15 August 2009

Bono's Call to Action for Africa

Bono on TED Talks - from the TED web site (2006):

'Musician and activist Bono with a riveting talk, arguing that aid to Africa isn't just another celebrity cause; it's a global emergency.

It is an extraordinary fact that the lead singer with the world's biggest rock band is also our generation's most persuasive champion of the downtrodden. Irreverent, funny, iconoclastic and relentless, Bono has become stunningly effective in bringing the world’s most powerful leaders to take seriously the problems of AIDS and African poverty.

After U2's historic Live Aid performance in 1985, Bono traveled to Ethiopia with his wife, Ali. There they spent several weeks helping with a famine relief project.

In 2002, he co-founded DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa). Many credit him as the driving force behind the US government's recent dramatic increase in AIDS funding. And no one who has heard him speak about "our generation's greatest challenge" can come away unmoved.'

[Bono]

'I'd like to be clear about is what this problem is, and what this problem isn't. Because this is not all about charity. This is about justice. Really. This is not about charity. This is about justice. That's right. And that's too bad, because we're very good at charity. Americans, like Irish people, are good at it. Even the poorest neighborhoods give more than they can afford. We like to give, and we give a lot. Look at the response to the tsunami, it's inspiring. But justice is a tougher standard than charity. You see, Africa makes a fool of our idea of justice. It makes a farce of our idea of equality. It mocks our pieties. It doubts our concern. It questions our commitment. Because there is no way we can look at what's happening in Africa, and if we're honest, conclude that it would ever be allowed to happen anywhere else...

As you heard in the film, anywhere else, not here. Not here, not in America, not in Europe. In fact, a head of state that you're all familiar with admitted this to me. And it's really true. There is no chance this kind of hemorrhaging of human life would be accepted anywhere else other than Africa. Africa is a continent in flames. And deep down, if we really accepted that Africans were equal to us, we would all do more to put the fire out. We're standing around with watering cans, when what we really need is the fire brigade.

You see, it's not as dramatic as the tsunami. It's crazy, really, when you think about it. Does stuff have to look like an action movie these days to exist in the front of our brain? The slow extinguishing of countless lives is just not dramatic enough, it would appear. Catastrophes that we can avert are not as interesting as ones we could avert...

There are moments in history when civilization redefines itself. We believe this is one. We believe that this could be the time when the world finally decides that the wanton loss of life in Africa is just no longer acceptable. This could be the time that we finally get serious about changing the future for most people who live on planet Earth...

...There's two things on the line here. There's the continent Africa. But there's also our sense of ourselves. People are starting to figure this out. Movements are springing up. Artists, politicians, pop stars, priests, CEOs, NGOs, mothers' unions, student unions. A lot of people are getting together, and working under this umbrella I told you about earlier, the ONE Campaign. I think they just have one idea in their mind, which is, where you live in the world, should not determine whether you live in the world...

History, like God, is watching what we do. When the history books get written I think our age will be remembered for three things. Really, it's just three things this whole age will be remembered for. The digital revolution, yes. The war against terror, yes. And what we did - or did not do - to put out the fires in Africa. Some say we can't afford to. I say we can't afford not to.'
Posted by cruxcatalyst at 12:52 AM
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