U2 would like to believe it is a band that can change the world. The faith of its members won’t allow for anything less. Inspired by the ancient Hebrew prophets, they are committed to a form of social engagement that challenges unjust systems and works toward peace and fairness for all. Bono defines the band’s activist roll, saying, “Charity is OK, I’m interested in charity. Of course, we should all be, especially those of us who are privileged. But I’m much more interested in justice. . . . These things are rooted in my study of the Scriptures” (Assayas, Bono, 137). Driven by compassion, conviction, and a sense of moral duty, U2 has consistently used albums, concerts, and special appearances to inform, inspire, and call fans to action, reflecting the band’s deep commitment to shalom, as well as a call to be peacemakers.
While U2 has spent a career highlighting troubled spots around the globe, its innovative focus on Africa—especially through the ONE Campaign—has transformed Bono, on behalf of the band, into a global activist concerned with issues of poverty, inequity, fair trade, AIDS, and debt relief. The model of “new activism” Bono is largely responsible for creating has been both commendable and debatable, receiving praise and condemnation from fans and critics alike. Though Bono’s high-visibility work as an activist has even been a point of contention for the band members themselves, all of the members contribute to a number of philanthropic projects. Reflecting foundational values of faith and justice, U2 has both shaped and been shaped by the cultural issues it has engaged throughout its forty-year mission.
A young U2 probably couldn’t imagine how long and difficult the journey of change would be, but the idea of social engagement infused the DNA of the group from the beginning. As they sat in manager Paul McGuinness’s apartment and shaped their first plans to conquer the world—even before they had a record contract—U2’s concert schedule began to reflect an interest in philanthropic events. In the fall of 1978, only a few months after Steve Averill gave them their iconic name, Bono, Adam, Larry, and Edge played for the Contraception Action Campaign at a controversial gig promoting the free distribution of condoms in Ireland. And even though it was a taboo activity strictly prohibited by the dominant Catholic culture, U2 continued supporting the Irish Family Planning Association throughout the coming decade. In another effort, later that same month, the band joined other punk musicians and artists to protest sexism in the rock music community. A local paper ran the advertisement: “Rock Against Sexism, an organization which certainly has its work cut out for it, is running a gig in the Magnet, Dublin, on August 28th with the very promising young Dublin band, U2, topping the bill” (www.atu2.com). However, the publicity didn’t help much: only about fifty people attended the event. Through the early 1980s, the group played at other benefit concerts, no matter how obscure or small, including the appearance of Bono, Adam, and Larry at the “National Milk Run” in 1980. Eventually, a few more prominent events in 1984 demonstrated U2’s growing activist spirit and its ability to work in the mainstream of the social justice movement to a larger audience.
Bob Geldof, lead singer for Irish band the Boomtown Rats, had been increasing his role as an activist and antipoverty crusader throughout the early 1980s and became somewhat of a role model for U2. First performing for an Amnesty International benefit concert in 1981, he was captivated a few years later by the horrific famine that was devastating Ethiopia. Responding to the tragedy, Geldof assembled an unprecedented gathering of musicians to perform and record “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” Despite hesitations from Paul McGuinness, Bono and Adam answered Geldof’s call and joined the 1984 supergroup Band Aid for the production. Accompanied by a trendsetting, celebrity-filled music video, the song broke several industry records, eventually selling almost twelve million copies worldwide and raising over twelve million dollars for famine relief. Though the song was criticized by some as overly sentimental and poorly written, it became wildly popular and was more successful than even Geldof had foreseen. The “Christmas” collaboration went on to inspire other charitable projects, including “We Are the World” by USA for Africa (written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian) and Comic Relief (a British television event launched from a Sudanese refugee camp in 1985).
Band Aid also inspired Geldof to dream of an entire day of international concerts featuring an unprecedented lineup of popular musicians, all linked together via satellite. This second effort to heighten global awareness and raise funds for Ethiopia was named Live Aid, a first-of-its-kind humanitarian concert phenomenon. In the summer of 1985, U2 took the stage in full force, giving one of the most powerful and memorable performances of its career and demonstrating to a global audience both its passion for music and compassion for the suffering people of Africa. Fresh off of Live Aid, Bono and his wife, Ali Hewson, set out with the international organization World Vision to live in an Ethiopian refugee camp for a month, experiencing the catastrophic famine for themselves while volunteering in an orphanage. The trip was life changing, setting Bono and his band on a course toward activism in Africa that would span the next three decades and become a foundational theme for some of U2’s major works, including The Joshua Tree (especially “Where the Streets Have No Name”); “Silver and Gold” (a song addressing apartheid in South Africa); multiple humanitarian campaigns such as ONE, Drop the Debt, and DATA; and calls to activism on the Vertigo, 360°, and Innocence + Experience tours.
U2 has also had a long history with Amnesty International, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) that focuses on global human rights and calls for action against systems of oppression and injustice around the world. In 1984, the band supported the still relatively unknown humanitarian agency by playing for a “Stop Torture Week” fund-raiser at Radio City Music Hall in New York. This led to a series of conversations between Amnesty’s Jack Healy and U2, finally culminating in a 1986 American tour called A Conspiracy of Hope, promoting the organization’s twenty-fifth anniversary as well as recruiting a new generation of members and activists. Healey recalls the moment U2 agreed to perform on the tour: “I knew the human rights movement really changed that day. It really did. No question. I knew what was coming. I knew what was gonna happen. I knew we were gonna grow” (McGee, “It Was 20 Years”). From that point on, Amnesty has been a regular presence with U2, setting up booths at concerts and receiving credit on albums. As a direct result of U2’s involvement, the entire demographic of the organization shifted toward twenty- and thirty-year-olds, and Amnesty experienced a rapid and unparalleled period of growth.
The band went on to champion many other humanitarian initiatives, several on behalf of its homeland. In 1986, U2 joined forces with other local artists to promote Self Aid, a Live Aid–styled event designed to highlight the problem of chronic unemployment in Ireland, and secure both pledges for new jobs and funds for job creation. It was the largest concert ever staged in that country. For the Stop Sellafield campaign in 1992, the band took a dangerous ride in a rubber dinghy to the Sellafield nuclear plant on the shores of England in a protest effort to raise awareness about high numbers of Leukemia cases on the east coast of Ireland. In collaboration with other bands, the proceeds from the associated concert went to support the work of Greenpeace, an NGO that has focused on environmental activism since 1970. U2 also used its considerable prowess to support the peace effort in Belfast, hosting a concert and raising support for the Good Friday Agreement, the accord that officially ended the Troubles in 1998. During a heavily criticized and highly controversial photo opportunity, Bono brought David Trimble and John Hume—two opposing leaders in Northern Ireland—on to the stage to shake hands in a moment of mutual compromise. Years later, Larry commented on the importance of U2’s own ability to cross sectarian lines, recalling,
U2 are a living example of the kind of unity of faith and tradition that is possible in Northern Ireland. We all agreed the Yes vote was the only way forward. Getting involved in domestic politics is always dangerous but these were exceptional circumstances. (U2 and McCormick, U2 by U2, 285)
The list of charities U2 has been a part of in more recent years is staggering. The band has collaborated multiple times with War Child, an NGO founded in 1993 to assist children experiencing conflict in war-torn countries. For this cause, in 1995 the group donated the proceeds of the single “Miss Sarajevo” and supported Luciano Pavarotti at a benefit concert in Modena, Italy, and in 2013 contributed to the organization’s twentieth-anniversary album. Following the lead of Ali, Bono’s wife, U2 contributed the profit from its 1998 single “Sweetest Thing” to the Chernobyl Children’s Project, a humanitarian agency dedicated to helping families affected by the worst nuclear power plant accident in history. “Walk On,” a Grammy Award–winning song from All That You Can’t Leave Behind, was written about Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi and performed in her honor on multiple tours. Continuing a long history of advocacy for Nelson Mandela, Bono wrote a song with Joe Strummer titled “46664”—the number Mandela wore for much of his imprisonment—and Edge joined him for a concert in Cape Town. The 2003 event both honored Mandela as a civil rights leader and raised awareness of the rapidly spreading AIDS crisis in South Africa. U2 again championed the life of Mandela in 2013 by writing and recording “Ordinary Love,” a song commissioned for the biographic film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. The tune paid tribute to the man that Bono said the band had been working for since he was nineteen years old and was released less than a week before the antiapartheid revolutionary’s death. “Ordinary Love” was well received by fans, and in 2014 it went on to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song (but lost to “Let It Go” from the Disney movie Frozen).
While on tour, U2 has used its stage to consistently promote the causes it believes in. In the 1980s, the band denounced the violence of the Troubles and praised those willing to endorse political compromise in Ireland, incurring the anger of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) by speaking out against the organization and deliberately discouraging Irish Americans from making financial contributions to it. Undaunted by the threats of its adversaries, U2 also routinely promoted the nonviolent activism of Martin Luther King, Jr., for which Bono allegedly received a death threat.
Though the band took a break from overt activism during the Zoo TV and PopMart tours, preferring instead a delicate balance of introspection and irony; it confidently resumed using its stage as a pulpit for social causes in the new millennium. On the Elevation tour, U2 used a reinterpretation of “Bullet the Blue Sky” to highlight gun violence and denounce the National Rifle Association (NRA). The segment featured a video montage compiled by Catherine Owens and included graphic images of police actions, shooting victims, and a child playing with a handgun. Noting that more Americans had died in domestic gun disputes than in the bloody Vietnam conflict, Bono targeted the crowd with a high-intensity flashlight—one that even resembled a gun with a trigger—and screamed repeatedly from the stage, “War is over. We don’t need your help. America’s making war on itself!” Edge later explained, “The song needed something that would contemporize it. We’re treading a very fine line between being artists and wanting to lecture Americans about issues that are important. It’s basically turning the mirror on the audience” (Eliscu, “U2’s Call to Disarm”). In analyzing the band’s evolving use of “Bullet” and its ability to contextualize the song, Steve Taylor summarized, “Sampling, the collage-like reappropriation of already-existing elements, is U2’s creative approach to using one of its signature songs to try to change a changing world” (Taylor, “‘Bullet the Blue Sky,’” 95). In a similar way, throughout the latter half of its career, U2 repeatedly reused standard songs from its catalog but with fresh interpretations and a rekindled sense of purpose. Indeed, culture was challenging and shaping U2’s artistic sensibilities at the same time U2 was attempting to influence the culture. This symbiotic relationship between the band and its social context cultivated a unique climate of creativity and relevance, especially in the third and fourth decades of its career.
The Vertigo tour offered a similar approach to issues of social justice, particularly in its “heart of darkness” segment, a somber sequence of songs and media including “Love and Peace or Else,” “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “Bullet the Blue Sky,” and “Running to Stand Still.” As in previous tours, U2 used this section of the concert to challenge societal assumptions, this time tackling the tough issue of terrorism and specifically critiquing the American-led coalition’s use of torture as a means to obtain information from Iraqi operatives during the Gulf War. Issuing a call to peace, the band continued its concert with a reading from the Declaration of Human Rights as a backdrop for “Pride (in the Name of Love),” U2’s anthemic tribute to the nonviolent resistance of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Closing the main set of its Vertigo show, U2 incorporated a combination of music, images, and interactive technology to call attention to sub-Saharan Africa. During the introduction of “Where the Streets Have No Name,” Bono segued by reinterpreting King’s dream of equality in America as a vision for Africa. While the flags of African nations cascaded down the stage’s state-of-the-art LED backdrop, Bono challenged audiences by adapting King’s message for a new global context: “From the bridge at Selma in Mississippi, to the mouth of the river Nile. From the swamplands of Louisiana, to the high peaks of Kilimanjaro. From Dr. King’s America, to Nelson Mandela’s Africa, the journey of equality moves on!” (Vertigo 2005). Capitalizing on the fevered pitch of its audience, U2 moved from there to an innovative call to action, inviting people to take out their cell phones and join the ONE Campaign immediately. This bold solicitation demonstrated an inventive use of technology, as it brought activism right into the arena on a personal level. Bono challenged concertgoers—specifically naming President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, and other world leaders—reminding them, “We have the technology, we have the resources, we have the know-how to end extreme poverty.” He reiterated the ONE Campaign’s motto, “We’re not looking for your money. We’re looking for your voice” (Vertigo 2005). Gone were the days of gathering signatures on paper petitions and door-to-door solicitations for charitable causes. U2 was ushering in both new media and a new brand of activism.
The band continued its crusade for an AIDS-free Africa as it supported the 2009 release of No Line on the Horizon. Throughout the 360° tour, U2 featured a prerecorded video of a giddy Archbishop Desmond Tutu rejoicing and congratulating audiences for the progress that had been made through their advocacy for his home continent, again invoking and adapting the message of King for the twenty-first century:
The same people who marched for civil rights in the United States are the same people who protested apartheid in South Africa, who are the same people who worked for peace in Ireland, and are the same people who fought against debt slavery in the jubilee year 2000, who are the same BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE that I see when I look around this place tonight in 360 degrees. WE are those people. WE are the same person. Because our voices were heard millions more of our brothers and sisters are alive thanks to the miracle of AIDS drugs and malaria drugs. . . . They will be doctors, they will be nurses, they will be scientists who will live to solve GREAT problems. Yes, there are many obstacles. Of course, there are always road blocks in the way of justice. But God will put a wind at our back and a rising road ahead if we work with each other as ONE . . . ONE! (U2: 360°)
The 360° tour also showed U2 and its fans standing in solidarity with both the nonviolent protesters of the Green Movement in Iran during “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and the Burmese political dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. During “Walk On,” a song dedicated to Suu Kyi, representatives from Amnesty International and the ONE Campaign filled the platform as they paid tribute to the imprisoned Burmese activist. U2’s spaceship-themed stage had transported audiences to Africa, Iran, and Burma in a truly global moment of activism.
The Innocence + Experience tour called attention once again to the ongoing fight against AIDS in Africa, this time focusing more closely on the plight of mothers who inadvertently pass the infection on to their babies. Using a lullabyesque cover of Paul Simon’s “Mother and Child Reunion,” U2 featured Oliver Jeffers’s childlike drawings, illustrating both the continuing problem and the achievements gained since the 360° tour. In a quiet, intimate moment, U2 reminded its audience that two little pills could prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to child, thwarting six hundred new cases a day and bringing the goal of an AIDS-free generation within sight. At the same time, the band promoted Product (RED), the advocacy initiative founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver in 2006 to create awareness and provide funding for the fight against AIDS.
The Innocence + Experience tour addressed a few other social concerns as well. During the North American leg in 2015, U2 used “Bullet the Blue Sky” to highlight police violence against African American males in highly publicized cases from Florida, Missouri, South Carolina, Maryland, and New York. In Europe, the focus of “Bullet” shifted toward the refugee crisis as hundreds of thousands of people fled Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and North Africa due to civil unrest and war. In this segment, U2 invited European audiences to open their borders and accept the refugees—an unpopular idea in many countries due to the fear of terrorism. And for a brief time on the tour, U2 also celebrated a critical piece of legislation in Ireland. In May 2015, Irish citizens voted overwhelmingly to legalize same-sex marriage and extend a variety of benefits and privileges to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, making it the first country in the world to do so by popular vote and marking a rapid and radical shift in the country’s attitude toward sexual orientation. Due to its religious conservatism and repressive culture, Ireland had endured a long history of discrimination against those of different sexual orientations, only decriminalizing homosexuality in 1992. The band used “Pride” to promote equality and joked that it was helping put the “gay” back in “Gaelic.” As in previous tours, Innocence + Experience continued the tradition of addressing controversial social themes and boldly proclaimed U2’s commitment to an ongoing and evolving engagement with current issues.
As a collective organization, U2 has used its vast resources to address topics of social concern throughout its four-decade career. Since the earliest days, long before it was known by anyone other than its local following at the Dandelion Market, the band has demonstrated a commitment to seek justice and equality by appearing at charity events, endorsing humanitarian organizations, and weaving controversial causes and issues into concerts. Historian Alan McPherson notes,
U2 did not single-handedly “remake” global activism. But it has stood at the vanguard of new trends and strategies in activism since the early 1980s. Equally important, U2’s remaking of the world of global activism should be understood as a reaction to their times. (McPherson, World and U2, xvi)
Always responding to cultural ebb and flow, the band has both adapted to it and worked as a shaping force in it through music and art. But when not appearing as a band, the individual members of U2 have also invested both money and time in their own personal causes, thus extending their influence beyond the stage. Bono, in fact, nearly made another career out of his advocacy and humanitarian efforts.
Though all the members of U2 have been involved in philanthropic projects, neither they, nor any other recording artist, can compare to the role Bono has taken in advocating on behalf of the world’s poor. As a band, U2 has supported more than twenty charities and spoken on behalf of over twenty causes, but as an individual Bono has nearly doubled that, setting him apart from other celebrity activists. It’s common for celebrities to become activists after they become famous, as activism typically follows celebrity and philanthropic efforts usually culminate in charitable contributions while also providing positive exposure and publicity for the donor. It can be common, too, that well-meaning celebrities never develop a deep understanding of the issues involved and thus can only be helpful up to a certain point. Bono, however, is a completely different type of celebrity philanthropist, engaging in a new kind of activism that partners fame, entrepreneurial spirit, business strategies, government policy, and economic investments in a way that makes a difference on a grand scale. Along with other wealthy and influential figures, including Bill Gates, George Soros, and Bill Clinton, Bono has become what economist Matthew Bishop calls a “hyper-agent” of society because of his ability to effect change on a global level in ways that others cannot. These “philanthrocapitalists” use their wealth and influence to access essential systems such as the White House, Congress, and Wall Street. Another economist explains, “The need for philanthropy to become more like the for-profit capital markets is a common theme among the new philanthropists, especially those who have made their fortune in finance. As they see it, three things are needed for such a philanthropic marketplace to work” (“Birth of Philanthrocapitalism”). Those three things include investment in socially entrepreneurial ventures, an economic infrastructure of banks and markets, and the ability to maximize their return on social investments. Above all, these new socially conscious celebrities are driven by a sense of faith and obligation to help humanity through responsible, efficient, and profitable humanitarian projects. Reacting to the waste and inefficiency of traditional government and nongovernment programs, Noreena Hertz describes this “new activism” as a shift in influence from nation-states to an ethical capitalism that intensifies lobbying, develops academic solutions, and implements business proposals on behalf of the world’s poor. Hertz has been a major influence on Bono’s own philosophy of philanthropy and was also a primary inspiration for his (RED) campaign.
Bono’s interest in global activism has led to a love affair with Africa that can be traced back to two events: his involvement with Live Aid and his trip with the relief agency World Vision to Ethiopia, both in 1985. He emerged from these experiences with a righteous zeal for a land that had largely been forgotten by the rest of the globe. But his passion for the people and his relentless interest in the problems of sub-Saharan Africa also exposed a flaw in his and other’s benevolent strategies on behalf of the continent. In hindsight, Live Aid has become a case study in what not to do. While the charitable event eventually raised over $200 million, it was raised so quickly that an effective structure for overseeing and dispensing the funds wasn’t in place. As Band Aid and Live Aid channeled money to Ethiopia, various humanitarian agencies welcomed the infusion of cash with a no-strings-attached approach, but some of the funds were manipulated and rerouted to be under the control of Ethiopia’s oppressive, abusive dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. In the end, the aid U2 helped generate benefited health care services, educational resources, and agricultural practices in Ethiopia, but critics point out that lives saved may have been offset by the deaths of thousands under the Mengistu administration. A second inadvertent result of Live Aid also caused organizers to question their charitable tactics. A portion of the money raised went to pay off some of Ethiopia’s massive foreign debt, which had ballooned due to corrupt African regimes recklessly borrowing from Western nations. Ironically, some of Live Aid’s contributions went to Ethiopia but ended back in the banks of the nations that had loaned the money. This cyclical return of funds revealed a deep systemic flaw in charitable giving.
Ultimately, Bono—and by extension, U2—learned that money wasn’t the only way to provide support for Africa. In the twenty-first century, the lead singer was older and wiser, a well-studied version of his younger zealous self. Seeking to hone his own skill as an activist, he befriended and sought the advice and training of influential people such as venture capitalist Bobby Shriver, economist Jeffrey Sachs, and computer magnate Bill Gates. Through the counsel of these successful humanitarians, Bono began to shape a complex, informed, and multifaceted plan for advocacy on behalf of Africa, including political, economic, and social strategies. Starting with the Jubilee 2000 campaign, an international project that called for the cancellation of third-world debt by the year 2000, Bono embraced a new vocation as spokesperson and activist on behalf of the band. Reflecting on the lessons learned from the marginally successful charitable projects of the mid-1980s, Bono commented, “Here was a chance to revisit that situation, but with more than a Band-Aid, to look at the structure of poverty” (“Can Bono Save the Third World?”). While campaigning for Jubilee 2000, Bono took on a strategic role as lobbyist in the US Senate, asking politicians to forgive nearly $6 billion in third-world debt and soliciting the support of conservative Republicans who were likely to vote against key legislation. Armed with an arsenal of data and up-to-date information, Bono collaborated with a host of artists, actors, and celebrities; lobbied politicians across the political spectrum; hobnobbed with presidents and prime ministers; and often won over adversaries through smart, articulate, and passionate conversations. Eventually, the campaign resulted in $100 billion of debt relief for thirty-five of the world’s poorest countries. In Bono’s own words, that’s “[n]ot bad take-home for a year’s work” (“Can Bono Save the Third World?”).
Though the Jubilee 2000 campaign’s goals were ambitious and successful in ways that Live Aid could never have anticipated, Bono was just getting started in a career of philanthropy. While campaigning for Jubilee, the lead singer began to understand that his celebrity was a kind of capital in and of itself. And though he had tried in jest to call the White House during concerts on the Zoo TV tour (calls that were always disconnected), his twenty-first-century rock star status nearly guaranteed him entrance to any politician’s office, including US president Bill Clinton, British prime minister Tony Blair, German chancellor Gerhard Schroder, and other heads of state such as US treasury secretaries Robert Rubin and Larry Summers, national security advisor Sandy Berger, Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker, and World Bank president James Wolfensohn. Bono even got an audience with Pope John Paul II, at which time he gave the pope a pair of his sunglasses in return for a rosary. A photo of Bono next to the pope wearing “Fly Shades” has become an iconic image of the rock star’s charismatic personality and efficacious activism.
For Bono’s next humanitarian effort, he didn’t just join an existing campaign, he started his own. In 2002, the front man collaborated with Bobby Shriver and other activists from the Jubilee project to cofound DATA, an acronym for “debt, AIDS, trade, Africa.” The purpose of this multinational NGO was to seek equality and justice for poor African nations by advocating for debt relief, fair trade rules, and the eradication of AIDS. The campaign challenged wealthy Western nations to increase funding and adjust policies in ways that would bolster African democracy and independence, but it also placed constraints on African leaders by requiring governmental transparency in an effort to minimize corruption. DATA’s role in advocating for Africa has been multifaceted. First, because many African nations pay more for the maintenance of foreign debt than they do for health care, education, and other services for their own people, DATA has both lobbied rich countries to forgive the debt and monitored the follow-through of those nations that make commitments. Second, when DATA was formed, over thirty million people on the continent were living with AIDS, and sixty-five hundred were dying every day. The NGO has fought to create awareness, lobby for assistance, ensure that drugs are available, and reverse the epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Third, as it has sought the end of extreme poverty across the globe, DATA has lobbied foreign governments for development assistance that would finance education, health care, roads, clean water, technology, and other infrastructure on the African continent. In 2016, through a partnership with the ONE Campaign, the agency successfully petitioned the US Congress to support the Electrify Africa Act, a bill providing energy access for parts of Africa that had previously been without electricity. A fourth premise of DATA is that economic growth across the continent can only be boosted and sustained through fair trade practices, resulting in the ability for Africans to sell their products without being undercut by the United States and other European nations.
In 2004, Bono helped cofound yet another nonprofit agency. The ONE Campaign was originally a collaboration of eleven humanitarian organizations, including DATA, Bread for the Word, Save the Children, World Vision, and others, with start-up funding from Bill and Melinda Gates. Focusing on the fight against extreme poverty and global disease, the goal of ONE has been to mobilize more than seven million members to take action, primarily by pressuring politicians to support global development through awareness campaigns. “We don’t want your money—we want your voice,” a popular slogan for ONE, demonstrates the organization’s emphasis on “getting smart policies agreed and implemented, and holding governments accountable” (Elliott, “Money Counts”). The campaign to “Make Poverty History” merged with DATA in 2008, while retaining the name ONE, forming a substantial and formidable humanitarian agency that has routinely and successfully lobbied governments around the world, specifically focusing on the G8 nations. Aiming to end senseless, extreme poverty by 2030, ONE’s global membership continues to press key international governments.
In 2006, Bono joined once again with Bobby Shriver to launch Product (RED). This venture was the culmination of all that Bono and his cadre of influential business associates had learned about the blending of philanthropy and capitalism. Partnering with companies such as Nike, Apple, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Converse, and many others, (RED) differed from Bono’s previous policy-oriented projects by being unabashedly revenue driven. Following a new and innovative business model, affiliate companies from the private sector created specially branded products and donated a portion of the profit from their sales to the Global Fund, an organization established to raise money in the fight against AIDs, tuberculosis, and malaria. By 2016, on its tenth anniversary, (RED) had contributed more than $350 million to the Global Fund and positively impacted sixty million people in multiple African countries, primarily focusing on the distribution of lifesaving antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Blending ethical consumerism and performance-based funding, (RED) demonstrated that corporations and major label brands could be both competitive in capitalist markets and benevolent with their profits.
In 2016, after returning from a fact-gathering tour of Middle Eastern and African countries that were struggling to deal with the escalating refugee crisis, Bono appeared before a US Senate Appropriations subcommittee on “The Causes and Consequences of Violent Extremism and the Role of Foreign Assistance.” In his testimony, he continued his advocacy for Africa and other conflicted countries such as Jordan and Syria, making the case that foreign aid is not just a nice gesture but an essential weapon in the battle against terrorism. He argued,
For too long, aid has been seen as charity—a nice thing to do when we can afford it. But this is a moment to reimagine what we mean by aid. Aid in 2016 is not just charity—it is national security. Though of course we know that aid alone is not the answer, it is also true that when aid is structured properly, with a focus on fighting poverty and improving governance, it could just be the best bulwark we have against the extremism of our age. (United States Senate, “Hearing on Violent Extremism”)
Just two weeks later, while speaking to Willow Creek Community Church via a prerecorded video, he reminded the congregation, “Jesus was a displaced person—his family fleeing to Egypt for fear of the life of their firstborn child. Yep, Jesus was a refugee.” Signaling the importance of welcoming refugees, he continued, “‘Love thy neighbor’ is not advice, it’s a command” (Bono, “Celebration of Hope”). Much more than a lead singer in a rock band, Bono has been respected and valued as an authoritative voice of philanthropy, a compassionate humanitarian, a smart and articulate consultant on foreign policy, and an experienced venture capitalist, resulting in a trusted reputation unlike any rock star before him.
Bono has also partnered with his wife, Ali, an activist who is equally articulate and informed on issues in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2005, the couple founded Edun, a fashion brand established to promote trade by using African labor and products. Edun’s emphasis on fair business practices exhibited a commitment to African economies not through financial contributions and direct aid but by creating business partnerships that offered locally sourced products and maintained just and sustainable working conditions. The company—whose name spelled backwards is “nude” and also sounds like the idyllic garden of Eden—models a socially conscious ethic uncommon in an industry known for exploiting child labor and manufacturing products in sweatshops. Ali explained, “We wanted to show that you can make a for-profit business where everybody in the chain is treated well” (“Even Better”). The mission-driven fashion company initially produced most of its products in Africa, but the business model became untenable when African suppliers and manufacturers lacked the infrastructure to complete orders in a timely manner. As a result, the company lost millions of dollars in 2007 and 2008, requiring Bono and Ali to invest their own money and eventually merge the brand with another fashion company. Through the failure, the couple learned a hard lesson: their noble mission was worthless without an efficient business plan. In a corrective move, a portion of the manufacturing had to be outsourced to China for a while, but Edun began moving more and more of its production back to Africa as techniques and relationships evolved. Bono and Ali’s investment in a new fashion brand and a revolutionary business model once again demonstrated their commitment to economic development in Africa, fair trade practices, and also to a posture of lifelong learning.
At the height of his humanitarian efforts, Bono visited Africa on yet another information-gathering tour in 2002. While in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the lead singer gave a closing address to the African Development Bank meetings, and reflected on how his own understanding of philanthropy had changed since the days of Live Aid. Martin Wroe reported and commented on Bono’s words:
“Seventeen years ago, I came to Ethiopia on a wave of tears and compassion, flowing from the rich countries to the poor, from soccer stadiums taken over by musicians to refugee camps taken over by the starving people of Ethiopia. The brilliant Bob Geldof taught me the importance of being focused, angry, persistent. We raised $200 million, and we thought we’d cracked it. It was a great moment, it was a great feeling.” But they hadn’t cracked it. The poor world, it turned out, needed political change more than loose change. “I discovered,” adds Bono, “that Africa spends $20 million every five days repaying old debts. Tears were obviously not enough.” (Wroe, “Tears Are Not Enough”)
Determined to create change, Bono committed a substantial amount of his own time, resources, and money to political advocacy, social awareness, and transformational practices on behalf of the poorest of African nations. For his humanitarian efforts, Bono was named “Person of the Year” (along with Bill and Melinda Gates) in 2005 by Time magazine, nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize three times, and awarded honorary British knighthood, among many other distinguished accolades. President Bill Clinton has offered his highest praise, reflecting, “I love this man because he has a mind and heart. He can say words, but he knows deeds mean so much more. . . . To Bono, there is no ‘them,’ there is only ‘us.’ We should follow him” (Varga, “Part-Time Rocker”). Speaking before dignitaries at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, in 2006, Bono summed up his own thoughts on Africa and activism:
And finally . . . this is not about charity after all, is it? It’s about justice. . . . I just want to repeat that: This is not about charity, it’s about justice. And that’s too bad. Because we’re good at charity. Americans, Irish people, are good at charity. We like to give, and we give a lot, even those who can’t afford it. But justice is a higher standard. Africa makes a fool of our idea of justice; it makes a farce of our idea of equality. It mocks our pieties, it doubts our concern, and it questions our commitment. (Bono, On the Move)
Indeed, Bono’s relentless pursuit of justice and equality helped position him as a new kind of activist—one that leveraged celebrity, lobbied politicians, launched awareness campaigns, and initiated socially ethical business ventures. As he accepted the NAACP Chairman’s Award in 2007—along with a thunderous standing ovation from a theater full of America’s most influential African American leaders—Bono once again pointed to a deep and stirring personal faith as the impetus for his work:
And to those in the church who still sit in judgment on the AIDS emergency, let me climb into the pulpit for just one moment. Because whatever thoughts we have about God, who He is, or even if God exists, most will agree that God has a special place for the poor. The poor are where God lives. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is where the opportunity is lost and lives are shattered. God is with the mother who has infected her child with a virus that will take both their lives. God is under the rubble in the cries we hear during wartime. God, my friends, is with the poor. And God is with us if we are with them. This is not a burden, this is an adventure. Don’t let anyone tell you it cannot be done. We can be the generation that ends extreme poverty. (Bono, “Bono at NAACP Awards”)
Throughout the third and fourth decades of U2’s industrious career, it has been easy to spot Bono’s passionate and evocative activism. But other members of the group have also contributed in both public and private ways. Edge made a major commitment to philanthropy in 2005. As New Orleans—a city known for a long and rich musical legacy, especially with Dixieland and jazz—recovered from the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Katrina, the U2 guitarist cofounded Music Rising. Originally a campaign to replace the instruments of musicians who lost everything in the storm and ensuing flood, the charity has also provided grants, promoted music education, and offered aid to other musical communities affected by natural disasters. As part of the effort, U2 joined with Green Day in a historic performance during a New Orleans Saints football game at the reopening of the Superdome. The two groups collaborated to cover “The Saints Are Coming” and donated all proceeds from sales of the live recording to Music Rising. An accompanying music video sparked controversy as it depicted a fictional scenario in which President George W. Bush recalled troops stationed in Iraq to help victims of Katrina. It was a bold commentary on the US government’s lack of response to the disaster and a perfect complement to Edge’s humanitarian work.
Edge has also given significant time and resource to the fight against cancer, a relevant topic because of his own daughter’s battle with the disease. In 2016, he took part in the Third International Conference on the Progress of Regenerative Medicine at the Vatican. Focusing on an intersection of science, philanthropy, faith, and culture, the pope, US vice president Joe Biden, and others heightened the need for ongoing cancer research in the pursuit of a cure. A highlight of the conference included Edge’s performance—the first ever for a contemporary musician—in the Sistine Chapel in front of a distinguished audience. In 2010, Edge participated in the Stand Up to Cancer telethon, and in 2007 he joined the board of the Angiogenesis Foundation, an organization focusing on cancer treatment. Always smart and articulate, Edge summarizes, “Angiogenesis is a study of a process which is common to over 40 human diseases, which is the development of new blood vessels” (Fegan, “Brush with Disease”). An issue of close personal significance, Edge has continued to study, learn, and support the fight against cancer.
Adam has often been known as the shy, reserved member of U2, but in 2012 he became an ambassador for Walk in My Shoes, an initiative from St. Patrick’s University Hospital in Dublin. The charity’s mission is to provide positive mental health for young people, and the hospital was a favorite cause supported by Adam’s mother before she passed away. Picking up where she left off, Adam stated, “I think it is essential to take care of people with mental health problems. Money raised will be used to help put young people back on the road to mental health” (“Get on Your Boots”). Adam has continued to raise funds and awareness for services to young adults and has worked hard to remove the stigma of mental health issues.
U2’s foray into activism has not come without controversy, especially when considering Bono’s ambitious efforts. And while critics have always been a part of the U2 story, sometimes the criticisms have come from within the band itself. Larry, Adam, and Edge were particularly concerned when Bono’s busy activist schedule seemed to take precedence over his involvement in U2. Just after the turn of the new millennium, the lead singer found himself in a bit of a paradox: his role as front man had propelled him into the international spotlight, giving him entrance into elite legislatures and parliaments across the globe, but he jeopardized the very success that gave him his credibility by spending more time as a philanthropist than as a musician.
In fact, Bono spent so much time and energy on Jubilee 2000 that it created tension during the production of All That You Can’t Leave Behind. Paul McGuinness recognized the dilemma: “It could be irritating for [the other members of U2], as much as they supported him in what he was doing. He was sometimes a little careless of other people’s time and there were certainly strains on Principle Management and strains on the band” (U2 and McCormick, U2 by U2, 293). Larry concurred, “Bono was spending more and more time on the phone, talking to world leaders, arranging to meet the Pope. There was some grumbling about the amount of time it was taking up, and Brian [Eno] and Danny [Lanois] were very frustrated” (U2 and McCormick, U2 by U2, 293). Bono’s humanitarian efforts also delayed production of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb while he was developing DATA. Paul McGuinness again noted, “He takes far too much on, I think, but it is hard to criticize him because his political achievements are very real. But there are times when it makes the rest of the band feel that they’re taking second place. I suspect they think U2 should be more important to him than it sometimes is” (U2 and McCormick, U2 by U2, 314). Even Bono himself realized his exploits had jeopardized the record, recalling, “I do think at one point U2 wanted to get an album out really quickly. It is fair to say the DATA work derailed that” (U2 and McCormick, U2 by U2, 317). Though bolstered by the support and affirmation of his bandmates, Bono’s relentless activism caused tension within U2 and its management, resulting in unavoidable but, in the end, manageable internal conflict.
Aside from some contentions from within the band, there are at least four reasons why critics have blasted Bono and his band for their philanthropic efforts. First, this new activism, especially as it’s demonstrated by (RED), could be viewed as a convenient collusion with corporations. Critics have charged that philanthrocapitalists use the rhetoric of being “socially responsible” for their own personal gain. They also argue that consumers of (RED) merchandise continue to perpetuate and justify rampant materialism and greed, buying products at inflated prices at the expense of poor Africans. Detractors contend that this new activism is equal to a fresh exploitation of a people who have long been subservient to powerful Western economies. When confronted with accusations of compromise and collusion, Bono has responded, “I don’t see this as selling out. I see this as ganging up on the problem. . . . For those people [whose lives are saved], my motivation or our (RED) motivation is irrelevant” (Bono, “Bono, Guest Editor”). The lead singer has consistently rebutted his accusers, both in concert and in press conferences, by pointing out that Africans who receive antiretroviral pills don’t care whether the medicine comes through private donations or corporate contributions, they are just thankful for the lifesaving drugs.
A second criticism often levied against U2’s brand of activism relates to a historic pattern of condescending and demeaning attitudes in the West. Many would argue that Bono’s advocacy on behalf of the poor simply updates and maintains a nineteenth-century “white man’s burden” mentality, an ideology carried over from the colonizing and partitioning of the African continent, in which North American and European powers felt a moral obligation to “save” Africa. The problem lies in the idea that advocacy is often patronizing and paternalistic, leaving those that are being helped out of the planning and facilitation. Critics argue that while the white West arrogantly assumes it has all the answers, Africans themselves must be allowed and empowered to solve their own problems through education and expanded trade. A celebrity philanthropist, they contend, is nothing more than an egocentric crusader with a messiah complex. Labeling Bono’s activism as “the Rock Star’s Burden,” author Phil Theroux retorted, “The impression that Africa is fatally troubled and can be saved only by outside help—not to mention celebrities and charity concerts—is a destructive and misleading conceit” (Theroux, “Rock Star’s Burden”). As Bono, Bill Gates, Jeffrey Sachs, Warren Buffett, George Soros, and others speak for the poor, some believe the poor themselves are not being invited to speak.
A third accusation made against U2 is that the band has compromised its core values by allying with the very political powers it once castigated. Many loyal fans recoiled in dismay in the early 2000s as Bono conducted photo ops with Republican president George W. Bush, schmoozed with neoconservative strategist Paul Wolfowitz, entertained the staunchly conservative senator Jesse Helms, and traveled to Africa with Republican US treasury secretary Paul O’Neill. Even worse (from the perspective of his critics), Bono gained the support of US churches, contemporary Christian musicians, and the Vatican while praising the virtues of capitalism as the answer for Africa’s desperate situation. Nonetheless, though fans were stunned—and sometimes repulsed—Bono was having a positive effect in Congress, and U2 was swaying audiences in concert. Success was most succinctly seen in 2003, when the conservative Bush administration authorized an astounding $15 billion for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), an amount that grew to $60 billion by 2016. Many commentators had to admit that Bono played a significant part in this and several successive funding schemes. Drawing on the example of Martin Luther King, Jr., the lead singer learned to turn enemies into allies by appealing to a value or interest that motivates them and advises, “When you have a person who may appear rigidly opposed to something, look for ways to widen the aperture of their narrow idealistic view” (McGirt, “Bono”). Often criticized for his conciliatory role, even Bono recognized his own change in attitude toward the people he had once rebuked: “You grow up with this idea of us and them, that all politicians are full of s—t. Now I see their life is the art of the possible” (“Can Bono Save the Third World?”).
A fourth, though surely not final, critique of U2 is related to the band’s own corporate strategies. In 2006, the franchise shifted a portion of its complex business affairs from Ireland to the Netherlands in an effort to avoid paying high tax rates. The move was chastised by both media pundits and fans alike as hypocritical. Throughout its career, U2 had routinely championed Ireland, advocated for its workers, and declared a singular loyalty, proclaiming that the group would forever be based in Dublin. Though other musical acts fled the republic at the first signs of success, U2 endured, even remaining steadfast and hopeful during a bleak economic recession. But Bono’s loud and unambiguous call for debt relief, fair trade, and ethical business practices in Africa seemed at odds with the band’s behavior at home. In defense, Bono called its move a normal and reasonable financial strategy, maintaining that many of the band’s investments were still headquartered in Ireland and that it was, indeed, still paying a fair amount of taxes. Edge responded, “So much of our business is outside Ireland. It’s ridiculous to sort of make a big deal about the fact that we operate outside of Ireland” (Gayle, “Bono Defends”). Nonetheless, though U2 perceived it as a “smart” decision, critics of the band saw the controversial transaction as just another in a long string of insincere activities.
Throughout four decades of making music, U2 has consistently and passionately engaged in a complex web of activism and advocacy on behalf of those without power, position, or influence, delighting fans and fueling critics. While the goal of traditional activism has been to rally the masses and promote common activities such as protesting, letter writing, and signing petitions, Bono’s new brand of megaphilanthropy targeted the major stakeholders of key systems, including business moguls, politicians, religious leaders, and community activists. Driven by faith and a strong desire to make a difference in the world, Larry, Adam, Edge, and Bono have used albums, concerts, and special causes to develop not only their musical ability but also a benevolent sensibility about the world in which they live. McPherson summarizes U2’s core traits and evolution this way:
Community, faith, and action: such are the lessons—the pillars—of U2’s activism. They have run through every period of their lives, even if at times they were lying in wait or explicitly hidden from the press. In later decades, all three lessons became explicit and allowed four teenagers from Ireland to feel confident that their values and good works rested on sound moral foundations. (McPhearson, World and U2, xxvi)
Can U2 change the world? Does rock ’n’ roll really make a difference? Perhaps Bono’s own words from a commencement address he gave at the University of Pennsylvania in 2004 give us a partial answer:
I didn’t expect change to come so slow, so agonizingly slow. I didn’t realize that the biggest obstacle to political and social progress wasn’t the Free Masons, or the Establishment, or the boot heal [sic] of whatever you consider “the Man” to be, it was something much more subtle. [It was] a combination of our own indifference and the Kafkaesque labyrinth of “no”s you encounter as people vanish down the corridors of bureaucracy. (Bono, “Because We Can”)
A much younger and less patient Bono from 1989—the zealous preacher that nearly hung himself on the cross of a Joshua tree—also dared to ponder out loud about his band’s role in culture: “Can those dreams, can records, can music really challenge entrenched power? I don’t know. I don’t think so. It can effect change. It can be a catalyst for change. How? It can be a voice of dissent” (Block, “Bono Bites Back”). A still younger Bono—just twenty-three years old in 1983, with a full mullet hairdo—announced his vision for the coming decade:
The sixties was a period where idealism ruled, and I’m proud of idealism. I think it was diluted, it was turned into escapism by drugs and people just going over the top, but now in the ’80s, we’re trying to change that, we’re trying to say, “Hold on a second. We can do something. Music can change the world because it can change people.” Maybe that’s naïve, I don’t care, let me be on record as saying that. (Bono, “Bono Interview”)
Wondering whether U2 has changed the world is a legitimate question worthy of pursuit, but perhaps it’s only half of a larger inquiry, the flipside of which is has the world changed U2? With forty-plus years of activity to examine, the answers are yes and yes. U2 offers a marvelously intriguing case study of the dynamic interplay between artist and culture, where each influences and responds to the other, as two dancers embrace to move across the floor in one fluid motion. U2 is one of the few rock bands to have engaged its culture on such a large scale, and among its peers is the only one that has done so by continuing to produce new material to popular and critical acclaim and consistently inventive and successful methods for delivering its art.
Bono concluded his address to the University of Pennsylvania graduates with a final comment—a piece of advice that seems representative of U2’s long and vibrant journey: “My point is that the world is more malleable than you think and it’s waiting for you to hammer it into shape” (Bono, “Because We Can”). Sometimes the sculptors, sometimes the stones, the members of U2—four dreamers who continue to be transformed by the world they set out to conquer—have shown us again and again that they, too, are more malleable than we might think.