Attacking the cult of Bono

Brendan O’Neil:

Bono has become a one-man state; more than that, he’s a one-man cross-border supranational institution. He presumes to speak for millions, not on the basis of a democratic mandate but on the basis that he – mystically, magically, and because Africans are apparently too poor and destitute to speak for themselves –
really, really knows what Africans want…

British newspaper columnist Rod Liddle refers to him as ‘the People’s Republic of Bono’, and wonders how long it will be before he is given ‘a seat on the United Nations security council’ or makes an announcement that ‘he is developing nuclear weapons’…

Bono is a celebrity colonialist. His patronising campaign to single-handedly ‘save Africa’ is actually damaging the continent. It is painting Africa as a pathetic place whose wide-eyed, infantile populations need a loudmouth rock star to fight their corner… Alongside making fun of Bono, let us challenge today’s prostitution of African problems for the purposes of Western self-aggrandisement, which has led to his being crowned King of the Africans.

Jennifer Brea:

Africans to Bono: 'For God's sake please stop!' …If we really want to help, why not ask Africans, not their governments, how they perceive the challenges before them, the dreams they have for the future, and the resources they think they need to realize them? Instead, we let a well-intentioned Irish rock star, a Jewish-American economist, and their Hollywood cohort become the voice and face of Africa. And in the process, the story of the other Africa, the Africa that is dynamic, creative, and wants to work as a partner and the leader of its own future, is being drowned out by the clarion cry of the anti-poverty glitterati–and our own appetites for gripping, salacious headlines of war, poverty, and grief.

Julie Hollar:

But if Bono chafes against such limitations, it hardly shows; in any case, he has modeled himself as the ideal media hero, combining ratings-grabbing celebrity power with a cause that offers praise rather than criticism of Bush, and simplistic, often consumption-based solutions…

Clearly, following Bono to Africa or reporting on conflict diamonds via Leonardo DiCaprio is both easier and more ratings-friendly than sustaining bureaus and teams of reporters on the ground, researching and reporting on both the bad news and the good from Africa. But as networks under corporate profit demands squeeze their news departments tighter and tighter, viewers can in all likelihood expect more and more clips of Madonna videos and Bono sales pitches substituting for real Africa coverage on TV.

Jagdish Bhagwati:

I am afraid that your energies have been misdirected when they are used to advance an aid agenda that is based on two obsolete and counter- productive premises: first, that aid for Africa must be spent in Africa rather than outside it and, second, that we must work to increase aid flows to a target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product…

In a recent interview, you said that you expected your music would endure forever but poverty would have ended in a hundred years. I wish you good luck on your music. But not even a hundred years would suffice to end poverty if you fail to correct your course.

Ouch. Also see Andew Rugasira's FT op-ed: Please Bono, Stop Heckling and Just Listen, and Bono vs. Mwenda. Via Africa Beat and PSD Blog.

Update: Also see today's op-ed in the LA Times by Bill Easterly, What Bono Doesn't Say About Africa. A rather upbeat message for Easterly actually; perhaps Rodrik got to him? via Mark Thoma.