Last week we flagged a piece that ONE co-founder Bono wrote about Bill Clinton for TIME Magazine’s “TIME 100″ edition. Also be sure to check out this piece by Bob Geldof about Tidjane Thiam:
High-flying business types are meant to be impressive, but Tidjane Thiam, 47, is exceptional. When in 2008 he took the top job at Prudential, the British insurer that is buying AIG’s Asian unit, people talked about his rise in surprised tones. But it is no surprise that Tidjane has got to where he is — he is a brilliant, elegant, media-adept family man. I have had the honor and pleasure of working closely with him on the Commission for Africa in 2004 and ’05 and currently on the Africa Progress Panel. His insight and analysis are always impressive, his opinions invaluable.
Earlier this month ONE co-founder Bob Geldof spoke at the UK Department For International Development (DFID) conference on the Millennium Development Goals.
Check out these great videos of Bob Geldof discussing the vast effects of climate change in Ethiopia. Bob recently returned to Ethiopia to 25 years after events like Live Aid that helped inspire millions of people around the world to take action in the fight extreme poverty.
Remember to keep checking the ONE Blog where we’ll be posting frequent updates from the climate summit in Copenhagen.
Yesterday Bob Geldof, advisor to ONE, appeared on the Canadian Television News segment “Power Play” to discuss Canada’s progress in meeting the 2005 Gleneagles Summit commitments and its role in hosting the upcoming G8 Summit. He had some very kind words for the Canadian peoples’ strong commitments (and strong follow-through) in ending extreme poverty.
Sunday’s special edition of La Stampa which Bob Geldof edited, also presented an opportunity for Geldof to interview Italy’s Prime Minister Berlusconi. In the interview, Geldof asks some very pointed questions about Italy’s failure to deliver on their promises to Africa, and the fact that Italy has only met 3% of what it had promised.
Full account of the interview, courtesy of Eloise Todd, below:
Silvio Berlusconi and Bob Geldof met each other in the courtyard of Palazzo Chigi. The Prime Minister was suffering from a stiff neck, but kept the promise to respond to the criticisms of the rock star famous for his public efforts for Africa. Geldof, straight in from London, wanted to go over the questions and data on Italian aid to Africa.
They found each other again a moment later outside the study of the Prime Minister. They sat in the centre, next to one another, their teams were on two sofas facing each other, the advisers of ONE, the NGO for Africa, on one side, and the men of the Foreign Ministry and Palazzo Chigi on the other, including Gianni Letta and Paolo Bonaiuti.
What followed was not a conventional interview, but an exchange which almost resembled a boxing match. I thought at times that first Berlusconi, then Geldof, would get up and abandon the meeting, but in the end they managed to get to the end of the interview and the encounter stayed gentlemanly.
Geldof: “Signor Presidente, let’s get straight to the point. You are the senior statesman of the G8. In 2001 in Genoa, you created the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, which made ARVs available for free for 3 million people in Africa. Then you participated in the Gleneagles Summit, where you committed to invest 0.51% of GNI in ODA by 2010 and 0.7% GNI by 2015: right now Italy has met only 3% of that promise. From the hope of Genoa to the delusion of Gleneagles: do you feel the weight of this responsibility?”
Berlusconi begins reading from a statement: “You are right. It’s a delay in payments. We, however, were out of government for two and a half years. When we returned, we found a deficit of 110% GDP. Now, because of the economic crisis, this deficit is up to 120% and the European Union will not allow us to stay at this level. When considering the budget law, the Parliament has decided to cut spending. Unfortunately they also cut aid to Africa, and we have started a debate on this. The Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti is committed to getting us back on track with our commitments in 3 years.”
Geldof becomes agitated: “The G8 is in 3 days, not 3 years, as President of this Summit, what are you going to do?”
Berlusconi: “Look, what has happened is absolutely the opposite of what I have been doing personally: this year I financed an orphanage in Thailand and a hospital for children in Brazil. I understand your worry and I very much appreciate the work that you have done for the poorest, but we have had external obstacles standing in our way.”
Berlusconi gives the floor to the diplomatic adviser of Tremonti “we have begun to repay the World Bank our outstanding payments, as well as other international financial organisations. In 2010 we will reach 0.33% of GDP to ODA, and we’ll get to 0.51% by 2015…”
Geldof interrupts: “Excuse me, I am aware of all this. Thanks for the explanation,” and he turns towards the Prime Minister: “I don’t believe you. In order to reach those levels you will have to do an incredible job. And we don’t need any more plans, right now we need action. I’m sick of plans, we just need to act. We must have more ODA. When we cut aid, we take food from the mouths of the starving. We literally take the needles from the arms of patients. Why must we behave like this? Africa is the second biggest emerging market after China. It’s got more democratic countries than Asia. We’re talking about tiny amounts of money: why is it so difficult to find this money for aid? The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel Prime Minister Brown, even President Sarkozy have increased aid, but Italy has cut by €400m. All these countries’ economies are a disaster, but all have kept their promise they made to the poor. Except Italy. How can you lead the G8? Where is your credibility? This is a human question, not a tactical question. We are tired of seeing people that die of hunger!
Berlusconi starts to nod, he has been struck by the image of starving children.
Bob Geldof will be guest editing the Italian newspaper “La Stampa” this weekend as part of ONE’s campaign to encourage Italy to improve its record on Africa when it hosts the G8 summit next week.
La Stampa is a respected Italian newspaper based in Turin in northern Italy. Its editor has turned over Sunday’s paper to a dedicated Africa/G8 edition. It will feature stories on a wide range of African themes, and contributions from prominent African, Italian and global figures including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bono, Kofi Annan and Sophia Loren.
So far Italy has delivered just three per cent of the development aid to Africa it promised at the 2005 Gleneagles Summit. ONE is calling on Prime Minister Berlusconi to seize the opportunity of next week’s summit to turn around this abysmal record or forfeit all credibility as G8 host.
The Huffington Post today features an article from Bob Geldof on the DATA Report launch and key findings. In the piece, Geldof has strong words for Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi stating, “Let us watch to see if the Italian Prime Minister understands his global responsibility. Let us see if Italy keeps faith with the world’s poor.”
Poverty must go. Without removing it, we will not have a stable world. The global financial architecture collapsed and now must be rebuilt. One of the reasons this was a failure of the system rather than simply within it was because 50% of the planet, those who live on less than $2 per day, were excluded from it. You cannot live on less than $2 a day. What is more, by excluding them from the world economy, we excluded their creativity, their dynamism, their intellect, their ideas and their productivity. We did great damage to ourselves in doing so.
We mustn’t make the same mistake again as we rebuild a newer world economy. We must include the peripheral peoples in the marginal economies, we must include Africa and Africans if only so that they can buy our stuff and we can buy theirs. And then, as happens anywhere else, the aid question disappears.
We are not there yet. So, for now, aid stabilizes the poor of this world at a base level. It manages sometimes to get to some people so that they get to stay alive with a little bit of food, so they get to stay alive with a little bit of medicine, and so they get a little bit of education. Then with a coherent state they can begin to get going. And to help with that, we look primarily to the G7 — the world’s richest economies, the countries of plenty.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
