Every generation has its defining struggle," Bono said just before receiving the honor and flashing his signature peace sign as the crowd rewarded him with a third standing ovation. "I believe this is yours and mine."
© Philadelphia Weekly
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bono Mixes Irony with Honor at Penn
Philadelphia Inquirer, October 22, 2005
Frederick Cusick
Irish rocker Bono drew laughter from an audience at the University of Pennsylvania last night as he tried to diplomatically describe a discussion he had Wednesday with President Bush about aid to Africa.
Bono, an advocate for African aid for more than two decades, broke up the audience of World Affairs Council members in the cavernous Irvine Auditorium as he appeared to struggle to find a nonjudgmental way of saying he had been surprised Bush knew so much about the negative effects of American trade on Africa.
Bono backed away from using the word surprised, and also backed away from saying he was "delighted" by the level of the President's knowledge.
Finally he said he thought Bush was much better briefed about the trade problem than he was.
Trade policies, which prevent African farmers from selling their products on the world markets, are part of the developed world's "corruption" that has fed poverty and disease in Africa, Bono said.
Several hundred World Affairs Council members applauded the U2 front man, whose real name is Paul Hewson, and then went to Penn's museum for a reception and dinner.
They also awarded Bono, who wore his trademark shades and a dark jacket with even darker shirt and contrasting light-colored tie, the organization's International Statesman Award.
Bono noted that a combination of ACTUP, the gay advocacy group, and U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R., Pa.), who has been attacked for making allegedly anti-gay remarks, had helped get additional AIDS funding for Africa.
"If they can work together on this," Bono said, "so can we all."
Speaking of the AIDS problem in Africa, Bono pointed to the moral burden it imposed on residents of the developed world. "It would be so much easier if it was unsolvable, but it's not," he said. "It's immensely doable."
© Philadelphia Inquirer, 2005.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pro Bono
by Brian Hickey
CityPaper, October 20, 2005
You should all be ashamed of yourselves. Yes, you, the ones who let an unvetted blog rumor get your liberal knees jerking quicker than Howard Dean blew a presidential campaign.
Less than four months ago, you were down on the Ben Franklin Parkway, draped in the More Aid For Africa banner. The organizers of Live 8 didn't want your money that day. They told you they just wanted your support. Thanks to an all-day lineup of good tunes and great causes, you gave it to them. And people around the world heard you.
Yet, here you are, bitching and moaning about how über-conservative U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum was making campaign money off Sunday's U2 show at the Wachovia Center.
It mattered little that this is the same Santorum who served as frontman for Bono's conservative connection to enlist the United States in his noble efforts to staunch the decimation of a continent. (Did you even know that when Kanye West took the stage in front of the Art Museum? Would you have still gone if you knew Santorum was also railing against the land of blood diamonds?)
The rumor sent Bono's advocacy group, Debt AIDS Trade Africa (DATA), into full-blown damage-control mode. Rather than working for the debt relief that could make the world a better place, they had to stop and issue a statement that read, in part, "Neither DATA nor Bono are involved in these [fundraisers], and they cannot be controlled. The U2 concerts are categorically not fundraisers for any politician; they are concerts for U2 fans."
Soon, it was made clear that the U2 show hadn't been turned into a Republican fundraiser, that only a few $1,000 tickets were sold to supporters in a luxury box, and that Hillary Clinton was making a similar money-grab. But by then, you'd been exposed for what you truly are: blind reactionaries who march lockstep with your brethren. Just Santorum's name sent you into a predictable tizzy: Pure evil! He's even stolen rock 'n' roll!! That type of far-too-common reaction is beyond ignorance; it defies the moral fabric that makes a person honorable.
As much as you want it to be, the issue here isn't Santorum's views. The fact of the matter is that Bono, an Irishman, isn't beholden to the petty partisan politics that have poisoned our government from D.C. all the way down to small-town zoning boards. He's found a unique way to straddle party lines and garner support from both liberals and conservatives. While starvation and disease are still ravaging Africa — and will continue to do so for the forseeable future unless something drastic is done — Bono's used this unique civics approach for tangible action, rather than inane reaction. If a couple of American pols took Bono's lead, maybe the rest of the world wouldn't be ponying up for a block on the Empire Death Pool.
Sometimes, getting the help he needs for the helpless means lining himself up with a widely reviled character. And so what? If he wants to take the stage and play a gig solely for Afro-relief-centric NAMBLA members, why shouldn't he, provided it's for the greater good?
Pettiness has no place in the debate when the stakes are as high as this, and to call Bono out on his associates' views is dangerously counterproductive. People get tired of playing silly games, and if Bono were to decide it wasn't worth all the hard work to be so randomly vilified (which is as likely as him entertaining NAMBLA), the world would be a worse place for it.
Luckily, he won't leave town believing every last Philadelphian is a blind reactionary, since he has another appearance to make. Tomorrow night, the World Affairs Council will honor the rocker/humanitarian with its "International Statesman Award" at the University of Pennsylvania's Irvine Auditorium.
The award, says Council honcho Claudia McBride, "is reserved for leaders from the political world who've inspired the world and worked tirelessly toward peace and freedom."
It's hard to disagree with McBride when she says Bono's credentials as "a rock star who uses his celebrity to make the world a better place, not one for whom this is a fashionable cause du jour" make him the perfect recipient. It's even more fitting that he receives it in Philadelphia.
Meighan Stone, a spokeswoman for the ONE Campaign, an umbrella advocacy organization under which DATA falls, says our city "has a special place in the imagination of Americans because [it represents] ideas that were radical — democracy and opportunity — and what the American Dream means: compassion, action, ingenuity, exactly the skills we need here."
Funny, but I didn't see too many people standing for those ideals here last week. But fear not, Bono. There shan't be a problem Friday: McBride says the World Affairs Council membership is "split almost 50/50" between Democrats and Republicans.
© CityPaper
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bono: Poverty in Africa is solvable
U2 frontman and human-rights activist Bono calls for action to aid Africa at Irvine Auditorium on Friday. He also addressed the Class of 2004 at its Commencement.
By Ross Avila
October 24, 2005
The Daily Pennsylvanian
Not many speakers at Irvine Auditorium receive standing ovations before they say a word, but that is exactly how Bono was greeted Friday evening by more than 1,200 guests.
The U2 frontman-turned-activist spoke to the crowd — which included just over 100 Penn students — about his work in Africa and called for the next generation of Americans to reject the idea that Africa is a lost cause.
"It would be easier if [poverty and AIDS] were unsolvable, but they're not," Bono said. "Our generation is the first that can look at poverty and disease and say, 'We do not have to stand for this.'"
Bono compared the 6,500 daily deaths in Africa to the Holocaust and said the responsibility falls on young Americans not to ignore those deaths but to do everything in their power to help.
He likened Americans who do nothing to help Africa to Germans who did nothing to stop Nazi trains from taking Jews to concentration camps.
"We will not turn away as the trains roll away," Bono said. "We will lie down in front of the tracks."
Bono expressed his confidence that America will face the problems of debt, poverty and disease in Africa head-on because America "has the spirit to give fate the finger."
As for what made him embrace his humanitarian role, Bono said that spending time in Ethiopia is what made him realize that he had to help.
"Ethiopia didn't just blow my mind," he said. "It opened my mind."
The rock star recounted a story of an Ethiopian man who tried to give him his infant son in order to save the baby from certain death in the impoverished nation.
Bono also touched on foreign policy, asking the audience, "Isn't it smarter to make friends with potential enemies than to defend ourselves against them later?"
He added that military strength alone is not sufficient to defeat terrorism and that the way to end extremism is to alleviate the poverty that breeds desperation.
"The better world happens to be the safer world," Bono said. "It's a pretty good bargain."
Bono's 45-minute speech was punctuated by applause, cheers and three separate standing ovations that affirmed Bono's popularity with Philadelphians and the Penn students that made up at least 100 of the crowd.
"I think the fact that he's a rock star and has that cool aura around him makes the message that he delivers more salient than other figures," said Catey Mark, president of the Social Planning and Events Committee, which helped plan the event. "He is this famous singer, but he still cares so much about humanitarianism."
College freshman Rachel Shah — who did not have a ticket for the event but was granted admission anyway — said that she enjoyed the speech.
"I liked that he wasn't afraid to admit that he's a rock star," Shah said. "He was completely right in saying that the situation is an emergency that goes beyond charity."
The event ended with the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia presenting Bono with the International Statesman Award for his work.
"Bono is an activist in the truest sense of that word," said Jim McGivern, executive vice president of American Water, a water-resource company. "How many other rock stars could do what Bono does?"
© The Daily Pennsylvanian
Bono looks great! I feel that is a very important cause. Bono is an remarkable nobel man.
