Bono just said that it’s capitalism, not socialism, that will save people from poverty.
The 62-year Irish singer-songwriter discussed this and several other topics with The New York Times during an interview to promote his upcoming memoir, “Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story,” out November 1.
Like so many other musicians, Bono (real name Paul David Hewson) holds left-leaning political views. But the U2 frontman is also critical of anyone who talks a big game but won’t act. Over the years of being an activist, Bono said he discovered that donations alone aren’t the answer to solving the world’s problems.
“I ended up as an activist in a very different place from where I started. I thought that if we just redistributed resources, then we could solve every problem,” he told the NYT. “I now know that’s not true. There’s a funny moment when you realize that as an activist: The off-ramp out of extreme poverty is, ugh, commerce, it’s entrepreneurial capitalism.”
He later criticized anyone who hates business leaders by the nature of their position.
“I didn’t grow up to like the idea that we’ve made heroes out of business people, but if you’re bringing jobs to a community and treating people well, then you are a hero,” Bono said. He also reluctantly admitted to admiring President George W. Bush pledging $18 billion to help fight HIV in Africa. Bono said he was willing to give credit where it was due despite the potential for alienating fans.
“I often instead use the word ‘actualist,’ because activists sometimes like to stay on the outside and criticize, whereas the “actualist” wants to get [expletive] done,” the “Beautiful Day” singer told the publication.
“I found that if I was ready to drop some biases, coming from the left to work with the right, we could get stuff done. I know it will lose some music fans, but it was important for me to have that in there.”
Bono also cursed Marxist icon “Che” Guevara, though he did retain some of his leftist views, including calling former News Corporation head Rupert Murdoch “evil” and accusing him of trying to “dismantle democracy.”
In anticipation of the memoir’s release, the U2 singer also apologized again for the much-maligned promotion he did with Apple in 2014 when the album “Songs Of Innocence” was automatically added to each iTunes user’s account. Bono described it as an “overreach” resulting from his “vaunting ambition.”
“I take full responsibility,” he said of the incident.