ONE and U2 in Berlin

Jul 24th, 2009 2:55 PM UTC
By Carola Bieniek

Last Saturday, U2 finally hit Germany with their 360° tour. Before the show in Berlin’s Olympic stadium, ONE had invited friends and supporters to a summer outside reception at the waterside.

In his short address, Germany director Tobias Kahler gave an account of his recent travels through Ghana and Nigeria where he witnessed the progress that development cooperation can achieve. The simple possibility to cultivate and trade with pineapples, for example, started a chain reaction which irrevocably changed the lives of a whole community for the better. ONE’s CEO David Lane focused on the national election which is to be held in Germany on September 27. Referring to experience made in the US with campaigns like “On the Record”, he recounted how mobilization of the American public was able to influence the presidential race. ONE Germany is campaigning in a similar way, asking voters for their signature to the “Article ONE” which urges the next federal government to boost development issues in their coalition treaty. To raise awareness for this campaign, we asked our guests to sign the Article ONE and had their photographs taken while doing so.

All in all, ONE staff members, politicians, artists, journalists and representatives from other NGOs spent a relaxed afternoon with plenty of time to engage in discussions on our issues before moving on to the stadium to enjoy the concert.

Twenty spirited ONE volunteers spent their afternoon in a much less relaxed, but certainly as exciting way: Thanks to U2’s commitment to ONE, we had the opportunity to inform people on progress and challenges concerning the fight against extreme poverty and recruit new ONE members before and after the concert. As at all the other venues in Europe and North America, we set up our ONE stand and photo booth where newly signed-up ONE supporters could have their picture taken while giving the future a big kiss. A number of those pictures were seen by a crowd of 90.000 when they appeared on the giant 360° screen above the stage that same night.

We managed to sign up a vast number of new ONE supporters that day, including quite a few who had come from other countries – like Greece, Denmark, Sweden, Israel, Spain and even Brazil – to see U2 on stage.

The band’s truly amazing performance thrilled ONE volunteers, our prominent supporters and the rest of the 90,000 fans alike, and we were all inspired by the political messages sent out during the show. An especially moving moment was Archbishop Tutu’s message that surely convinced many of the infinite power we have in our hands if we act together. Right afterwards, a message on the screen asked fans to join ONE by texting “KISS” to a short code – all over the dark stadium, glowing mobile lights attested to the immediate reaction. There were statements on other contemporary political focal points, too: U2 dedicated their classic “Sunday, bloody Sunday” to the suppressed oppositional movement in Iran, bathing the enormous stage in green light. Burmese Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi – the most courageous woman in the world, as Bono said – was honored by hundreds of people wearing her mask during “Walk On”, and some of them even walked on stage during that song. A special greeting went out to another Nobel Peace Prize winner: U2 and fans sang “Happy Birthday” for Nelson Mandela since he turned 91 that day.

We’ll have more updates about ONE’s efforts on the U2 tour soon!

-Carola Bieniek

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