Aids: appello di Bono Vox ai lettori del Sun

«Oggi chiedo a voi, l’armata dei lettori del Sun, di usare il vostro potere per combattere l’Aids in Africa. So che questa epidemia può sembrare lontanissima dai problemi quotidiani: una macchina che non parte, la bolletta, i compiti dei bambini. Ma ha conseguenze devastanti non solo per l’Africa, per il mondo intero». Inizia così l’accorato appello che la star degli U2 Bono Vox ha rivolto oggi ai lettori del quotidiano inglese The Sun per combattere l’Aids in Africa. «Un problema che ci minaccia tutti». La risposta che gli uomini di oggi sapranno dare a questa tragedia, secondo Bono, «è un test morale del nostro tempo. La storia ci giudicherà tutti per la risposta che daremo a questa piaga moderna». Pubblichiamo qui di seguito il testo completo dell’appello in inglese: TODAY I appeal to you, The Sun?s army of readers, to use your collective clout in fighting Aids in Africa. This massive epidemic probably seems a lifetime away from the everyday problems of the car not starting, the electricity bill and the kids? homework. But it is one that has devastating consequences not just for Africa but for the rest of the world. Some people think musicians should stick with the music. I cringe when I see a celebrity with a cause ? and I am one! But when 2,500,000 people in Africa will die of Aids this year, we are not talking about a ?cause? ? we are talking about an emergency, a global humanitarian emergency. The facts about Aids blow your mind. They also break your heart. Imagine if a third of the kids at your local primary school were Aids orphans. That?s a reality in Africa where the parents of 13million children have been killed by Aids. There will be 25million kids without mums and dads by the end of this decade because of this disease. It has taken 28million lives so far ? more than the populations of Australia and New Zealand. In Ethiopia alone 3.5million people now have HIV/Aids ? one for every man, woman and child living in Ireland. Not only is Aids destroying families it is also leading to social and economic breakdown in many parts of Africa ? and it won?t stop there. Bob Geldof, myself and other campaigners have set up DATA ? Debt, Aids, Trade Africa ? to work with you, The Sun?s loyal army of readers, and groups such as Comic Relief and Oxfam, to campaign for the world?s poorest continent. Africa needs further debt cancellation and more money to help fight back against Aids. And we must let Africans benefit from fair trade with us so, in the long term, they can earn their own cash to fight Aids. Despite the horrific statistics this CAN work. We are at a historic moment when the tragedy CAN be turned around. Countries in Africa like Senegal and Uganda have stopped the spread of HIV through education. And people living with Aids no longer need to have a death sentence on their heads. One of the key weapons in this war is drugs. There are drugs which could keep African sufferers alive, and well enough to work, caring for themselves and their families. Drugs developed in this country are a great advertisement for what Britain does best ? being smart with a heart. If you put together the brave resilience of the African people with life-saving medicines you have a winning combination. They are too expensive for Africans to afford. But that?s no excuse. If it were Europeans or Americans dying in droves, we?d all join forces to save their lives. Charity donations alone will not beat this deadly pandemic, even though they can make a huge difference. The biblical scale of HIV/Aids means governments have to sign the cheques and change the rules. It?s up to us to persuade them to do it. The Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt campaign showed what people power can achieve. Musicians, mothers, factory workers and even the Pope piled on the pressure for the richest governments to cancel the old debts of the poorest. We achieved a lot, but now we need an even bigger campaign ? we need to keep the issue in the headlines. Yes, I?m lucky. I?m a spoilt rotten rock star, a celebrity. What?s that good for? Nothing much. After Live Aid I went to work in Ethiopia. What I saw there changed my life. A desperate father begged me to take his son back to Ireland. If the child stayed in Ethiopia, his father said, he would die. That was 1985. Today we are still living in a world where a child?s life or death depends on geography. The most I can do as a musician is raise the alarm. But if we all wake up to what?s going on, we can win this war. A few weeks ago, President Bush promised that America will triple its Aids spending in Africa. Britain must join in too. Tony Blair, alongside Chancellor Gordon Brown and International Development Secretary Clare Short, must not fail us. It?s time for the UK and the rest of Europe to step up and help out. History will judge all of us on our response to this modern-day plague. It is a moral test of our times ? an unprecedented human tragedy that we can and must bring to an end.