With the exceptional support of the City of Paris, the latest ONE PSA, “The F-Word: Famine is the real obscenity” and animated video, “A Future Without Famine” were projected onto the walls of City Hall in both French and English.

The names of the more than 400, 000 ONE members who have signed the petition calling on G20 leaders to break the cycle of famine were also projected onto the building. This exceptional mobilization is living proof that ONE members’ voices can help break the cycle of famine for good.

As Mayor Bertrand Delanoë said, “Today we have reached 7 billion worldwide. The challenges of population growth are numerous, but food is particularly urgent. A few days before the G20, I seize on this occasion to call for global mobilization against hunger…”

At ONE, we hope that the voices of all our members will be heard, and that strong commitments will be taken and actions implemented by the G20 leaders.

While underlining the severity of the current economic crisis, Bono made the case that even in these difficult times, investing in effective programs that are saving millions of lives is not just the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do in an increasingly globalized world.

He highlighted the importance of the French government continuing its support for effective programs that are fighting extreme poverty in Africa and crises such as the current famine in Somalia, saying, “It is not normal to have a famine …We should be able to prevent a drought from systematically becoming a famine.”

The French have been leaders in the fight against HIV/AIDS as seen by their continued support of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and they are in a unique position to forge stronger links with Africa in the future as a trading and economic partner. And aid is making a difference: 4 million Africans have benefited from AIDS treatment since 2002.

When asked about his own political influence with heads of state during an interview with the French TV show “Le Grand Journal” on Canal+, Bono stressed that much of the power comes from his audience, many of whom are voting age, including U2 fans, and ONE campaigners. “It’s not me the politicians fear, it’s the audience,” he said, urging individuals to mobilize and keep pressure on their governments to ensure that the world’s poorest are not forgotten, even in these tough times.

At the upcoming G20 in Cannes, ONE will be calling upon global leaders to support innovative finance mechanisms for development, to prevent future food crises by smart investments in agriculture and to take concrete actions in order to improve infrastructure in Africa. Please add your voice to our petition and ensure that world leaders break the cycle of famine.

During two days, the French capital was the world capital of the Internet. The e-G8 gathered the web elite –- from Google’s Eric Schmidt to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to Rupert Murdoch — in the Tuileries Park. Their objective? Discuss the web economy and changes happening.

For the first time, a discussion about the Internet has been put on the agenda before the G8 in Deauville that starts today.

At first, ONE welcomed the concept of such a meeting. We have all been witnessing the key role that the Internet played, in particular during the recent Arab revolutions. The web is an effective means to enforce rule of law, to increase transparency and to end poverty.

Improving Internet access and mobile connectivity in developing countries can allow farmers to consult market prices on their mobile phones, pupils and teachers to do distance learning or civil society to use social networks to fight against electoral fraud or corruption.

But unfortunately, these questions have been relegated to the second row, giving way to the predominance of the usual preoccupations: economic growth (ours), protection of children (ours), copyright (ours), etc.

This meeting could have been a historic moment for the people from the developing world, but we are far from there!

Despite this, an interesting conclusion on governance merits attention though: neither governments nor entrepreneurs nor civil society will be able to resolve the challenges of good governance on their own.

At ONE, we believe that we urgently need a new partnership: web companies, states and civil society should commit to work hand-in-hand in order to end censorship.

The two days of debate have ended without any agreement on concrete actions. The so-called leaders of the Internet are content with a simple state of play that will be presented at the G8 today and tomorrow. One can only hope for the leaders of the richest countries on earth to finally act: as long as the most marginalized are forgotten, the promise of the Internet will be unfulfilled.

Video and photo courtesy of e-G8.

At the Press Club near the Arc de Triomphe, ONE was joined by: Bono; Bob Geldof; Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS; TB and Malaria, singer and activist Angelique Kidjo; Arunma Oteh, Vice President, Corporate Services of the African Development Bank and French tennis star Yannick Noah.

Stay tuned here for some footage of the event and an analysis of the report’s findings.

(You can also read the summary and download the whole report here.)

-Josh Lozman