Operating
in an Age of Uncertainty: New Challenges in
Humanitarian and Development Work
Closing
Remarks of Awards Dinner by Bono, Rock Star and Activist for DATA
Washington, 17 May 2004
Fantastic.
I should be standing up and you should be sitting down. Really,
that’s the right way around. Would you please tell Nana that
I am much better looking in real life? I’ve got a band to
go home to. You know, its just you find clichés wherever
you go, but rock star arrives late and all of that, its just, I
can feel the cliché, kind of cling. I really, really apologize.
The very least I could have done is to bring a really loud, noisy
rock band to put at the back of me, but maybe another time.
Actually I will stick
with the theme of clichés, because that seems to be the order
of the evening, because the people that you’ve all been honoring.
I don’t know if Carlotta (Gall of the New York Times) thinks
of her job as the sifting of truth through clichés, but we
certainly do, and I don’t know if Mr. Rojas thinks of his
job as dealing with some of the most awful clichés, from
South American militia running amok, but he smashes those clichés
in his own way. Senator Feinstein and Senator DeWine, there is a
cliché that people in this city don’t really care about
what’s going on outside of it, and I think those two smash
those clichés. Senator DeWine personally body blocked a billion
dollars for the world’s poor. I won’t pay tribute to
that. Just in this last year, Senator DeWine has robbed the defense
budget for an AIDS initiative, which of course is the same thing.
I love that it’s Colin Powell who said the quote about AIDS
being a weapon of mass destruction. That’s fantastic. So it’s
really the same thing, pinching it from the defense budget. Another
cliché, is, I suppose, that all of us here are not really
at the center of the action in this city. That’s the cliché
that has been hanging in the air here, that we are somehow at the
fringe. And I’m very happy to wish Mary (McClymont) and InterAction
on their 20th birthday, happy birthday, and to say that I think
that cliché has been put to bed in the last few years, and
I’d like to talk this evening about why.
I think the business,
your everyday business, you are the professionals and I am the amateur
come to salute you. Your business has never been more important
than it is now. And I think that’s of course relating to the
dangerous times that we are living in. 9-11 was a turning point
for us all if we are honest. And it was not just the obvious attack
on America that changed things for us, because two things happened
in the week of 9-11. The first we hear a lot about, the second not
so much about, but its on our mind. And that was just the shocking,
shocking pictures of people celebrating around the world, the Twin
Towers turning to dust. It is my personal belief that not just in
America but people around the world looked at that picture and said,
“What has happened? What is going on in the world?”
And Americans sent some kind of message, without even mouthing it
to their politicians: “Stop that. Stop that.” This is
America. This is the country that liberated Europe in the Second
World War. And not only liberated Europe, but rebuilt Europe with
the Marshall Plan. What has happened? And it’s an extraordinary
thing. You know my father grew up thinking he was American like
a lot of people in Ireland. They just thought “Wow! America
is amazing!” You know its just – they see the moon,
they want to take a walk on it, bring a little piece back. I mean,
they are just mad, those Americans, but it was just a big idea,
America. And if the United States was a brand, and of course it
is, you would have to admit that brand USA is in a little bit of
trouble, and you would be bringing your regional brand managers
home to talk to you, say what’s going on out there? And you
would be looking at the period when the brand never shone brighter.
And I would like to argue that was just after the Second World War,
when the United States spent one percent of its GDP over four years
to rebuild Europe. It was an extraordinary thing to do, and it wasn’t
just out of goodness of heart, which it certainly was. It was smart.
It was really, really smart. It was as a bulwark against Sovietism
and the Cold War. It was smart. And I would like to argue that what
you are all arguing for is more money to spend as a bulwark against
the extremism of our age, in the Hot War. And though Africa, which
is what I am here to talk about, is not the frontline in the war
against terror, it may be soon enough. And I think its smart money
that we are talking about, and I think we shouldn’t be embarrassed
about it. I think we should stop going and begging with our cups
in hand. And we should say “We’ve got the best idea
in town to rebuild the brand the United States.” This is the
heroic America. This is sort of America that we all fell in love
with, and we want it back, but its going to cost money. And that’s
okay maybe. That’s okay.
You know, we started
this thing in Philadelphia yesterday with David (Beckmann) and Rich
(Stearns) and all kinds of people -- religious people and student
activists. It’s our 1% campaign. And if we get it right, everyone
in this room should be benefiting from it. We want an increase of
government revenue, government budget money of 1%. People go, Tom
over there goes, “Oh God, Bono you can’t be asking for
1% extra, it’s just too much! Your head is in the clouds.”
They roll their eyes. I know we’re right. It’s an amazing
thing.
On the AIDS stuff --
could there be better advertisement for America than these drugs?
I said to President Bush, paint them red, white and blue, why don’t
you? I did. And he laughed. And he did. We’ll sort out all
the difficulties, but those drugs are going out there, and where
they go they are going to change the way America is seen, or Europe,
Ireland. By the way, I do keep expecting someone to come up and
say, “Aren’t you Irish? Would you just go home and stop
talking to us about our country?” You know. Hasn’t happened.
Yet.
Anyway, tomorrow morning,
I’m testifying in front of Congress, and the Senate Foreign
Ops Committee, and I’m going to be talking to them about these
kind of numbers and the cost of not just being a country, but being
an idea, because America is an idea, not just a country. So at about
10:30 in the morning, if any of you are thinking of me or watching
C-SPAN and you see my hand up and see me going “So help me
God,” would you pray for me?
Thank you. Good night.
Go to bed. You are amazing people.
