Bono on Kenyan TV
Shhhhh. Don’t tell anyone, but I forgot to include this in the new OTR column that I just posted tonight. Oh, well. I’m getting old. They say memory is the second thing to go as you get older. (I don’t remember what’s first.)
So, anyhoo … this is a 20-minute interview that Bono did on Kenyan TV when he was in Africa last month. If you’re really into examining every word, note that Bono twice mentions that aid to Africa isn’t the end-all, be-all. He refers to it as a “bridge” at one point, and says “make aid history!” later. He and the ONE Campaign movement, in general, have been criticized for focusing too much on aid, and those comments seem to reply to that criticism.
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3 Responses to “Bono on Kenyan TV”
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I thought this was a great interview. I like that Bono is responding to the aid argument; it shows he’s listening and taking things on board. I pretty much share his position (along the lines of “of course aid isn’t the final answer but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater”), so naturally I like the points he makes. And I also like that at the end he acknowledges his own campaign efforts might not have been without missteps (of course they have) and that finding the right balance is hard - but that he sticks up for himself a little bit too. Because to be fair, Bono has been arguing that aid is only part of the deal for a long time, just as he’s tried to draw attention to the potential of Africa as much as the tragedies that occur there. If people see him as ONLY about aid or ONLY about the continent’s victimization, that’s partly the fault of the way he’s been pigeon-holed by others rather than his own actions.
Thats exactly what it is. It all starts from the feeling that you want to help. A bit later the brain kicks in and starts thinking about the best way.
you said it edwin, people often confuse the heart to help and the best way to achieve it. Sometimes the wrong way will result in a backlash and ultimately harden the heart to do so in the future. Aid is pallative we need a cure, and its not aid, its democratic, economic development, and sustainability; toward the path of growth in the former and the latter. How to get there is as well disputed between the theoretical free market and international social democratic schools of thought. I side with the latter, from what I hear from Bono, he seems to side with the former, here I disagree, I think so long as he and others keep an open mind we can get there.