When Bono met Bill Gates

PERCY FERNANDEZ / INDIATIMES NEWS NETWORK / Dec 20, 2005, 13:58 IST

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The U2 lead singer and the richest man in the world met much before they did on the cover of Time.

Bono, the lead singer of U2 met Bill Gates much before he met him on the cover of Time magazine. In fact, their partnership that began more than three years ago has got them here along with Bill��s wife Melinda. The three of them have been named Time Persons of the Year 2005.
Time named Gates and Bono "for being shrewd about doing good, for rewiring politics and re-engineering justice, for making mercy smarter and hope strategic and then daring the rest of us to follow".
Bill and Bono shared the stage at a World Economic Forum meeting in New York in 2003 when they said, ��We have an agenda.��
The agenda was christened DATA: Debt, AIDS and Trade for Africa in return for democracy, accountability and transparency in Africa.

Bono was of the view that Africa is in the same kind of vulnerable position that Europe was after the Second World War. And thought it would be very smart for the West to invest in preventing the fires rather than putting them out, which is a lot more expensive.
For years, the Irish rock star has been campaigning for third-world debt relief and creating awareness on the plight of Africa.
In 2002, the US Treasury Secretary, Paul O��Neill accompanied him on a four-country tour of Africa. It was during this time Bono formed DATA and has managed to convert several heads of state to sing along.
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin promised an 8% increase in the budget towards aid to Africa. A lunch with George Bush ensured that the American President had committed a gift of $5 billion for the world��s poorest countries.
In July 2005, Bono played a key role in organizing and publicizing Live 8, a series of 10 concerts around the globe encouraging the rich representative of G8 nations to write off Africa��s debt.
Both Bill Gates and Bono have become persona non-grata for a few. The Irish rock star has come under severe attack from several corners for peddling twaddle.
The gospel on Africa, as seen by Bono, has been sharply criticized by George Munbiot, the British columnist for legitimizing G8��s power rather than challenging it.
Adulating both Bono and Geldof��s astonishing achievements what Munbiot found out of sync and jarring was that both of them were not qualified to assume the role of arbiters ��whether to congratulate or criticize the G8 leaders on behalf of the citizens of UK and the world at large.
Bono��s charm of praising the world leaders and not asking them to stop doing further harm to Africa is what irritates most Bono critics. Also he is being seen as someone who is consciously na��ve and oblivious to the complexities that constitute and surround global politics.
In a more recent article (December 15, 2005) in TheNew York Times, author Paul Theroux, attacking Bono, wrote, ��There are probably more annoying things than being hectored about African development by a wealthy Irish rock star in a cowboy hat, but I can't think of one at the moment.��
Theroux further went on to say, ��It seems to have been Africa's fate to become a theater of empty talk and public gestures. But the impression that Africa is fatally troubled and can be saved only by outside help - not to mention celebrities and charity concerts - is a destructive and misleading conceit.
��Those of us who committed ourselves to being Peace Corps teachers in rural Malawi more than 40 years ago are dismayed by what we see on our return visits and by all the news that has been reported recently from that unlucky, drought-stricken country. But we are more appalled by most of the proposed solutions.��
Paul Theroux did not spare Gates either. He wrote, ��Mr. Gates has said candidly that he wants to rid himself of his burden of billions. Bono is one of his trusted advisers. Mr. Gates wants to send computers to Africa - an unproductive not to say insane idea. I would offer pencils and paper, mops and brooms: the schools I have seen in Malawi need them badly.��
Bill and Bono might smile pretty on the cover of the Time magazine, but have a huge burden to set things right in the continent that has over the years progressed backwards despite Bill and Bono��s loud cry for charity.

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