Sunday, October 28, 2007

Confronting the Bono/Geldof Obscenity


i know many good people who naively believe the crock of shit these shameless pricks cook up. "well at least they are doing something". yes, they certainly are doing something: using the suffering of millions to make themselves look good, and selling pity to fatten their own wallets. if but a single person reads this and realizes that they've been duped by these disgusting slime-balls, my work here is done.

the following is pieced together from various comments on Dissensus.

"According to the Product Red website, "(RED) has delivered a total of $11,303,926 to the Global Fund thus far. Based on early conservative estimates, we believe that when holiday sales have been totaled, (RED) will have generated another $10 million for the Fund."

Hardly surprising, then, that this announcement has received zero media coverage (U2 earn more in a month and Bono himself is estimated to be worth $700 million).

Given that a total of US$ 9.8 billion has been pledged and/or contributed through 2008 to the Global Fund (though only US$ 3.3 billion from this has actually been disbursed to date), Red's "contribution" represents approximately 0.001%-0.002% of the total pledged funds to date.

- hundredmillionlifetimes

Bono's heavy involvement in private equity companies (ie- one of the most pernicious mutations of capitalism to date) tells you everything you could ever need to know about his true motivations and the sickening hypocrisy that marks his every "charitable" move.

- gek opel


Why Bono and Geldof Got It Wrong, VIRGINIA RODINO, Counterpunch.

The Make Macho-Posturing Kapital Whores History musick-celebritishy spectacle was essentially part of the Blair government's PR campaign surrounding the G8 meetings last July [or was it June, or maybe August, or maybe why should anyone bother to care?], a cynical campaign aided and abetted by the Bush regime, British NGOs, and quite unfortunately, those two blarney-babblers, the ultra-montane reactionary Kapitalists, Bob Geldof (wealth: 200 million [in pick your favourite currency]) and Bono/Paul Hewson (1 billion).

The most influential player of Make Geldof History was Oxfam, a centrist-complacent NGO with close allegiance to the British government, in particular with British Chancellor Gordon Brown's office. Working closely with the Commission for Africa, which is chaired by, um, tyrannical ego-maniac Bob Geldof and run by batty Blair, nosey Brown, and Britain's overseas aid minister Hilary Beenie Benny, the official Make Bono History campaign ignorantly fell into supporting the neo-liberal agenda of the G8 leaders.

Meanwhile, calling George Bush a "sincere and passionate man," [making Michael Moore real envious] resting his head lovingly on Tony Blair's shoulder while posing for the media cameras, Bob "What about Paula, Bob?" Geldof joined Texan-Stetson Bono's tradition of delegitimizing the protesters and pandering to elite leaders, in particular two of the eight men who actively facilitate the poverty in the first place.

Geldof and Bono's actions not only dismissed the much more complicated and deeper critiques made by the G8 protesters, but also implicitly condoned the hypocritical decisions of the corporate and government elites made during that week alone. The Scottish government punished members of Parliament who spoke out in favor of protecting protesters' rights to peacefully dissent in Gleneagles. For an entire month, these MPs were banned from government buildings and their salaries as well as the salaries of their staff were taken away. While Bonol and GAdolf spoke from the sublime heavens about "saving" the Africans, the rock stars took no action to pressure the UK government to let across the African protesters who were being denied entry into the country and denied participation in the events at which they had been invited to speak. Worse, Geldof, on a panel at a press meeting and in front of the gathered world broadcast media, contemptibly dismissed as "offensive and outrageous" the comments of an African member of the panel, who had simply questioned the effectiveness of Make Geldof Rich History.

Moreover ["as if we didn't know"], the assumptions and recommendations manufactured by Bobbly's Commission for Africa will prove disastrous for Africa's workers, peasants, and the urban poor. These include the assumption that the impact of Western manoeuvers on Africa has been largely benign. There is a complete absence of criticism of the ongoing Western military interventions of the last half century, and the colonial exploits and brutality forced upon the peoples of African nations. The other damaging assumption of the Commission revolves around the premise that free trade and privatization are somehow the key to liberation for Africans. The International Monetary Fund is viewed as being able to "play an invaluable role" in clearing the way for "private sector investors." Private profit making is seen as the panacea to poverty: "Successful growth will be led by the private sector." The commission concludes that only by ridding themselves of barriers to free trade and exporting to the rest of the world can Africans work their way out of poverty. Yes, Bobo, "Make Poverty Permanent cuz it made me obscenely rich. And I like it."

Besides completely whitewashing the real story behind Africa's debt burden, which has deteriorated further post-Live8, and the continuous misery their policies impose on the rest of the world, Blair and Brown and the rest of the G8 leaders hoped to use the Make All The Little People, The Masses History events as a smokescreen for the crisis occurring in Iraq. Unfortunately, agents-of-Kapital Bono and Geldof wholeheartedly supported this move. Because of their facile and naïve view of the political situation, Bono and Geldof helped to take the heat off Bush and Blair at their weakest point, the Iraq war, which is strategically situated as the first in a long series of dominos set up by and for both Western administrations. If this domino falls, pressured by the global anti-war movement, then the long line of imperialist drives, including the debilitating imposed debt on Africa, has a much greater chance of falling, of being cancelled. Instead, with foolhardy optimism in a system and its pushers who have literally created the misery, the millionaire rock stars persist in criticizing protesters through name-calling and displays of ignorance about protesters' understanding of the situation as if ordinary people simply could not grasp the real story behind the debt.

"Ironically bolstered by the strength of the global anti-war movement's ability to draw out millions in the streets, Geldof organized Make Poverty History concerts all over the world and called for people to march in Edinburgh. As opposed to providing the real justice that South African activist Trevor Ngwane and others called for, however, Geldof instead used his impressive soapbox to call for patronizing charity, and a more than polite request to the G8 leaders to "play nice." In the same vein, Geldof also intentionally refused most African artists to play on his stages, saying they wouldn't draw crowds. Thus, he paternalistically reduced the people of Africa to uncultured children who need to be pitied, not empowered. He also privileged the minuscule numbers of the powerful ruling class into the position of being willing and able to change the world not the masses of ordinary people everywhere.

To make matters worse, Geldolf emailed an edict to each of the Live 8 performers, forbidding them from mentioning the Iraq War or saying anything that would "embarrass" Blair. As with the Make Everything History demonstration, this was a case of the millions of participants being more progressive than the organizers of the event.

It was also a perfect exemplification of class unconsciousness. From the stage, the wealthiest man on the planet, Bill Gates, along with the likes of Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Bob Geldof, positioned themselves as experts on Third World debt and poverty. Millionaires like Madonna, before performing, asked the crowd if they were ready for a "revolution." And perhaps the most egregious moment came when Chris Martin of the pop band Coldplay, commented that the Live 8 concerts were the most important events ever organized in human history."

and also the following. these people really have no shame and their depravity knows no bounds:

Bono Moves to Holland to Avoid Taxes

8 comments:

SOTISE said...

geldoff
really cuts quite a sinister figure, hes all over the papers here in orrrstralia at the moment.

cause he's here traipsing around lecturing us about the paltry average amount our (admittedly criminal government) contributes towards aleviating world famine.
what gets me is that on television here hes reffered to as a 'rock star" as if that carries any moral weight.

hes even mentioned in the same breath -as punk..... being of the 'punk' generation.
the hideous old fart made a few records in the late 70's had a minor hit, married a super model.. 'potentialized his personal resources' is how his grotesque accumulation of wealth is described here, purveyed as a role model, for an ethical generation of consumers.

as for bono every time you switch on the box, a program about jazz singers of the 40's.. what d'ya know.. heres bono on billie holiday, ... a program about dissedent forms of catholicism.. heres fucking bono pontificating about nicaraguan archbishop romero who was excommunicated then shot by facist militias in 1980, for refusing to tow the papal line, and sheltering the poor from contra death squads.

saint fuckin' bono , how i long only to touch your soiled undergarments, bathe my impure flesh in the light of y'r eternal senses!!

our so called 'new labour' ppoliticians have aquired a lot of the same pious stench.

we have our own bono, a certain peter garrett,former lead singer of a band known as midnight oil.

our precious consummer civilization.
is doomed to extinction, and its leading lights have the effrontery to ask why scum like myself dont want to work, engage the political process at their level, want nothing more than to blot out the shame of association with mass deception and murder by taking drugs, and exiling our 'noble ambitions'
dpmng

zhao said...

thanks for your thoughts. very much appreciated. i dont know if anyone cares to look at this space, and thus dont write as much as i could... which leads to i suppose not many people visiting (vicious circle!)

but yeah. its stomach turning. there was this girl i was myspace-friends with and she had all this RED shit on her page so i sent her this article. you know what she did? deleted me as a friend. haha...

zhao said...

if i ever get within spitting distance of either of these assholes...

arman said...

myspace suckssssss
u2 is sooo much about capitalism, i am totally agree with you.
i mean is there any super famous band that is not business type 'o band?
what do you think of radiohead?
p.s. i just discovered your blog and it suck up my 1 and a half hours.

zhao said...

i like radiohead a lot better than what U2 stands for certainly. (i mean the first few U2 albums are pretty good actually)

William said...

Hi,

Maybe you are unused to Irish people. Those first two you mentioned are both from there, yes? Have you ever considered that they (those rock stars) might be attempting to provoke thought?

I've often had the notion that certain celebrities I dislike are portraying something they don't like either.

-also the experience of trying to demonstrate some awful song for capable musician friends and getting the response of: That's great! They'd then almost invariably try to talk me into performing it , offer to fund a record releae , and so forth.

Maybe 'new wave' is largely a result of such processes.

Sorry it took so long to comment and hope you don't think me condescending or ridiculous

zhao said...

insinuating that i have something against irish people from this post is ridiculous.

only thing bono wants to provoke is a larger bank account.

don't understand the rest of your comment...

William said...

wow! I mean zhao, it took you a long time to show up.

-wasn't insinuating , though it conjures up an image of an insinuator : someone who is a receptacle for ideas which just don't fit and is set on fire...

The shortest route is probably The Virgin Prunes ; a group closely related to U2, bizarre and dramatic.

What makes this discussion of self interest is that although I've read Proust , Musil ; both authors having a decided effect on what I think possible, I haven't read very many chapters by Joyce , prefering to leave Ireland an imaginary pseudo-literary realm.What isn't my style:


Statement: The sun never sets on the pretty Shem Pyre.


Question: Why?


Statement: Because the pretty Shem Pyre doesn't exist.


Now I understand that the pretty Shem Pyre might be an insinuator


(oh, dear...)