GEN101- famous philanthropist

Sara
GEN 101- famous philanthropist


Paul David Hewson, Bono, is not only famous for being the lead singer of the Irish rock band U2; he is also a very famous philanthropist. Bono and his band have advocated the work of Greenpeace, War Child, Amnesty International, and Jubilee Plus.

Greenpeace is an organization in which peaceful actions are taken to expose the environmental problems. In the early 1990s, U2 joined a Greenpeace protest to boycott a nuclear plant in England. Greenpeace has been recently doing work to stop global warming, save the forests, eliminate toxic chemical, preserve the ocean, and to enforce peace and nuclear disarmament.

War Child consists of networks of independent organizations that fight for children caught in the cross fires of war all around the globe. Bono, and several other pop groups including Pavarotti, The Edge, Meat Loaf, Michael Kamen, Marco Armiliato, L'Orchestra Filarmonica di Torino, joined together and made an album, Pavarotti and Friends: Together for the Children of Bosnia. The money raised from the album sales went to the War Child foundation.

Amnesty International, a nongovernmental organization, aims to protect those whose human rights are abused and to arouse public opinion on the issue. Amnesty International is now Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and a UN Human Rights Prize winner. In 19985, Bono preformed with his band, U2, for the Amnesty International’s 25th anniversary. U2’s lyrics advocate to fans to join their local chapter and help the fight for human rights.

Jubilee Plus in an international program, which works to try and eliminate poor countries $376 billion debt by getting the support of the wealthy countries. Bono has been raising awareness though the media for support in Africa. Bono’s lyrics not only help in calling attention to Africa’s unpaid debt but also to help in bringing attention for the AIDs catastrophic breakout.

I think that it is amazing what Bono has chosen to do with his fame and influence. So many Hollywood stars are content with leading their million dollar lifestyles and not even giving second thought to the “little people”. Bono has gone above and beyond what most people would even considering doing for others. Obviously he’s not just participating to make himself look nice and charitable to his fans in an attempt to raise his album sales.