Bono Blogs on the Generosity of Americans
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Bono continues his liveblogging from the UN special summit on the MDGs this week. Some excerpts from his latest entry are below. See the full post on FT.com.
The ONE campaign has two and half million members, who urge us to make the case for increased aid as a key plank in America’s new foreign policy. ONE T-shirts have been turning up in town hall meetings for 18 months now, haranguing, hassling, but ultimately endearing themselves to all the presidential campaigns. They want the world to see what America has to offer the billion people who live on less than a dollar a day – practically speaking: medicine, new seed varieties, technology, know-how; policy speaking: what should America do more of? what should America do less of?
…Anyway we’ve now met with nearly a dozen of the presidential candidates in the course of their campaigns and of the four candidates left, three have declared their positions at onevote08.org/ontherecord, if you want to check them out.
On AIDS for example, Senators Obama and McCain both cosponsored the historic $48bn US AIDS initiative this year – an effort lead by Joe Biden – who I might add also fought in the trenches for debt cancellation for the poorest of the poor when I first started down this road. So it will be interesting to find out where Governor Palin stands.
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September 25, 2008 at 12:00 am
Hey,
Don’t be discouraged by the maddening of our political plights. God is good and wether we have debt or not, His will is being done to get you the dollars you will need to continue the work he is has pressed deeply on your heart.
~I have followed you personally since I was a young gal in the 80’s before you were a trend, I knew then that your on special path. Stand strong, humble with open hand and the Lord will fill your cup and the childrens. I believe.
with great respect,
Enriqueta
September 25, 2008 at 1:03 am
Hi Virginia, thank you for posting this. I’m with Blog Action Day 2008 coming up on October 15, and we’ll be trying to get the world’s bloggers to talk about poverty and contribute to poverty relief organizations. So far 20 of the top 100 blogs, plus MySpace, plus Friendster, plus the United Nations Millennium Campaign, plus Change.org, plus Kiva.org and many other organizations are supporting us this year. And we’ve gotten nearly 5,000 blogs to sign up already!
All that just to say that we would absolutely love to have the support of ONE.org this year and that we are thrilled to read about all the amazing things you guys are doing to fight poverty worldwide.
As Enriqueta said, you’re on a special path. We’re glad to follow.
September 25, 2008 at 5:43 am
The important issue we must not miss here is that changing foreign policy is not enough. Global poverty is affected by our daily actions within our own communities. Let us not forget that wealth in rich countries depends on poverty in poor countries. See my video about this issue: http://www.livingextremes.org/make-extreme-wealth-history/
September 25, 2008 at 8:21 pm
While I will ALWAYS support ONE in its efforts to rid the world of AIDS & extreme poverty and while I understand why we, AS ONE, must remain non-partisan in our approach with politicians, I also must stress that until we are willing to look at the political & economic structures which allow and actually encourage extreme poverty, we are simply patching holes in the wall and not fixing the longterm problem.
Still, I am grateful for ONE as a vehicle with which we can begin to address the inequalities in our world.
THANK YOU, BONO, for your pivotal role in our movement. But I do not want to follow you on the “journey of equality” – I want to walk alongside you as there is no room in our movement for big egos, just big hearts and open minds.~
Thanks for all these GREAT blogs.
ALWAYS FOREVER, ONE – debbie
http://www.mpwn-uganda.org
September 26, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Screw the other “poor countries” of the world; what about taking care of things here at home in America? How about getting Healthcare under control here first?… How about stemming poverty in the United States first?… Who’s going to come to the aid of America once our society “implodes”; which it’s on the very edge of ecomomically, politically, resource-wise, healthcare-wise, employment-wise, illegal-immigration/iinvasion-wise, militarily, and so on. Let’s get America in propper shape first before helping strangers of the world. C’mon.
September 26, 2008 at 7:15 pm
are you kidding me! our country is going bankrupt and all you care about is giving more money to other countries. it’s time for the people in the US to say enough is enough. we need to take care of this country first. wake up we have millions here with no health care. what country is going to pitch in and pay for that?
September 26, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Who the hell says it’s the U.S.’s job to ‘end global poverty’? Why not just boil the ocean while we’re at it? The best favor we can do for the developing nations is to maintain a stong economy where others can come legally, contribute, profit from their honest efforts, and return some of their gains to their homeland the way millions have for many generations. Somebody needs to get a grip on reality.
September 28, 2008 at 3:26 pm
So many military experts – from Colin Powell to the CIA ( yes – the CIA) have agreed with ONE’s contention regarding this idea so I would think that any real patriot for our country would understand the value of making friends in the world’s poorest countries through the programs that ONE advocates for rather than have those same poor countries turn into havens for terroists bent on fomenting instability in the world.
Think about it and you’ll see the whole picture and realize that we, AS ONE, are trying to protect the security of the world as we try to eliminate extreme poverty.
And I say this as a STRONG ONE SUPPORTER of over four years and as someone
who lived in poverty in the USA almost all my life!
ALWAYS FOREVER, ONE – debbie
http://www.mpwn-uganda.org
October 5, 2008 at 12:39 pm
In 2008, isn’t the time right for the United States of America to re-focus attentions and resources to aid and assist the needs of our Domestic poor and those in need, and finally begin to give less to those in foreign lands?