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NEWS DISSECTOR: ACTIVISTS URGE BONO TO CANCEL BOSTON APPEARANCE
NEWS DISSECTOR October 14, 2007
ACTIVISTS URGE BONO TO CANCEL BOSTON APPEARANCE
ACTIVISTS DEMAND BONO BOYCOTT REAL ESTATE SUMMIT IN BOSTON
When I worked in Boston Radio, I remember singing along to a song of the times, "Please Come to Boston" written by Dave Loggins. Joan Baez recorded a version I liked.
Please come to Boston for the springtime
I'm stayin' here with some friends and they've got lots of room
You can sell your paintings on the sidewalk
By a café where I hope to be workin' soon
Please come to Boston…
Now, activists in Boston are singing a different song to one of the top singers in the world. They are asking Bono to please NOT come to Boston.
The lead singer of U2, and an artist widely praised for his social activism on behalf of debt relief and aid to Africa's poor is due in Boston on Tuesday to speak to a Mortagge Bankers Conference/.
Bono was knighted in England for his outspoken advocacy for impoverished peoples. Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Anan said of him and to him, "You have made people listen. You have made people care, and you have taught us that whether we are poor or prosperous, we have only one world to share. You have taught young people that they do have the power to change the world."
That Bono is impressive.
I know that Bono and have worked with him in the fights against apartheid and AIDs. I know how articulate he is and how persuasive. Mick Jagger joked that he once saw him "walk on water."
But there seems to be another Bono, not the populist or celebrity you see on stage or on MTV but a very shrewd pitchman who focuses on working the elites of the world. He is very wealthy businessman in his own right who has moved his assets out of Ireland for tax purposes. He is also an owner of right-leaning Forbes Magazine, and seemingly quite conservative on economic issues.
He enjoys hanging out with big businessmen and has schmoozed with President Bush at the White House where he did not challenge the war. He is credited with turning around right-wing Senator Jesse Helms on the AIDS issue. U2 drummer Larry Mullen once said : "He'll have lunch with the devil himself if it gets him what he needs."
Tomorrow he is, in the eyes of an organization fight for economic justice in America, and now boycotting the country's largest predatory lender Countrywide working with the devil—and they have appealed to him not to. They are planning to protest at a real estate convention at Boston's Hines' Auditorium and will challenge Bono if he shows up as planned.
Leading the challenge is activist and CEO Bruce Marks of the Neighborhood Assistance Corp. (NACA) of America. Last week he led dozens of protesters, many of them Countrywide borrowers facing foreclosure on high-interest, subprime loans, on protests outside three company offices in Boston.
His organization, now joined by ACORN and others, unleashed a "national boycott" targeting Countrywide Financial, a company known for shady and preadtory practices.
Marks told me when I was in Boston this weekend that he has now written to Bono who will be a speaker at the Mortgage Bankers Association conference in Boston. He claims that he is being used by Countrywide. The letter and information on Countrywide and the boycott is on the NACA.com website.
Here is the letter he sent to Bono's publicist.
I'm writing this letter to advise Bono of the unscrupulous practices of Countrywide Financial Services. Countrywide is the largest mortgage lender and servicer in the United States, and as you know is sponsoring Bono as its featured speaker Tuesday October 16th at the Mortgage Bankers Association's annual conference. Countrywide has become the poster child for predatory lending abuses that has put millions of homeowners at risk of foreclosure and created a worldwide credit crisis.
… Countrywide is using Bono to resurrect its image. Its hiring of a major public relations firm has been unsuccessful. Bono is hugely respected for standing up for human rights and working people. We need him to support the protests and actions that will be happening against Countrywide and predatory lenders at the convention and throughout the country.
We are also requesting time to meet with Bono for him to hear the concerns of homeowners and encourage him to prevent the use of his name and integrity by Countrywide. When he meets with some of the victims he will clearly understand the abuses and exploitation employed by Countrywide. We have enclosed articles on Countrywide which document their predatory practices.
By cancelling your appearance, this will send a very strong message to Countrywide and other predatory lenders that no one will stand with them until they fix the devastation that they created. We look forward to speaking with you and having Bono as an advocate for all those at risk of homelessness as a result of Countrywide and other predatory lenders.
I APPEALED TO BONO TOO ON THIS ISSUE MONTHS AGO
Marks and his militant approach may have more impact than I did when I reached out to Bono with an open letter urging him to champion debt relief in America. I wrote it when I read that he would be editing an issue of Vanity Fair. I assume he didn't get it because I think I would have heard from him.
I wrote in part:
If you want to get Americans to show solidarity with Africa, show some solidarity with them. Lets make the issue of Debt Relief in America part of the global fight for economic independence in our interdependent world.
True, the impoverished former colonies of the Third World have it worse, with many sick and hungry people living in dire poverty, often on $2 a day. But suffering is relative and often causes the same misery, disease and despair where ever you go. Ask the homeless in America. Read about our own pervasive and growing poverty. You know there is a festering and neglected third world in the innards of every "rich" country.
And don't stop there.
Look at the millions who are trapped in a debt they will never escape from, almost like modern serfs. Read about all the outsourced jobs, the closed auto plants, the wave of foreclosures as the housing bubble bursting, the credit card crunch, the rise in bankruptcies, the students leaving college with an average $40, 000 in loans, and the billions in outrageous interest rates and all kinds of fees. This does not just impact the poor but increasingly the middle class and even those who felt it could never affect them.
Predatory lending is not just an African problem. It is global.
The press is predicting, "More pain is on the way" as big banks falter and the scandalous "Sub prime"-lending lending sector—recently considered the "hottest" in the industry—implodes. The bankers and economic wise men who have been denying any problem are singing another tune now as the stock market melts down and the underlying problems of consumer and government debt are seen as the threat they are.
A problem of personal security is becoming an issue of national security and global insecurity. In many cases, the same banks, investment houses and hedge funds are profiting off of the anguish of untold millions in every country.
So Bono, please find some space in your Vanity Fair issue to make it about more than vanity with ads for the affluent and photo spreads of the rich and sexy. Let's tie the issues together for American readers and African "victims" by recognizing our common humanity and the need to find common ground in fighting shared problems.
Linking the growing debt burden of Americans—and the better-known debt problems in Africa is a start.
See Stopthesqueeze.org for the full piece and the call for debt relief in America.
So the stage is set for a confrontation, and in a interesting way, the city of the Boston Tea Party, the city that gave America America as the home of the American Revolution, may be sparking a new national movement—a fight back against the credit squeeze and predatory lending practices that are leading to massive foreclosures.
The New York Times has noted that "painful, personal and financially damaging tugs of war between lenders and borrowers are likely to continue for quite some time. As the home mortgage boom of recent years continues to deflate, hundreds of thousands of borrowers are facing escalating monthly bills on adjustable-rate loans that are either in foreclosure or near it. In August, according to RealtyTrac, a home loan database, foreclosure filings across the country — default notices, auction sales notices and bank repossessions — soared to almost 244,000, up 36 percent from the previous month and more than double the number in August 2006."
'So far there has been no real full scale investigation of this crisis by the Justice Department or an Independent Prosecutor and little agitation on the issue by progressive organization.
CHUCK TURNER ON THE CASE
Boston City Councillor Chuck Turner who represents the black community of Roxbury wants an investigation. He is supporting the Countrywide boycott and going beyond it with a campaign against debt and the consumption that fuels it. Turner, who I first worked with in the Northern Student Movement is still an activist but he also is trying to help people change their own behavior with a personal pledge educational and outreach campaign. (He has now agreed to show my film IN DEBT WE TRUST, perhaps in City Hall.)
With local officials and community leaders like Turner championing the issue, others opinionleaders may follow.
Who know, perhaps Bono will not get defensive—as I am told he did when challenged by African activists who feel that debt is a structural problem and needs an economic transformation, mot just palliative reforms—and embrace the issue. It would be good if he did.
Interestingly, the big banks themselves are freaking out about the billions in losses they have already written off and don't want to be blamed for the economic crisis that is already underway. More big banks will report more losses this week.
That's what's behind this headline and related stories: You know that banks are not charitable institutions. They operate only in their self-interst and wouldn't be doing this if they were not worried about what's coming:
NYT: Banks May Pool Billions to Stop Securities Sell-off
Several of the world's biggest banks are in talks to put up about $75 billion in a backup fund that could be used to buy risky mortgage securities and other assets, a move designed to ease pressure on a crucial part of the credit markets that threatens the broader economy.
Big banks push $100 billion plan to avert crunch.
Forbes: Banks and US Treasury Discuss $100Bn Support Fund
And finally not unrelated to this crisis are reports like this:
IRS says rich getting richer: report
AND SPEAKING OF BOSTON, HERE"S A GLOBE REPORTER YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT
The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy
Audio and Transcript
Pulitzer Prize-winning Boston Globe reporter Charlie Savage joins us to talk about his new book, "Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy." Savage charts the ways the Bush administration has circumvented laws and expanded presidential authority.
Media: What Has Happened to 60 Minutes?
MEDIA: WATCHING 60 MNUTES
I think I am going to finally break the habit:
Some notes on last night's "show."
Having been to Dubai, where I met Sheikh Mohammade I thought their two part report was informative although I am not sure why it did not look into how and why US companies like Hailburton are moving there, and how many US companies are part of their "miracle."
Please spare me another Lara Logan iraq report. She seems to be the War's best friend, Her report on Blackwater was typically superficial, giving the company's CEO a chance to defend their behavior and largely accepting their narrative of what happened in recent deadly incidents there and as well as the events that triggered the slaighter in Falujah. Lara, did you bother reading Jeremy Scayhill's well researched book and follow-up articles.? Did you interview any critics, victim families or the families who lost members to Blackwater's shoot first, ask questions latest behavior. I have seen more balanced stories on Fox. In the guise of challenging Blackwater, she gae them a platform.
And that piece on the Maximum Security prison in Colorado was also a whitewash. Scott, have you ever heard the words, "cruel and unusual punishment?" Have you spoken with critics of these supermax prisons modeled on the prison at Marion Illinois that I exposed in l988 on 20/20; I showed that there were many people housed there did not meet the Bureau Of Prison's criteria , We confronted the Warden on violations of the UN Rules on the treatment of prisioners which our company signed. We spoke with human rights groups who have denounced these prisons as torture centers well before GITMOI came on the scene. It was that piece that led the Federal Bureau of Prisons to ban TV crews and journalists, or so I was told by a producer at HBO.
I believe that 60 Minutes once did a piece on California's Pelican Bay Supermax raising some of these issues. Most of last night's piece was a virtual defense of these hellholes. Ues they let a foremer prisoner describe how they they have perfected techniques of isolation, but there were no condemnations. It mentioned a law suit but not tell us what was alleged or how it was settled.
I will have a report tomorrow on Putin's claim of an assassination plot in Iran, and The Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Meeting that takes place in Beijing.
Your comments and letters welcome
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