by Harry Browne
147 Ibid.
148 ‘Ad Nauseum: How Many Messages Can Bono, Designer Wife Ali Hewson and Louis Vuitton Fit in One Ad?’, New York Daily News, 3 September 2010.
149 Chrissie Russell, ‘Ali Hewson: It’s a Wonderful Life Being Mrs Bono’, Independent.ie, 27 August 2011, at independent.ie.
150 Bono, ‘Message 2U’.
151 David Lipke, ‘Q&A: Ali Hewson and Bono’, WWD, 13 September 2011, at wwd.com.
152 See Carr, ‘Citizen Bono Brings Africa to Idle Rich’.
153 Nathalie Atkinson, ‘Ali Hewson and Bono’s Return to Edun’, National Post, 5 March 2011.
154 ‘Bono’s Hotel Bills’, Phoenix, 3 November 2006.
155 ‘Ali Hewson’s Perfume’, Phoenix, 28 August 2009.
156 Marina Hyde, ‘Stella McCartney v Ali Hewson: Who Has the Right to Be “Nude”?’, Guardian, 14 August 2009.
157 ‘Ali Hewson’s Ethical Losses’, Phoenix, November 2009.
158 The Hon. Mr Justice Floyd, Nude Brands Ltd v Stella McCartney Ltd & Ors [2009] EWHC 2154 (Ch) (EWHC (Ch) 2009).
159 Atkinson, ‘Ali Hewson and Bono’s Return to Edun’.
160 ‘Ali Hewson’s Headaches’, Phoenix, 24 September 2010.
161 ‘Ali Hewson’s Perfume.’
162 ‘Bono and Ali Drop $10m’, Phoenix, 7 October 2011.
163 Jennifer Bray, ‘Ali Calls on Alicia Keys as Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own’, Irish Daily Mail, 11 September 2012.
164 Atkinson, ‘Ali Hewson and Bono’s Return to Edun’.
165 Ibid.
166 Quoted in ibid.
167 ‘About Edun’, Edun, n.d., at edun.com.
168 Bruce Wilson, ‘KONY 2012 Effort a Ministry in Antigay Evangelical Barnabas Group, Reports LGBT Rights Nonprofit’, Huffington Post, 10 April 2012, huffingtonpost.com.
169 Elizabeth Flock, ‘Invisible Children Responds to Criticism About “Stop Kony” Campaign’, Washington Post Blogs, 8 March 2012, at washingtonpost.com.
170 Most hilariously by Charlie Brooker in Kony 2012 NWO Sinister Logos and Invisible Children – 10 O’Clock Live, 14 March 2012, at youtube.com.
171 ‘Bono Comments on Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 Campaign’, 12 March 2012, at one.org.
3 THE WORLD
1 ‘Media Monkey Goes to Pebble Beach’, Guardian, 2 August 2006.
2 ‘Bono’s Secret: Frontman for Genocide’, Infowars, n.d., at infowars.com.
3 I am indebted to Eric C. Lott, whose stimulating paper at the UCD Clinton Institute conference on ‘Ireland and African America’ in March 2012 dealt with Springsteen’s induction speech for U2. The usual disclaimer applies about Lott’s views being distinct from mine.
4 One of Dublin’s favourite ‘Bruce Springsteen is a lovely fella’ stories, told again and again when his name is mentioned, recounts his very kind behaviour, when he was out in a restaurant with Bono, to fans who were seeking photos and autographs from Bono without recognising Springsteen.
5 Bruce Springsteen, ‘Transcript: Bruce Springsteen Inducts U2 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’, U2 Station, 17 March 2005, at u2station.com.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 ‘History FAQ’, U2faqs.com, n.d., at www.u2faqs.com.
10 ‘Songs/Lyrics FAQ’, U2faqs.com, n.d., at u2faqs.com.
11 All quoted in ‘Apple Introduces the U2 iPod’, Apple.com, 26 October 2004, apple.com.
12 ‘iTunes Music Store. Facelift for a Corrupt Industry’, Downhill Battle, n.d., at downhillbattle.org.
13 Bryan Chaffin, ‘Bono: Steve Jobs Is The Dalai Lama of Integration’, Mac Observer, 15 October 2003, at macobserver.com.
14 ‘Pillar of Society: Paul McGuinness’, Phoenix, 27 August 1993.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid.
17 Bill Flanagan, U2: At the End of the World (London: Random House, 1996), 282–3.
18 U2’s Lost Song NEGATIVLAND, 2007, at youtube.com.
19 ‘Negativland Interviews U2’s The Edge’, Negativworldwidewebland!, n.d., at negativland.com.
20 ‘U2 V. Negativland’, What Is Fair Use?, 24 February 2008, at whatisfairuse.blogspot.ie.
21 ‘Negativland Interviews U2’s The Edge’.
22 Ibid.
23 Edna Gundersen, ‘U2’s “Horizon” Premieres with Sky-High Sales Numbers’, USA Today, 12 March 2009.
24 Bono, ‘Ten for the Next Ten’, New York Times, 2 January 2010.
25 Ibid.
26 Ibid. The American metaphor ‘bully pulpit’ was coined by Teddy Roosevelt, who used ‘bully’ to mean ‘excellent’. It refers to an office, role or platform that confers authority, credibility and a guaranteed audience on those who speak from it. It can refer to the US presidency; to being a top humanitarian rock-star and New York Times op-ed writer; perhaps to making an induction speech at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But it’s a wishful, or ignorant, stretch of the phrase’s meaning, even in the corporate media environment, to assume that the ‘next Cole Porter’, selected by Bono to front an industry campaign against music piracy, would have a bully pulpit.
27 ‘U2’s Pension Plans’, Phoenix, 2 November 2007.
28 ‘Bono Becomes The Worst Investor In America’, 247wallst.com, 24 March 2010, at 247wallst.com.
29 Crystal Bell, ‘Bono, Facebook IPO: U2 Singer to Become the World’s Richest Musician (UPDATED)’, Huffington Post, 18 May 2012, at huffingtonpost.com.
30 ‘Bono Becomes The Worst Investor In America’.
31 David Carr, ‘Investors, Including Bono, Buy a Piece of Forbes’, New York Times, 7 August 2006.
32 ‘Irresponsible Rumormongering: “Forbes”, The Pensions Stripped Bare, What Does Bono Care?’, Gawker, 18 December 2006, at gawker.com. The same anonymous Forbes staffer ruefully added: ‘Nobody is complaining because a) this is the kind of unbridled asshole capitalism we’re always praising in our pages; and b) we’re all pussies.’
33 Ryan Tate, ‘Forbes Layoffs are Here, and They’re Brutal’, Gawker, 28 October 2009, at gawker.com. A commenter on this Gawker story wrote: ‘Next issue: Forbes’ Top 50 Most Unemployed People in America’.
34 ‘New Wargames for Sir Bono’s Profit’, Phoenix, 6 April 2007.
35 Ibid.
36 Ibid.
37 Lisa O’Carroll, ‘U2’s Bono and the Edge Invest in Dropbox’, Guardian, 3 April 2012.
38 ‘Dropbox to Locate International HQ in Dublin’, Silicon Republic, 3 December 2012, at siliconrepublic.com.
39 Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr, U2 by U2 (London: HarperCollins, 2006), 172–7.
40 Ibid., 175.
41 Ibid., 177.
42 Ibid.
43 Phil Joanou, U2: Rattle and Hum, DVD (Paramount, 1999).
44 Bono et al., U2 by U2, 247.
45 Michka Assayas, Bono on Bono: Conversations with Michka Assayas (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2005), 121.
46 Bono et al., U2 by U2, 238.
47 Ibid.
48 Flanagan, U2, 68–78.
49 Bono et al., U2 by U2, 238.
50 ‘BNFL Denies Sellafield THORP Closure Report’, RTE News, 26 August 2003.
51 Bono et al., U2 by U2, 252.
52 Ibid., 253.
53 Ibid.
54 Tom Doyle, ‘10 Years of Turmoil Inside U2’, Q, 10 October 2002.
55 Bono et al., U2 by U2, 253.
56 Ibid.
57 Flanagan, U2, 95.
58 Ibid., 96–7.
59 Ibid., 97–8.
60 Ibid., 99.
61 Bono et al., U2 by U2, 242.
62 ‘Bill Clinton, Stars, Turn Out for Bono’, Foxnews.com, 23 February 2003.
63 Flanagan, U2, 100.
64 Ibid., 101.
65 Bono et al., U2 by U2, 290.
66 See ‘Could Bono Handle the Bank?’, CNN Money, 9 March 2005.
67 Tim Grieve, ‘Wolfowitz Reaches Out to Bono’, Salon.com, 18 March 2005, at salon.com.
68 Josh Tyrangiel, ‘The Constant C
harmer’, Time, 19 December 2005.
69 Matthew Benjamin, ‘Zoellick Better Fit at World Bank Than Wolfowitz, Sachs Says’, Bloomberg, 31 August 2007, at bloomberg.com.
70 Jeffrey D. Sachs, The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time (New York: Penguin, 2005), xv.
71 Ibid., xv–xvi.
72 ‘Photo Gallery of Summits Past’, Corporate Council on Africa, at africacncl.org; George Monbiot, ‘Africa’s New Best Friends’, Guardian, 5 July 2005.
73 Newspaper interview quoted contemporaneously in Harry Browne, ‘The Curse of Bono!’, CounterPunch, 4 March 2003, at counterpunch.org.
74 Ibid.
75 ‘Bono’s Peace Medal Blast’, Daily Mirror, 1 March 2003.
76 Ibid.
77 Shaheem Reid, ‘Pride, Shame, Confusion Abound as War Reactions Surface’, MTV, 20 March 2003.
78 ‘Simple Minds’ Kerr Rips Bono’, UPI, 2 February 2005, at upi.com.
79 Richard Dienst, The Bonds of Debt: Borrowing Against the Common Good (New York: Verso, 2011), 99, 104.
80 ‘Give Us the Money’, Why Poverty? (BBC Four, 25 November 2012).
81 Ibid.
82 Ibid.
83 Ibid.
84 Olaf Tyaransen, ‘There Is Absolutely Nothing Fake About This Man’, Hot Press, 2 June 2011, at hotpress.com.
85 Ibid.
86 Ibid. Bono used much the same self-critical language about his past errors in depicting Africa, albeit without citing Obama as its source, during a public meeting with World Bank staff late in 2012.
87 Ibid.
88 Ibid.
89 Ibid.
90 U2 Live from Lincoln Memorial Obama Inaugural Celebration (Pride & City of Blinding Lights), 2009, at youtube.com.
91 Tyaransen, ‘There Is Absolutely Nothing Fake About This Man’.
92 Bono, ‘Ten for the Next Ten’.
93 ‘U2’s Bono Visits West Bank’, Ma’an News Agency, 11 April 2012, at maannews.net.
94 Tim Neufeld, ‘Bono Leaves Jerusalem, and Offers a Poem for the Hotel Staff (Update #2)’, @U2blog, 19 April 2012, at atu2blog.com.
95 Based on Google Translate from Hebrew of Ynet, 16 April 2012, at ynet.co.il.
96 Harry Leech, ‘Discord over Irish–Israeli Song Contest’, Sunday Times, 18 November 2012, Ireland edition.
97 John Colapinto, ‘Letter from Hollywood – Looking Good: The New Boom in Celebrity Philanthropy’, New Yorker, 26 March 2012, 59.
98 Tyrangiel, ‘Constant Charmer’.
99 Colapinto, ‘Letter from Hollywood’, 63.
100 ‘Bono’s US-Based Anti-Poverty Groups to Merge’, Reuters, 29 October 2007, at reuters.com.
101 ‘US Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies in Rome, Italy: David J. Lane’, United States Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome, 23 July 2012, at usunrome.usmission.gov.
102 ‘Board of Directors’, ONE, n.d., at one.org.
103 Ross, Michael, “All That They Can’t Leave Behind,” Sunday Times, July 12, 2009, Ireland edition.
104 Joe DeCapua, ‘Where Do the World’s Poor Live?’, VOA, 28 August 2012, at voanews.com.
105 ‘Bono’s ONE Foundation Under Fire for Giving Tiny Percentage of Funds to Charity’, Mail Online, 23 September 2010, at dailymail.co.uk.
106 See one.org. My query to ONE through its website seeking an explanation of this number and other aspects of the campaign’s financing went unanswered.
107 Jeane MacIntosh, ‘Poor Idea, Bono’, New York Post, 20 September 2010, at nypost.com.
108 ‘About This Site’, Guardian, 14 September 2010.
109 John Vidal, ‘Why Is the Gates Foundation Investing in GM Giant Monsanto?’, Guardian, 29 September 2010.
110 Behrooz Morvaridi, ‘Capitalist Philanthropy and Hegemonic Partnerships’, Third World Quarterly 33: 7 (August 2012), 1191–210.
111 P. Sainath, ‘Farm Suicides Rise in Maharashtra, State Still Leads the List’, Hindu, 3 July 2012, at thehindu.com.
112 Chad Heeter, ‘Seeds of Suicide: India’s Desperate Farmers’, Frontline/World, PBS, 26 July 2005.
113 Quoted in ibid.
114 ‘U2’s Bono Talks Curbing Hunger with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell’, First Read, 18 May 2012.
115 Ibid.
116 Ibid.
117 Oxfam, ‘G8 Food Security Alliance Answers Question Hungry People Have Not Asked’, Oxfam International, 18 May 2012, at oxfam.org.
118 “Open Letter to the G8 from African Civil Society,” Stick to Africa’s Plans:, 4 May 2012, at africasplansforg8.org.
119 Quoted in Maria Bustillos, ‘Our Billionaire Philanthropists’, Awl, 13 June 2012, at theawl.com.
120 Grant Cameron, ‘Bono and Data Beyond 2015: How Can the Bank Measure Up?’, Open Data: The World Bank Data Blog, 16 November 2012, at blogs.worldbank.org.
121 See for example the passage in Chapter 2 that describes Robert Pollin’s measurement of the failure of the Bono–Paul O’Neill approach to development when gauged beside an earlier developmental-state model, which had become ‘unthinkable’ since the 1980s because of an ideological assault from neoliberalism.
122 Melissa Moore, ‘The Myth – Scarcity: The Reality – There IS Enough Food’, Food First: Institute for Food and Development Policy, 8 February 2005, at foodfirst.org.
123 Patrick Healy, ‘ “Spider-Man”, a Year After First Preview, Is on Solid Ground’, New York Times, 27 November 2011.
124 Dave Marsh, ‘Sir Bono: The Knight Who Fled From His Own Debate’, CounterPunch, 19 March 2009, at counterpunch.org.
125 See for example the end of “Give Us the Money,” Why Poverty? (BBC Four, 25 November 2012).
126 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Economic Development in Africa Report 2012, 2.
127 See Lorna Siggins, Once Upon a Time in the West: The Corrib Gas Controversy (Dublin: Transworld Ireland, 2010).
128 See Gavan Titley, ‘Asylum Seekers in Ireland Languish in the Magdalene Laundries of Our Time’, Guardian, 3 October 2012.
129 ‘PASTOR PARCEL BY JIM GALLAGHER Sunday World December 4, 2011’, Dialogue Ireland, at dialogueireland.wordpress.com; ‘Pastor Hade’s “Prison-Like” Conditions’, Phoenix, 17 December 2004.
130 Dervla King, A Needs Analysis of Asylum Seekers Resident in Kilmarnock House, Killiney (Southside Partnership, May 2004).
131 SMS message to author, 4 December 2012.
132 ‘Give Us the Money’.
133 Jann Wenner, ‘Bono: The Rolling Stone Interview’, Rolling Stone, 20 October 2005.
134 Dienst, Bonds of Debt, 117–18.
135 ‘ “Attention Housemates, This Is Bono”: U2 Front Man Makes Guest Appearance on Big Brother Africa’, Independent.ie, 26 July 2012, at independent.ie.
COPYRIGHT
First published by Verso 2013
© Harry Browne 2013
All rights reserved
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
Lyrics to ‘Flights of Earls’, composed by Liam Reilly, used by permission of Bardis Music Co. Ltd
Verso
UK: 6 Meard Street, London W1F 0EG
US: 20 Jay Street, Suite 1010, Brooklyn, NY 11201
www.versobooks.com
Verso is the imprint of New Left Books
ISBN: 978-1-781-68332-3 (e-book)
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
Typeset in Minion Pro by MJ & N Gavan, Truro, Cornwall
Printed in the US by Maple Vail
z-filter: grayscale(100%); -o-filter: grayscale(100%); -ms-filter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share