I've read a couple of different articles in which two of Bono's co-belligerents in the fight against global poverty - Thom York, lead singer of Radiohead and Jeffrey Sachs, one of the world's leading economists and the author of
The End of Poverty - have criticized Bono for being too chummy with the likes of George Bush and Tony Blair, failing in their estimation to adequately speak truth to power. Perhaps there's some merit to their criticism, but Bono's statements before last week's National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C. certainly had more of a ring of the "prophetic" than most of the normally tame remarks made before such an amiable (superficial?) gathering. If you haven't read them already, you can find them
here.
If you want to watch the address you can find a link under "recent programs" on c-span.org.
Posted by
Kim |
2:01 PM
I read and watched Bono's address at the National Prayer Breakfast, and I must say I was glad to hear most of what he said. For the past two days I've been working on a translation to Portuguese, which I'll post on my blog for my fellow Portuguese speakers. I guess people will always criticize those who are under the spotlight, and sometimes rightfully so. U2 just played a couple of sold out concerts here in Brazil, and some criticized Bono for some of the things he said and did while in Brazil. But I do think he's doing a lot more proportionally to these causes he cares about than most of us, who usually have a hard time driving 10 minutes to find those less fortunate than us, even in the States, considered a wealthy country. And I think it's good to remember that yes, it's Bono, but Bono is a man just like you and I, and will not always say and do what's right. Yes, most people outside of the U.S. aren't too thrilled about the fact they don't have any say on who will be the president in the States, yet this same president they can't choose can drop a bomb at their doorstep anytime he feels it's appropriate. I don't think Bono is happy about that either, but I think in situations like this we have to look for some common ground in order to achieve a higher goal. Helping those in need, and providing some dignity for those who are marked to die is a good excuse to set aside political differences, I think. Let's leave the discussion on terror, the atrocities of war, oil greed and made up lies for another time...
Posted by
Erlon Lemos |
9:11 AM