Hack at work.
Killing Bono
"The best book I have ever read about trying to make it in the music business" - Elton John
"A fantastic book, which manages the difficult trick of being simultaneously very funny and very sad." - Bob Geldof
"I was Neil McCormick's fan in school. He was much cooler than me, a much better writer and I thought he'd make a much better rock star. I was wrong on one count. He's written a great book" - Bono
Bono - the evidence
Jamie Drummond is the co-founder of Data, with Bono and Bobby Shriver. This was his fairly comprehensive answer to pugnacious questions posed in a blog by Financial Times journalist Gideon Rachman, casting aspersion on the motives and effectiveness of Bono’s philanthropy. If you want to read the whole exchange, posted in Sept 2007, you can find it here. But personally I don’t want to give oxygen to Rachman’s cynicism. Drummond’s strong response is eloquent (and factual) enough in itself.
1. I’m truly delighted Gideon Rachman asked for evidence of Bono’s achievements.
We founded a group called DATA (www.data.org) precisely because Bono and the rest of us are obsessed by facts, and by what works and what doesn’t. We also know that some commentators too often miss the facts and sink into prejudice. Interestingly that is exactly the gist of this intentionally provocative bit of blogging.
Along with a number of key partners, DATA and Bono deserve some real credit for a lot of what has been achieved on the Africa agenda in the last few years. Don’t just take my word for it. The Daily Telegraph says Bono and Bob Geldof have “arguably become the most successful political lobbyists in recent history.” (9 June 2007)
And here are some more specific examples: As a result of our work on and support for the Jubilee movement, Bono helped bring about bilateral and multilateral debt cancellation of $70 billion for African countries. Along with foreign assistance, debt cancellation has helped put 20 million more children in Africa in school.
As a result of his helpful work on HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB, campaigners won an increase of $15bn from the US Congress for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief as well as $2.7 bn to date for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS TB and malaria, which has been more than matched by billions from European and other OECD nations. The money means that the number of Africans on lifesaving antiretroviral AIDS treatment has spiralled from 50,000 to 2 million in the last three years, 30 million anti-malarial bednets have been distributed resulting in dramatic declines in infant deaths in parts of Kenya and elsewhere, and 2.8 million people have been treated for TB.
The combination of these efforts along with increased sums from the World Bank’s International Development Association and the Millennium Challenge Account (which Bono in part helped devise) and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (a decent piece of U.S. legislation we wish Europe would take some lessons from), along with other anti-corruption and transparency policies we have backed, has helped African nations with good enough governance to strengthen economic growth and democracy.
These are decent results and Bono deserves more credit than most, but he achieved none of this alone. Above all he didn’t just do this with NGOs but with a growing movement that stretches way beyond the usual suspects. You are as likely to hear Bono quote 4 star General Jim Jones or Warren Buffet as our great colleagues at Oxfam or the UN. And for obvious reasons: as we broaden the coalition of support for beating extreme poverty, that breadth strengthens our case.
The only decent question Mr Rachman asks is the one asking for evidence. Because if you know the facts about Bono’s work and what he along with many partners has achieved, the other questions are easily answered. He’s not a “poseur”. He has worked incredibly hard to master the subject matter and the politics of how to make change happen: he’s the real thing.
Jamie Drummond