Bono’s Red Flop
I’ve finally found an article that has been willing to expose Bono’s naive adventurism in Africa (or maybe I should say that I was actively looking for an article that agreed with my conclusions about Bono and I was not trying to be objective about this conclusion)
Anyway, it appears like Bono’s red campaign to try and raise money for AIDS in Africa has become one big flop. In other words, it’s become like Bono himself – all pomp, no substance. The campaign has raised a paltry $18 million dollars. Those of you who might be reading this from Kenya should refrain from converting this amount into Kenyan shillings. This sum of $18 million is a paltry amount for a country like America, where billions and billions of dollars are spent on all kinds of flaky consumer goods.
What happened to Bono’s campaign? I think people have just grown sick of Africa’s never ending problems. News pictures of starving and dying Africans have lost their shock value because they’ve become so common. This is not 1985 Ethiopia, where scenes of mass starvation had never been seen before. Post 1985, you’ve had genocide in Rwanda, you’ve had civil wars in Somalia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo, Sudan (north, south and west in Darfur), etc, etc. Then of course, after 9/11, the world’s focus switched to terrorism and the war in Iraq (people are more afraid about getting blown up than they are about looking at another starving African child)
A standard five pupil in Kariobangi would have been able to tell Bono what the real problem in Africa is, but Bono never bothered asking. He should stick to singing or if he really wants to help, do what Oprah did — build a school in a slum and give poor, smart kids scholarships so that they can go to school, learn a skill and hopefully get jobs and learn to fend for themselves.
I also agree Bono is in it for the right reason. Whether he understands the problems or not I could not tell you. Apart from the snap shot from TV or newspapers, I could not tell you what goes on in Mali. African problems are vast. The solutions are in the hands of Africans. Money from America will only buy a mosquito net which will later be sold as a vail to someones wedding. Maybe the rest of the world realises the same, hence the failed RED CAMPAIGN.
Let also be realistic, take a look at the companies which took part in the The Gap. Now someone should take a survey and ask the Gap kids where Africa was?
Kinoo:
Ati help us? LOL! Who do you want help from? Africans are going to have to help themselves. I think Oprah was being more realistic and more practical than Bono. You can’t save everyone. So, do the best you can for the few who get chosen.
Spicebar:
I guess you and I are on the same page. Don’t even get me going on Dr. Sachs. I read that useless book of his (“End of Poverty”) – telling women in Kisumu that the way to prevent malaria was to put mosquito nets over their beds. Like they didn’t know that already! and what happens when they go to the river to fetch water, or walk down to the lake to sell fish? Are they supposed to carry their nets with them? Do mosquitos only come out at night? None of his prescriptions have ever worked. Isn’t that why he got kicked out of both Bolivia and Russia?
Sijui:
I don’t admire Bono because I think his positions on Africa are quite patronizing. He would have been more succesful had he tried to do something more collaborative with Africans on the ground as opposed to yelling at mzungu’s and telling them that they need to do more for these “braindead” Africans. They are many, many Africans who would have told him exactly what to do, but those Africans are not hanging out at Davos.
As one who attended the massive Live 8 concert in Philly in 2005, I share both Kinoo’s and KE’s perspectives. I admire and respect Bono because I believe he means well and his heart is in the right place……nevertheless, I think his strategems are simplistic and superficial. Africans have to solve Africa’s problems period….all the money in the world NOR THE GOODWILL will save us from ourselves.
I’m not saying that people do not have a genuine interest in getting involved and being conscientious global citizens, there are PLENTY OF GOOD PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD who reject social injustice, and I believe Bono is one of them, however that does not negate intellectual honesty and realism. Bottom line, you cannot make ‘good choices’ for someone else nor can you force them to make them for themselves….dedication, interest and engagement has its limits.
Back to LIVE 8, two things I loved about that concert. Africans were blissfully unaware of all the ‘promotion’ going on, on their behalf…….and two, most attendees though there for the great music were equally engaged in venturing out beyond their little ‘bubble.’ Globalization is forcing everyone to realize that a ripple in your neck of the woods has a global impact so people better start paying attention to what’s happening beyond their borders. This goes for us Africans who DO NOT get a pass just because we are poor, as well as those in the industrialized west who are increasingly terrified by their own shadows with the specter of international terrorism.
Bono will be forced to re-invent himself soon……..even Africans who for so long have been defeatist and perennial victims, now have a new found self esteem and are growing increasingly wary of Western benefactors and philanthropists
out to save them.
P.S. Had to comment on Oprah thing…its her money and she can do whatever she wants with it. Let wealthy South Africans emulate her and do the same for their own, its not Oprah’s job to fix their education problems.
i won’t do the whole comparing oprah and bono thing cos i dont think that that is something that can be done with a couple of lines in the comment section. but i will agree with you on the whole bono campaign being a failure. the whole “we are african” deal was old way before they decided to torture us with images of gwyneth paltrow with streaks of blue paint. (we are the world, anyone?) for all the money they spent promoting the damn thing, you would think that they would have raised much much more.
you are right, bono forgot to ask africans what they wanted and went the dr. sachs route and decided to give money to us poor africans who do not know any better. again, i could go on forever about this but let me just leave it at that.
kinoo, i beg to differ with your assessment of the situation. bono’s heart may be in the right place, but what he thinks is the solution to what africa and africans are going through needs some serious adjustments. the probems in africa are still there, but i dont think that the red campaign (or free rock concerts, insert failed “charity” venture here) is the way to go.
I totally dissagree with your assesment of Bono. Just because the ‘red campaign’ did not raise a substancial junk of money does not necessarily brand him a failure.
Oprah is a darling of alot of people. Her appeal is more like a cult now. I’m in no way dissing Oprah. (But lets also note Oprah was a big campaigner for the ‘RED THING’)
But lets just note, Bono has been fighting a battle for all of Africa for a long time. I have not seen Oprah head to Darfur yet? Opening a school is a noble thing, but bare in mind for the school Oprah opened in SA, she could have openned 100 more schools. There is really no need to have 500 count bed sheets for kids who were sleeping on the floor before. And just imagine you are one of the kids that did not make the cut?
I don’t want to make this an Oprah v/s Bono comparision. The problems in Africa are still the same. Please HELP US.