Â
Bono, lead singer of rock band U2, addressed a mixed audience in Gaston Hall of Georgetown students and world leaders, including Representative Nancy Pelosi and CEO of Bank of America Brian Moynihan. In partnership with Bank of America and the Global Social Enterprise Initiative of the MSB, Bono spoke primarily about human rights issues in Africa.
Bono, with the stage presence of a seasoned rock star, began his lecture, “Welcome to Pop Culture Studies 101. Please take out your notebooks. Today we’re going to discuss why rock stars should never, ever be given a microphone at an institute of higher learning.”
Bono proved himself wrong as he proceeded to deliver an engaging hour-long speech on the transformative power of rock music, technology, and the human spirit.
The speech used the Arab Spring as an example of the revolutionary power of social media. “The base of the pyramid, the 99%, is taking more control. The institutions that have always governed our lives, Church, state, mainstream media, music industry, are being bypassed and weakened and seriously tested. People are holding them to account.”
Connections were made between music movements like punk rock in the 1970s and social movements like the Arab Spring. Said Bono, “The Clash were like a Public Service Announcement with guitars, and they gave U2 the idea that social activism could make for a very musical riot.”
In other words, punk rock bands inverted the social order of the rock world in much the same way that technology is inverting social pyramids in developing nations: by encouraging participation of the masses.
The speech also took a very pragmatic approach as Bono explained the difficulties in bringing about social change. “I’m here to tell you that your heart is not the most important thing. It helps, but your heart is not going to solve these problems. If your heart hasn’t found a rhyme with your head, we’re not going to get anywhere.”
According to him, combining head and heart in Africa and other developing nations around the world comes in the form of combining modern technologies with human compassion and activism.
The primary focus of the speech remained the transformative power of technology in developing nations. Introducing the concept of the Afro-nerd, Bono said, “It is the nerds, the innovators, the programmers who are changing the game not only here in America, but even more in places like Africa, which are more mobile than we are.”
Bono explained that technology is giving people in developing nations the power to upend the pyramid structure of power. Technologies are increasing transparency to narrow the gap between powerful politicians and the individuals they govern.Â
The biggest social issue of the night was not malaria or AIDS. It was corruption. Said Bono, “It is definitely true that the biggest killer of them all, bigger than malaria, bigger than AIDS, bigger than TB, probably bigger than all three combined. The disease that kills the most people in the world and the world’s poor is corruption.”
The speech ended with Bono calling on young Americans to open their eyes and become global activists because new technologies are exposing the great injustices of our time. And they can’t be ignored.
“Because when you truly accept that those children in some far off place in the global village have the same value as you, in God’s eyes, or even just in your eyes, then your life is forever changed. You see something that you can’t unsee.”
Â
Photo Source:Â