<incom> Welcome to the People’s Republic of Bono

[Soenke Zehle]

Wednesday 13 June 2007
Welcome to the People’s Republic of Bono
<http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/3481/>

The G8 should be renamed the G9: the pompous U2 singer had a stately 
presence and an obscene amount of influence at the latest summit.
Brendan O’Neill

The G8 should change its name to the G9. Because if this year’s summit 
in Heiligendamm, Germany was anything to go by, there’s a new member of 
the pack.

Alongside the eight most industrialised nations on Earth who make up the 
‘Group of Eight’ – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK 
and the US, who between them represent around 65 per cent of the world 
economy – there was a ninth stately presence at Heiligendamm. It didn’t 
actually sit at the summit itself, but it did have ‘numerous sources at 
the negotiating table’, to such an extent that it felt like ‘we have the 
place bugged, because everybody tells us [what is going on]’, said the 
ninth power (1). It also held meetings with most of the world leaders, 
and severely chastised those who refused to meet it. When Canadian PM 
Stephen Harper said he was too busy to meet with the ninth power he was 
accused of ‘blocking progress’. ‘Canada has become a laggard’, the ninth 
power declared (2). It also passed judgement on the proceedings: its 
‘satisfaction’, ‘relief’, ‘fury’ or ‘disappointment’ with the G8’s 
decisions hogged the newspaper headlines during the three-day summit 
(3). It effectively played the role of a second chamber to the G8, 
keeping a Lord-like watchful eye on what the Group of Eight Commoners 
came up with.

Who or what was this stately presence at Heiligendamm? It wasn’t a state 
at all, or even a pseudo-state like the Vatican. It was one Paul Hewson, 
better known as Bono, the sanctimonious wraparounds-wearing lead singer 
of a wrinkling Irish rock band that hasn’t made a decent album since 
1987 (though I suppose 2000’s All That You Can Leave Behind was okay). 
He has gone from being the singer of really serious songs for Africa, 
who gyrated and screamed on the world stages provided by Live Aid in 
1985 and Live 8 in 2005 to ‘raise awareness’ about African poverty, to 
the semi-official representative of the African poor, the widely 
recognised ‘conscience of Africa’ who is invited to put pressure on 
world leaders and hold them to account. As one report says, ‘it can only 
be a matter of time before [Bono] is granted official status along the 
lines of the Outreach Five group of developing countries that take part 
in some G8 meetings’ (4). The rockers are no longer warbling at the 
gates of the G8 – they’re inside them.


Bono and Bush rub shoulders
at the G8

Bono had an extraordinary amount of influence at the summit. And it 
wasn’t simply a case of greying world leaders wanting to be photographed 
with ‘rock royalty’ in an attempt to make themselves look with it and 
cool, as some reports claimed (not realising that Bono is as uncool as 
it gets) (5). In fact, Bono held serious meetings with US president 
George W Bush, German chancellor Angela Merkel, new French president 
Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian PM Romano Prodi. According to reports, these 
were ‘tough meetings’ at which Bono and his people ‘rowed’ with world 
leaders over strategy, aid and their commitment to Africa (6). 
Apparently the meeting with Merkel was particularly tense. One report 
says Bono, joined by his fellow singer-turned-spokesman-for-Africa Bob 
Geldof, was stern with Chancellor Merkel and got into a ‘row with the 
chancellor’s office about their aid numbers’. Merkel, chair of this 
year’s G8, and Bono, the ninth power, apparently reached an agreement 
that ‘aid needed to be increased by 2010’ but they disagreed over the 
‘plan for making it happen’ (7).

Reportedly, Bono and ‘his people’ even managed to swing certain states 
to their way of thinking. At a ‘very, very tense meeting’ with Romano 
Prodi and the Italian delegation, Bono accused the Italians of 
‘over-promising and under-delivering’ on aid for Africa. The singer 
became so frustrated by Italy that he and his team got up to leave, 
pompously declaring ‘We’ve got to go and meet the president of France’. 
The Italians pleaded with Bono to wait, disappeared around the corner, 
and then came back with a new proposal on aid contributions. Bono was 
pleased, describing it as a proposal ‘which may turn Italy around’ (8). 
At another meeting, Bono and Bush discussed increasing American aid for 
building more schools and defeating AIDS in Africa. They also discussed 
‘the strategic importance of [Africa] in the next US presidential race’, 
with Bono reportedly impressing on Bush the idea that helping Africa can 
be a vote-winner at home (9). Not content with self-electing himself as 
a spokesman for Africa, Bono now wants to influence the outcome of 
American elections, too.

Those who refused to meet with Bono were held up to public ridicule. 
Canadian PM Stephen Harper, invited to discuss Canada’s aid 
contributions with Bono, declared: ‘Meeting celebrities isn’t my kind of 
schtick. That was the schtick of the previous guy.’ (The previous guy 
being former Canadian PM Paul Martin, who met with Bono several times 
and struck up something of a friendship with the rocker.) (10) Bono was 
severely chastened: How dare a leader of a powerful nation refuse to 
meet me?! His revenge was swift and unforgiving. He declared that his 
‘numerous sources’ inside the summit – apparently so many delegation 
members were passing insider information to Bono that ‘it’s as if we 
have the place bugged’, Bono said – had told him that Harper was 
blocking progress on aid for Africa. ‘We know who’s causing the trouble 
and who isn’t. And we know that Canada blocked progress. We know that 
Harper blocked it.’ (11)

Bono went so far as to accuse Harper of being ‘out of sync’ with the 
Canadian people, who ‘enjoy a prosperous economy and surplus public 
finances and would like to help others’ (12). Bono’s buddy Bob Geldof 
snottily said: ‘A man called Stephen Harper came to Heiligendamm. But 
Canada stayed at home.’ (13) Here we have two unelected rock stars who 
have taken it upon themselves to speak for Africa (Geldof has referred 
to himself as ‘Mr Africa’) chastising a PM who was elected by millions 
of Canadians for letting Canada down. Apparently Bono and Bob also know 
what is best for Canada as well as for Africa. Feeling publicly 
humiliated by Bono, Harper was forced to deny at a press conference that 
he had blocked progress, arguing: ‘It’s completely false and the people 
saying this have no proof to their allegations.’ He also relented 
somewhat on his anti-celebrity line and said he would be happy to 
arrange a meeting with Bono at a future date (14). This is what you get 
if you cross the ninth power that is Bono at a G8 summit: public 
humiliation, and accusations that you are failing in both your 
democratic and humanitarian duties.

In some ways, Bono held even more sway over the proceedings at 
Heiligendamm – or certainly over the public perception of them – than 
the lowly elected leaders inside the summit. Merkel may have chaired the 
meetings, and Bush, being the most powerful, may have put pressure on 
Blair, Sarkozy, Prodi, Harper, Vladimir Putin (of Russia) and Shinzo Abe 
(of Japan) to go along with his general outlook on aid and climate 
change. But it was the ninth power – sitting just outside the summit, 
and thus above it – that passed judgement on the summit’s proposals, 
ticking off those it agreed with and frowning on those it disliked. 
Bono’s view of G8 dominated much of the news coverage, with serious 
media outlets running headlines such as: ‘U2’s Bono: G8 Not Keeping 
Money Promises To Africa’; ‘G8 Africa Pledge Is A Smokescreen, Says 
Bono’; ‘G8 Reaffirms Aid To Africa; Bono, Geldof Say It’s Old Money’ 
(14). Not only did Bono have ‘numerous sources’ reportedly agitating at 
the summit table; not only did he apparently influence the position of 
various states during ‘very, very tense meetings’; he also set himself 
up as the public moral arbiter of the G8’s achievements and failings.

How has this happened? How has the pompous singer of a pompous rock act 
– who, let’s not forget, were considered painfully square when they 
first emerged in the post-punkish era of 1979, and who were looked upon 
as pious popsters in the early Eighties because they kept banging on 
about God – come to exert so much influence on the world stage? People 
thought it was bizarre when Queen Elizabeth II gave OBEs (Orders of the 
British Empire) to John, Paul, George and Ringo in 1964 for 
contributions to the ‘British Empire’ that mainly consisted of writing 
nice jangly pop songs and making American girls faint. Yet now we have a 
pop star who is giving the Queen a run for her money in the 
international influence stakes, and who effectively oversees his own 
Empire: poor Africa. Bono has declared: ‘I represent a lot of people [in 
Africa] who have no voice at all…. They haven’t asked me to represent 
them. It’s cheeky but I hope they’re glad I do.’ (15) Once upon a time 
you might have written off such a statement as the deluded rant of a 
deluded multi-millionaire, who is only the tousle-haired, leather 
trouser-wearing equivalent of those rich ladies-who-lunch, who have 
always filled the time in between manicures and wine-fuelled 
extramarital affairs by carrying out charitable deeds. Yet judging by 
his role at the G8 summit, Bono really has been elevated to the 
semi-official position of Cheeky Representative of A Lot of People in 
Africa.

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. Thus we have the utterly bizarre spectacle of a rock star 
putting pressure on leaders who were elected by millions of people to do 
what ‘I WANT’ in Africa. 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’ (16). 
Well, at least then he could back up his demands of the G8 with some 
real firepower. Bono really does see himself as a state-like phenomenon: 
in the current issue of Vanity Fair he boasts that his (Project) Red 
charity initiative donated more to the Global Fund for Africa last year 
than ‘Australia, Switzerland and China...combined’, the implication 
being that he is at least the equal of, if not even more powerful than, 
these states in international debates about aid (17). They used to call 
it colonialism when a white man from over here decided that he 
represented the interests of the black hordes over there. Now they call 
it ‘passionate and serious crusading’ (18).


The current Vanity Fair,
guest-edited by Bono

It is easy of course, and jolly good fun, to mock Bono, who is a 
monumentally self-important ass (‘There is no respite from this man’s 
megalomania’, says Liddle). And indeed, alongside his rise to a position 
of considerable international clout there has been a corresponding rise 
in Bono-bashing. You can now buy t-shirts that say ‘Make Bono History’ 
on them. There is a young indie rock band called Bono Must Die 
(apparently Bob Geldof was furious when he discovered that his daughter 
Peaches is a fan of this blasphemous outfit). The press frequently 
accuses Bono of being a hypocrite: one minute he is saying ‘let’s save 
Africa’, the next he is forking out thousands of pounds on taking a 
former stylist to court because she allegedly stole a pair of his 
trousers (19). Sometimes it’s just too easy to bop Bono. For example, he 
guest edits the current Vanity Fair, which is a special on African 
poverty, and you won’t believe this: it comes with a pull-out supplement 
on uber-expensive jewellery titled: ‘Fire and Ice: 72 pages of ravishing 
rocks, ginormous gems and fancy fripperies’ (20). The jokes write 
themselves.

Yet just slating Bono misses out what has changed in world politics to 
allow a silly singer to become a spokesperson for Africa and a major 
player at the G8. First, Bono’s rise shows the role that Africa plays 
for many people today. For politicians and celebrities alike, Africa has 
become a stage for moralistic posturing. Campaigning on African poverty 
is something that ‘gives me a sense of purpose, something to work for’, 
as a contributor to Bono’s Vanity Fair puts it (21). Or as Paul Theroux 
bitingly argues: ‘Because Africa seems unfinished and so different from 
the rest of the world, a landscape on which a person can sketch a new 
personality, it attracts mythomaniacs, people who wish to convince the 
world of their worth.’ (22) Indeed, we could just as easily ask what 
earthly right the G8 itself has to discuss and determine what should 
happen in Africa’s poorest countries. Like Bono, no G8 leader has ever 
been elected by the nations of Africa. For these leaders, the G8 summits 
have become a kind of moral spectacle, intended to show that they care 
and they have a humane and giving side; our leaders find it easier to 
show ‘moral courage’ on Africa than on divisive issues at home. Never 
mind the fact that their aid proposals for Africa are spectacularly 
stingy and often place Africa in a new economic straitjacket – just the 
act of talking about Africa on an annual basis is intended to send a 
powerful message about the G8 nations’ moral integrity. Bono is only the 
most successful of many ‘Mr Africas’ around today.

Second, Bono’s rise has been facilitated by the unholy marriage of 
politics and celebrity. No political campaign seems complete these days 
without a celebrity fronting it or even forcing it through. As Mick Hume 
has argued on spiked: ‘As serious public and political life has 
withered, so celebrity culture has expanded to fill the gap, often with 
the encouragement of political leaders desperate for some celebrity 
cover.’ (See When celebrities rule the Earth, by Mick Hume.) Bono did 
not smash down the gates of the G8 to gain entry. Rather, he was 
effectively invited in by G8 leaders who hoped that the celebrity 
crusader would add a touch of grit and glamour to their shallow and 
self-serving debates on Africa. Even Bono’s haranguing of the world 
leaders had its benefits, since it allowed the G8 to present itself as 
being nail-bitingly responsive to African demands (as represented by 
Bono of course) and it may have won them a new, potentially younger 
audience in the shape of celebrity-watchers and the MTV crowd. When even 
discussions of ‘ending poverty’ require a celebrity to front them, you 
know that celebrities truly do rule the Earth.

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. His 
disregard for anything resembling an electoral process (‘I represent a 
lot of people in Africa’) lends weight to the prejudice that African 
leaders are peculiarly corrupt, and thus it is best to leapfrog straight 
over them – as does his demand for ‘anti-corruption measures’ to be 
attached to all forms of aid to Africa (23). Yet having a pop at his 
pomposity is not enough. 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. Bono Must Die? Well, that would be a good start - but only a 
start.

Brendan O’Neill is editor of spiked. Visit his personal website here.

Previously on spiked

Mick Hume explained what happens when celebrities rule the Earth and how 
Gordon Brown recently tried to distance himself from celebrity culture. 
Brendan O’Neill attacked the rise of ‘celebrity colonialism’ and asked 
if we should make ‘Make Poverty History’ history. The new Amex card, 
launched by Bono, made Daniel Ben-Ami see red. Or read more at: spiked 
issue Celebrity.

(1) Bono, Geldof slam Canada as a ‘laggard’ on African aid, CBC News, 9 
June 2007

(2) Bono, Geldof slam Canada as a ‘laggard’ on African aid, CBC News, 9 
June 2007

(3) See, for example, G8 reaffirms aid to Africa; Bono, Geldof charge 
it’s old money, Waterloo Record, Canada, 8 June 2007

(4) Travels through Europe with President Bush, Financial Times, 13 June 
2007

(5) Travels through Europe with President Bush, Financial Times, 13 June 
2007

(6) Bono, Geldof rock G8 for world’s poor, The Australian, 8 June 2007

(7) Merkel Quarrels With Bono, Geldof Over African Aid, Bloomberg, 7 
June 2007

(8) U2 Meets With Bush And Italian PM At G8 Summit, Net Music Countdown, 
11 June 2007

(9) Bono, Bob find signs of ‘donor fatigue’, U2 France, 8 June

(10) Harper schtick-in-the-mud on Bono meet, Calgary Sun, 8 June 2007

(11) Harper schtick-in-the-mud on Bono meet, Calgary Sun, 8 June 2007

(12) Harper schtick-in-the-mud on Bono meet, Calgary Sun, 8 June 2007

(13) Harper schtick-in-the-mud on Bono meet, Calgary Sun, 8 June 2007

(14) Harper schtick-in-the-mud on Bono meet, Calgary Sun, 8 June 2007

(15) See What do pop stars know about the world?, Brendan O’Neill, BBC 
News, 28 June 2005

(16) Rod Liddle, The Sunday Times, 10 June 2007

(17) Vanity Fair, July 2007

(18) Vanity Fair, July 2007

(19) U2 sue over Bono’s trousers, Guardian, 29 June 2005

(20) Vanity Fair, July 2007

(21) Vanity Fair, July 2007

(22) ‘The Rock Star’s Burden’, Paul Theroux, December 2005

(23) See Bono’s One Campaign