U2 Interviews
- Speech given by U2's Bono at the launch of NetAid
(during the UNDP 1999 Race Against Poverty Awards Ceremony) Sept
8 1999
- © Bono 1999
Thank you Kofi Annan. Thank you Quincy Jones, for inviting me
to be here tonight.
Let me start tonight by describing my own discomfort finding
myself on a podium such as this. When celebrities speak out on
political issues I get nervous. And I am one ! When musicians
open their mouths to do anything but sing - I put my wallet in my
boot. Celebrity can magnify, but it can also trivialize. But hey,
the United Nations has its own contradictions to deal with - so I
won't caricature you, if you don't characterise me.
I like being a rock singer. If music means anything to me it
is liberation - sexual, spiritual, political. Rock is the noise
that keeps me awake, stops me from falling asleep in the comfort
this wild freedom some of us are enjoying on the eve of the
21st century.
I am here today for one simple reason: I want to see Live Aid
through. In the 80s I was a proud part of the spoiled generation
that brought you Live Aid, Band Aid, We Are The World, and all
that stuff.
It was an amazing thing, that moment in time when Bob Geldof
and a bunch of pop stars raised 200 million dollars! Then I
learned that Africa spends 200 million dollars every week
servicing its debt to the west. That made no sense to me. I
literally could not understand what it meant. 200 million dollars
a week in debt service ?? What does that mean ? It means that for
every dollar in government grants to the poorest nations - the
poor nations pay back nine dollars - just to service their
loans.
Can I say that again ? For every dollar the wealthy nations
give to the poorest, the poorest people pay us back nine dollars
- just to service their loans. And bad loans - a lot of them to
cracked despots and corrupt administrations. Who, like Mobutu
laundered billions of dollars through Swiss bank accounts while
his own people went hungry.
That is not the way it is supposed to be. In small town
America, in England, in Ireland where I come from, the
traditional banker is supposed to take pride in lending to his
neighbours and take responsibility if he makes a bad loan. This
is important, because a lot of people hear about debt
cancellation and say - very common sense - look, if I borrow
money from a bank, I have to pay it off. Why should these
countries be any different ?
Well, fair enough. But, there is a BIG difference. If you
borrow money from a bank to start a business and the business
fails, you declare bankruptcy and the bank writes off the loss.
What does NOT happen is that the bank goes after your children,
your grandchildren, your grandmother. The bank doesn't seize your
neighbour's home.
That used to happen. It was called the debtors prison. In the
19th century people who failed to pay back loans were
thrown in jail. The west got rid of debtors prisons because it
was inefficient as well as barbaric.
So, we abolished debtors prisons in the west. But we're still
keeping entire countries in debtors prisons in the developing
world. Is THAT not barbaric? Is that not inefficient? Is it not
barbaric that Tanzania spends more on repaying its loans than it
does on health and education combined ? Or, that the good people
of Guyana who pay their debts have an average life expectancy of
47 years ?
Is it not economically inefficient ... because while the
developing world is on its knees with such a debt burden it
cannot stand up to take part in a world economy that needs new
growth and new trade.
In Jubilee 2000, we want to take the energy that's going into
New Year's Eve 1999 and the millennium celebrations and give it a
meaningful goal. We think this is the only big idea - big enough
to fill the shoes of this date.
We want the richest nations to Drop the Debts they are owed by
the very poorest nations. It's mostly unpayable anyhow.
If the leaders of the G7 go all the way with us - and I
believe they have the will - sometime in the year one billion
people will get a chance at a fresh start. This is a real reason
to celebrate New Year's Eve 1999.
History will be hard on us if we miss this opportunity. You
know, everyone who looks at this comes away wanting it. So what's
the problem ? The problem is its just so hard to change the way
things have always been.
There is a unique set of players on the world stage right now.
They have the script. They've already done some work on this.
They just need a little prompting from you, to go the whole
way.
I have talked with Tony Blair, Gerhard Schroeder and Bill
Clinton. This idea has support from conservatives as well as
liberal democrats. The US Treasury is taking this idea seriously.
Larry Summers - he's smart - I know they're going to try and
figure something out. Jim Wolfensohn from the World Bank - he's
going to figure it out. The IMF don't need all the grief they're
getting - they want change.
We have half of Harvard working on this project. Professor
Jeffrey Sachs is up at 4am working on this. The Pope John Paul
wants this to happen. The Dalai Lama wants this to happen.
Economists, church folk of every creed, artists - we're going to
be with the pontiff on the 23rd of September in Rome
to say: its one hundred days to the millennium .... hurry up and
cancel the debts.
The Muslims want this to happen - the Jews want this to
happen. The whole concept of Jubilee is a Jewish idea.
Evangelicals see it as devotional duty. UNICEF, Christian Aid,
the International Medical Association want it to happen. Mohammad
Ali is going to come back in the ring if this doesn't happen!
Throw in Quincy Jones and a bunch of rock stars and you've got
quite a cocktail and as broad a based coalition as you could hope
for. The sort of popular movement that brought about the end of
apartheid, or slavery - if that's not too much hyperbole for you
- but I'm not exaggerating. This is an economic slavery whose
abolition we're talking about this evening.
So many extraordinary people here tonight in this room - a
room that has played host to some of the most serious debates. A
room designed to dissuade conflict and to promote talk. In every
language under the sun. The UN knows more than anybody a level
playing field is a prerequisite for peace.
It is inequality that creates conflict. It is conflict that
creates refugees. And I have to stop for a second, right now,
just to pause and to think about those people in East Timor. Can
we just stand for a minute's silence and just think on their
plight...... Thank you.
The UNDP says we can put an end to extreme poverty in this
generation. I believe them. I'm grateful to NetAid, to their
concerts, their websites, for helping to get this idea across.
I'm grateful to you for listening.
If NetAid's mission is to persuade people from different
places to look in the same direction, they made a good start when
they introduced me to Wyclef Jean. This is cultural attache from
Brooklyn, hip hop's ambassador without portfolio, and the
honorable delegate from the kingdom of funk. America's most
gifted - Wyclef Jean.
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