In New York With 'Pope of Software'

04 Feb 2002
In New York With ’Pope of Software’
In New York With ’Pope of Software’
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Bono took part in a debate on foreign aid at New York's World Economic Forum this weekend.

Advocating the importance of debt relief to fight Aids and poverty indeveloping countries, Bono's audience was business leaders and politicians,and he shared centre stage with Microsoft founder Bill Gates - 'the Pope ofSoftware'.

According to the Associated Press reporter, Bono turned out to be thestand-out contributor.

'Every year at the World Economic Forum there's a leader or two who standsout, courted by the rich and famous - and the media. In years past, MadelineAlbright, Yasser Arafat Bill Clinton and George Soros have been the stars.

This year it's Bono, the lead singer of U2, who has made a cause out ofThird World debt forgiveness.

The rocker seems to be everywhere at the forum, which has otherwise broughta decidedly straight-laced crowd of business leaders and politicians to NewYork.

`He's a good friend of mine,'' said U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont,lounging on a couch at the Inter-Continental Hotel where forum participantshold press conferences. ``He can meet with the pope one day and with JesseHelms on another.''

Wearing blue wraparound sunglasses Thursday inside the Waldorf-Astoria Hotelwhere the participants hold their sessions, he traded opinions with threeNobel Peace Prize winners: Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel and Kofi Annan (news -web sites). Then Bono played a private concert for conference-goers.

On Saturday, he faced off with Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill on theforum's main stage in a debate on foreign aid, then joined Microsoftchairman Bill Gates for a news conference on AIDS prevention in Africa.

`The great thing about hanging out with Republicans, it is very, very, veryunhip for both of us. There's kind of a parity of pain there,' Bono joked.

It's strange company for a singer who once railed against Americanimperialism in `Bullet the Blue Sky' and whose albums regularly lambasteWestern consumerism and big business.

The 41-year-old Bono, whose real name is Paul Hewson, has become the mainspokesman for Drop the Debt, which campaigns for the canceling of ThirdWorld debt. He has also joined anti-AIDS efforts and lobbying to lower tradebarriers that have frustrated poor countries.

He said he began meeting publicly with world leaders and attendingconferences of policy-makers after discovering the mass media didn't want tohear him talk about those subjects.

`I went to politicians because I couldn't get on TV,' Bono said.

More at dailynews.yahoo.com

For more on Bono and Bill see our next story on the same subject.

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