Bono wants United States of Africa

It is poetic sounding and right sounding. If any place would benefit from being united through common goals and needs Africa would be number one. It would be a historically grand thing should it occur

bono, let go. You and Al Gore always trying to make the world a better place. No wonder we didnt vote him as president.

This truly would be a great step for our continent, should our leaders decide to embrace such an idea. I doubt it will come to realization though.

I'm a total pessimist. He would first have to solve the hunger problem. When you grow up thinking that there isn't enough food for everyone, you tend to care only about your own survival and blame everyone else for your problems. It's hard to be patriotic on an empty stomach.

"True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made."
--Franklin Roosevelt

I knew that bastard had sold himself down the river to the globalist elite just like Geldorf. United states of Africa, Nafta, European union, asian union, south american union, all proceeding as planned and the powers that be use Bono to announce it as the masses believe him to be an eco god when he is totally the opposite

I'd like to get Bono out of Africa first.

Rock-stars and celebrities are in no position to make claims like these...

They are entertainers, and albeit they may have political agendas, and some of their ideas may sound good, it's best to let them entertain us.

Yes Eirianallt have had suspicions about Bono for a while and this just seems to endorse it

I respect activists, the fact that they have no real political jurisdiction or are in any position of power (although Bono is world-renown), makes everything an uphill battle.
Music aside, you shouldn't criticize the man for trying to change the world for the good of people. I mean most of the time people just talk and argue about stuff (current), but He is using his fame to promote a cause.

whether it is a good idea or not, give respect.

Bono gets what Bono wants.

I don't approve of Bono because people that have been working in Africa for years, as aid workers, as journalists, people that do this for a living and have been educated in it and lived there and dedicated their lives to it, have said so. Michael Maren, who literally wrote the book on African AID, said this on his blog:
"I don't doubt Bono's sincerity. I do have questions about his sophistication in these matters. Africa is pretty well fucked unless there are major changes to the world's economy. And the first thing that needs to happen is that the wealthy countries need to abolish agricultural subsidies. And that is not going to happen. The West will pay all sorts of lip service to alleviating African poverty, but they will not do the one thing that will start the process. Anyone with even a slight interest in the fate of Africa should read this article about U.S. agricultural policy."

Then there is this article by Paul Theroux, who was in the Peace Corp 40 years ago and has been writing about Africa for as long as any one can remember.
http://www.netnomad.com/theroux.html

Then there's this recent article from NZ about how aid money funds civil wars.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&am...

Africa is not some fixer upper for the west to go into and spruce up. All these supposed instant solutions are nothing but first world solutions for third world problems. The issue is a lot more complex then "give them money," but nobody seems to want to make a real investment.

That guy deserves no respect at all and he isnt trying to change the world for the good of the people only the globalist elite who pay his wages. A frequent visitor to the white house and Number 10 and friend of George Bush and Tony Blair.

It's funny that people would automatically assume Bush has done a bad job in Africa. While he has messed quite a lot up, he's done quite a good job there, much better than Clinton. Here's some writeups of it.
http://www.economist.com/world/africa/displaystory.cfm?...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/15/georgebush....
http://www.pri.org/listen/pri-politics-society/bush-afr...

I do not disagree with the notion of Africa being a united continent - it may bring them more voice to the global table.

But, I personally need more than Bono telling me this to make it a valid subject. Sorry folks, just not into celebrity bs.

So i take it you are in favour of globalist ideals smorrisey, global economy, global government, global army, global police, Global Sheep!

Bono wants a kick in the knackers more like.

I'm not sure if that's a good idea. The smaller the country, the less beaurocratic it is. Think of Denmark, switzerland, Holland, Singapore, Hongkong, etc (I know HK is not really a country per se, but they have their own sovereignty to certian extent)

There's so much corruption in Africa already, so imagine if a small group of people gain control over the whole continet, this will only lead to disaster.

Besides I think africans lack their national identity enougn already. Try name 10 african countries? I'll tell you that most people can't...

Every americans were immigrants at one point, thats why you have Irish americans, German americans, Italian americans, etc....and then you have african americans without further specification...

I think its more important to have a defined identity on national level opposed to the whole continent.

You can't force a union on Africa and just expect everyone to get along.


It's likely to happen eventually, just like the EU and soon to be Asian Union. But wether or not it'll actually help the African people is dubious at best.

They would have to call it something other than USA ... maybe United African States (UAS) would be an easy alternative.

Who in the fuck does Bono think that he is ? TARZAN ,Lord of the Jungle? Which by the way spelled backwards is "NAZRAT", as in, Jesus, Lord of Nazerath. This dude is starting to take himself way too serious.

bono is a fagget

The Noble Peace Prize award people should be thinking about giving Bono one of those because of the effort he has shown over the years toward helping others. I cannot think of anyone who is more giving within the avenue of aid than Bono is. Maybe in could be Bill Gates, or i'm not thinking hard enough.

Fascinating concept, but it seems unlikely it will ever become a reality.

To all those that think that Bono's "proposal" is a good idea, please explain to me how creating a Federal Government of the Continent of Africa will help give people in the various African nations a stronger voice? How does increasing the distance between the governed and the government improve the socioeconomic conditions of individual Africans? Perhaps those wishing to answer this question should look to the European Union and the pending North American Union (NAU) as models. PS. The plans for the NAU can be found at cfr.org. PPS. Commenter's should also research Bono's employers.

Not a new notion but it would empower Africans which is why its seldom taken seriously.

Africa is run mostly by thugs who are power hungry this would never work

wow, so many haters? what's up with that????

Bono is a rock star, sure, but he's also an activist, That's not something new, he's been involved in various aid organizations for many years. I don't believe that he doesn't just want to make a world a little bit better, and he's in a position to try to do so.

and don't even start to diss Sir Geldof, he started the whole celebrity aid ball rolling with "Band Aid" back in the 80's. He's a truly a person of integrity and generosity.

And lets have the Europeans get involved and oversee it for them. Again. That would work out well. It would actually be something that all of Africa could unite in preventing. Thus uniting them. Oh, the irony!

But until then, there are too many cooks in the African kitchen for it to be plausible.

I'll look for this in a couple hundred years. Also be aware the United States of America is far from a perfect example. We had a civil war, and even today the country is becoming more divided (for the better in the case of California and the west coast states). Also, you must always keep a very thick line between patriotism and nationalism. The blurring of this line will divide the union and break most or every state in it, because people like me don't want to be affiliated with a nation that has become a monster.

ugh, Bono...I have a hard time taking anyone seriously that tries to improve human life by aligning themselves with corporations that are notorious for violating human rights(like the GAP and that whole Red campaign).

He's an idealist and it's a nice and fuzzy thought that there could be a United States of Africa, but there is a whole lot of policy changes that would need to be made there and abroad before that could even feasibly work.

Meanwhile Bono still owns multimillion dollar homes and lives the jetsetter lifestyle. Why not start with yourself Bono, if you're not willing to give up your riches what makes you think all the corrupt governments in Africa will? Where do celebrities think their shiny diamonds come from?

I don't know that coming into a country as an outsider and creating the answer is exactly what is right for the country (cough Iraqi democracy cough), but on the same token, Bono has a lot of heart. If I know anything about that man from his relentless campaigns, articles, book(s?) about creating a better world, it's that he really wants one.

So why not let him try? As long as he's not an anarchist thinker, it can't hurt.

The road to sustainable change is paved with good intentions.

Dgold, ummm love the writeups, too bad they didn't mention all the ties the Bush administration has to Africa besides providing aid, like oil, weapons, and other industries the administration makes a killing off of.

When I think of all of the diamonds and oil in Africa, I know this would help them out of their problems. It would be hard to convince Britian to let go and let USA.

This is a far away dream that may never happen. All of that beautiful land and animals roaming freely, diamonds oil and the culture. Yes this will become a sight to see.

Instead of divided city states fighting over territory, there can be one civil war. I don't know if this will alleviate the pressure there, but maybe getting everyone there to unite under one flag isn't such a bad idea. Maybe it will help more people realize the futility in fighting their neighbors.