October 4, 2007 Issue
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Classified Chestnut Hill Local Don't Miss an Issue, Tell us what you see or Winner of Two |
Rock star Bono sounds the bell
Quoting Bob Dylan and jokingly chiding former President George Bush, Irish rocker-turned-advocate for the poor Bono accepted the 2007 Liberty Medal for his work on behalf of DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa), a Washington, D.C. based advocacy group he co-founded, Thursday. “We cannot fix all of the world’s problems,” said Bono, who is best known as rock band U2’s front man. “But the ones we can, we must.” Bono, Jamie Drummond, DATA’s executive director, who was also honored at the National Constitution Center, and Bobby Shriver founded the organization in 2002 to help Africans fight AIDS and poverty through improved debt, aid and trade policies. “Today 1.5 million people in Africa are on life saving drugs,” Drummond said during a press conference before the ceremony. “Through debt cancellation, 20 million more children are going to school.” In 2005, DATA launched the ONE campaign and Live8 concerts to encourage people to speak out in a lobbying effort to get the leaders of the G8 countries — U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Canada, Italy and Japan — to provide $25 billion in development assistance to Africa by 2010. The Medal, established in 1988 as part of the We The People 200 celebration, honors an individual or organization from anywhere in the world that “demonstrated leadership and vision in the pursuit of liberty of conscience or freedom from oppression, ignorance, or deprivation.” Previous recipients include: the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall; South African Presidents F. W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela; South Korean President Kim Dae-jung; United Nations Secretary-Genreal Kofi Annan; U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell; Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko; and former U.S. Presidents George H. W. Bush and William J. Clinton. For some it might appear incongruous to see the self-described “loud-mouthed” front man of U2 on the list with heads of state, but his work with DATA puts Bono in the rarified airs of those who, given the opportunity, have used their position to help others. Judging from the results of the ONE campaign, 2.4 million U.S. residents have signed on to lend their voice, and the dense crowd gathered outside the constitution center Thursday, his message is striking the right cord with fans — old and new. Deb Potter, owner of the Village Earth Bead Store in Chestnut Hill, has been working with Beads for Education, helps send girls in Africa to school, for more than two years. “When someone like Bono comes along to reach out beyond his own borders, it shows us that he cares about the soul of the universe,” Potter said. “And it helps to unite this universe as one.” Potter said her own work with Africa is based on her belief that all humanity is sacred. Potter participated in the Break the Chains of Illiteracy walk in Kenya in 2007. “In this country we have tremendous resources if you are willing to do the work, to reach out and utilize them,” Potter said. “In most third world countries they have few if any resources. It takes very little for us to provide basic human services to these people who need them.” DATA deliberately focused on the U.S. in its campaign to win support for helping the poor in Africa. In part because, the U.S. is the richest country in the world, Bono said, but also because America, as he called it, “is not just a country, it is an idea.” “Africans want to work to help themselves, not to be victims,” she said. For more information on DATA visit www.data.org, or to find out more about Beads for Education, visit www.beadsforeducation.org. Contact Jennifer Katz at 215-248-8804 or jenn@chestnuthilllocal.com.
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