One of the world's leading rock stars argues that help for the poorest is a pressing moral issue of our time
It's the kind of endorsement that would delight any campaign. Last week the pope met a clutch of celebrities in a demonstration of support for the cancellation of Third World debts. The Jubilee 2000 campaign is pressing the developed nations to wipe out the debts of more than 50 of the world's poorest countries to mark the millennium. Among the delegation who met the pope was Bono, lead singer of the Irish band U2. Afterward, he spoke to NEWSWEEK's William Underhill. Excerpts:
UNDERHILL: Why did you take up the Jubilee 2000
cause?
BONO: It began about 18 months ago. I had just made a speech to
my band about how I wouldn't get distracted from our next record.
Then along came this idea — that we could harness all this
energy and sense of anticipation for what is really an arbitrary
date and actually make something of it, so that when we wake up
on Jan. 1, 2000, we'd feel that last night was more than just
fireworks and champagne.
What is the movement's appeal?
It's so depressing to watch the nightly news and see that this
suffering is never-ending. People put their hands in their
pockets and yet it doesn't seem to be enough. That feeling of
impotence can either lead to depression or anger. In my case it
was anger. I was angry when I discovered that for every $1 in
government aid to Africa the African countries owed $9 on their
loans. I was overjoyed when we raised $200 million with LiveAid.
Then I discovered that Africa pays $200 million a week servicing
its debts. It would be incredible if 1999 could be remembered not
for the destruction of two countries — Kosovo and East
Timor — but for rebuilding 50 of the poorest nations on
earth.
Your deadline is just three months away. Do you think you
have a real chance of success?
Already Jubilee 2000 has put together what must be the broadest
coalition since the ending of apartheid. You have economists like
Jeffrey Sachs; pop stars like myself and Quincy Jones; churchmen
like Billy Graham; the Dalai Lama and His Holiness the Pope. The
Cologne Initiative [a G7 proposal this summer to extend existing
debt-relief programs] was a great start, but I would like Bill
Clinton and Tony Blair to see it as just the first stage. I
believe the political will is there. I have spoken to Jim
Wolfensohn [president of the World Bank] and I sense that he will
go the distance if the politicians match him. When people are
left out of the loop of potential prosperity they turn very
easily to other ideologies. Let's have some preventive medicine
before we have to spend 10 times as much on a cure.
The campaign has attracted scores of celebrities. What has
been their impact?
As Bob Geldof has said, we can't command a constituency —
but we are heard by one. And it's a very large one. I have to say
that the people of influence I have met over the last six months
have been surprisingly open. But I don't think they're open to
me; it's to the idea. After a few minutes it is not a pop star
they are hearing; it's an idea. Smart people know a great idea
when they hear one. Paul Volcker [former chairman of the U.S.
Federal Reserve] burst out laughing at the idea. He said "I hated
it in '62, I hated it in '72." But he then went on to furnish me
with the telephone numbers of people I could talk to. People know
it's an idea whose time has come, awkward as it is for those in
the banking community. For them, it's a central tenet not to
cancel debts. But facing reality is another tenet. Africa is
beyond a catastrophe. Everyone accepts that fact. If you are not
going to get anything back in 10 years it's better to get nothing
back now.
Critics say it's naive to assume that any savings from debt
relief will be used on worthwhile projects.
Conditionality is crucial. We accept that. The onus has to be on
the debtor countries to be transparent; to prove that the money
freed up is going on infrastructure, health and education. If
they can't, they won't enjoy debt relief. Sudan can't be relieved
of its debts in the middle of a war.
Many of the ruling elites who first borrowed and misspent
the money are still in power.
This is a stick as well as a carrot. It will encourage the new
leadership in Africa, like Presidents Obasanjo [of Nigeria] and
Mbeki [of South Africa], and mortify regimes who are not allowed
to make use of debt relief because of their oppression of their
own people.
What was the attitude of the pope?
He has been talking about this since 1987. The idea of Sabbath
economics [including the relief of debts at regular intervals or
"jubilees"] is at the very heart of Judeo-Christian thinking. The
pope was saying that in all the fanfare and fireworks this
millennium was also a jubilee year. At a certain point you have
to face this as a moral, not an intellectual, question. At a time
when planet Earth is enjoying a prosperity unimaginable 100 years
ago it will say much about our moral torpor if we can't make this
happen.