HelloAngel
ONE love, blood, life
(06-06-2003) Bono In Seattle, Talks DATA - Seattle Times *
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
A sunny day with a rock star belies a tragic topic: Africa
By Nicole Brodeur
Seattle Times staff columnist
It was very nice to be out in the sun yesterday, sipping a beer on the deck of a Pike Place Market restaurant with one of the world's biggest rock stars.
But the reason U2 singer Bono was here hovered like a waiter ? without the starched apron and accommodating smile.
Africa is hungry and poor, sick and dying. It doesn't know what has hit it, or whether anyone even cares.
The continent is saddled with crippling debt, a voracious AIDS epidemic and the inability to crack into an international trade system that would breathe money, medicine and purpose into its people.
"Certain poverty is structural," said Bono, 43. "It's not just charity for poor black babies. There are justice issues. The level of unfair trade. We don't let the poor people trade with us, and we're holding children to ransom for the debts of their grandparents.
"If you're spending more on servicing old debt than on health and education combined, in a country that is already on its knees, there's something wrong."
Two years ago, Bono established the nonprofit advocacy group Debt, AIDS and Trade for Africa, or DATA.
There was no single experience or encounter that spurred him. It was just the knowledge that comes when you're from Ireland, another country that has gone hungry and lost millions of people while the rest of the world built and prospered.
"There was also the sense that we were the Third World, until very recently," he said.
And while DATA was co-founded by Live Aid founder Bob Geldof and businessman George Soros, and funded mightily by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, its face belongs to Bono.
"Celebrity is currency," he said. "It's ridiculous. But I want to spend mine well."
He has met Pope John Paul II and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whom he described as his hero. He counts Bruce Springsteen and the late Frank Sinatra as his friends. His favorite Sinatra song is "One for My Baby (One More for the Road)."
Other things that come up when you're sipping beer: Bono's oldest piece of clothing is "a woolly jumper I put on when I'm sick." His favorite trash food is fish and chips; favorite fancy food is "fish and chips and caviar."
He is reading "The Mystery of Capital" by Hernando De Soto: "Recommended reading for anyone who wants to change the world."
His favorite superhero is Spiderman. And when asked if he still goes to confession, he said, simply: "I'm a songwriter."
He doesn't carry a wallet ("I have a laptop"), and when asked how he would pay for the beers, said, "If I want to pay, I would sing for our supper."
It is a delicate balance, the self-described "filthy-rich, spoiled-rotten rock star" speaking for the African people, who, amid the grind of kids and work and cars and mortgages, are much further from most American minds than the melody of "Beautiful Day."
"I don't want to appeal to people's guilt," Bono said, and then launched into a spot-on impression of investment genius Warren Buffett: "Appeal to the greatness of America, and I think we'll get the job done."
So what is our job?
"I've always said that politicians are not afraid of rock stars or activists," he said. "But they are terrorized of the church and soccer moms."
President Bush has signed into law a $15 billion program to help prevent and treat AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean. It was great news, but it may endanger other relief programs.
Bono urged people to lobby local lawmakers to make sure the funds get to the children who need them.
"As much as we have to explain the value of a child's life to Boardroom America," he said, "I don't think we have to explain to the soccer moms of America the value of another woman's child."
Copyright ? 2003 The Seattle Times Company
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
A sunny day with a rock star belies a tragic topic: Africa
By Nicole Brodeur
Seattle Times staff columnist
It was very nice to be out in the sun yesterday, sipping a beer on the deck of a Pike Place Market restaurant with one of the world's biggest rock stars.
But the reason U2 singer Bono was here hovered like a waiter ? without the starched apron and accommodating smile.
Africa is hungry and poor, sick and dying. It doesn't know what has hit it, or whether anyone even cares.
The continent is saddled with crippling debt, a voracious AIDS epidemic and the inability to crack into an international trade system that would breathe money, medicine and purpose into its people.
"Certain poverty is structural," said Bono, 43. "It's not just charity for poor black babies. There are justice issues. The level of unfair trade. We don't let the poor people trade with us, and we're holding children to ransom for the debts of their grandparents.
"If you're spending more on servicing old debt than on health and education combined, in a country that is already on its knees, there's something wrong."
Two years ago, Bono established the nonprofit advocacy group Debt, AIDS and Trade for Africa, or DATA.
There was no single experience or encounter that spurred him. It was just the knowledge that comes when you're from Ireland, another country that has gone hungry and lost millions of people while the rest of the world built and prospered.
"There was also the sense that we were the Third World, until very recently," he said.
And while DATA was co-founded by Live Aid founder Bob Geldof and businessman George Soros, and funded mightily by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, its face belongs to Bono.
"Celebrity is currency," he said. "It's ridiculous. But I want to spend mine well."
He has met Pope John Paul II and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whom he described as his hero. He counts Bruce Springsteen and the late Frank Sinatra as his friends. His favorite Sinatra song is "One for My Baby (One More for the Road)."
Other things that come up when you're sipping beer: Bono's oldest piece of clothing is "a woolly jumper I put on when I'm sick." His favorite trash food is fish and chips; favorite fancy food is "fish and chips and caviar."
He is reading "The Mystery of Capital" by Hernando De Soto: "Recommended reading for anyone who wants to change the world."
His favorite superhero is Spiderman. And when asked if he still goes to confession, he said, simply: "I'm a songwriter."
He doesn't carry a wallet ("I have a laptop"), and when asked how he would pay for the beers, said, "If I want to pay, I would sing for our supper."
It is a delicate balance, the self-described "filthy-rich, spoiled-rotten rock star" speaking for the African people, who, amid the grind of kids and work and cars and mortgages, are much further from most American minds than the melody of "Beautiful Day."
"I don't want to appeal to people's guilt," Bono said, and then launched into a spot-on impression of investment genius Warren Buffett: "Appeal to the greatness of America, and I think we'll get the job done."
So what is our job?
"I've always said that politicians are not afraid of rock stars or activists," he said. "But they are terrorized of the church and soccer moms."
President Bush has signed into law a $15 billion program to help prevent and treat AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean. It was great news, but it may endanger other relief programs.
Bono urged people to lobby local lawmakers to make sure the funds get to the children who need them.
"As much as we have to explain the value of a child's life to Boardroom America," he said, "I don't think we have to explain to the soccer moms of America the value of another woman's child."
Copyright ? 2003 The Seattle Times Company
