Bono has shared his thoughts on what is the best way to achieve freedom “ in every part of the world where health and humanity are at risk”.
The U2 frontman expressed his outlook during a new op-ed for The Atlantic, which he wrote ahead of receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the US over the weekend (January 4).
The title is the nation’s highest civilian honour and is awarded to people who “have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values or security of the United States, world peace or other significant societal, public or private endeavours”. Bono received it this year from Joe Biden for his work as “a pioneering activist against AIDS and poverty”. Other recipients included Michael J. Fox, Denzel Washington and more.
In his piece for The Atlantic, Bono centred his discussion on “freedom”, and how it has meant different things across time and across nations. One of the main topics he focused on was how the need for freedom has been expressed continuously in music.
“When we rock stars talk about freedom, we more often mean libertinism than liberation, but growing up in the Ireland of the ’60s, that had its place too. We were mad for freedoms we didn’t have: political freedom, religious freedom, and (most definitely) sexual freedom,” he wrote.
“Rock and roll promised a freedom that could not be contained or silenced, an international language of liberation […] In U2, we wanted our song ‘Pride (In the Name of Love)’ to sound like the freedom we were campaigning for in our work with Amnesty International. That’s how insufferable we were.”
As the op-ed progressed, Bono went on to share how freedom is viewed in America and how there is still a debate around “not just what it is, but who gets it”, and added that he no longer sees progress being made from symbolic acts from strong personalities.
“I still have a fondness for symbolic or poetic acts—a fist in the air, a shout, an indelible image. I still think they’re important. But for more than two decades, I’ve opted for more activism and less symbolism. A petition for something utterly worthy arrives once a month at our house. But I’m not much of a signer. These days I’m more inclined to be specific than dramatic, to organize than agonize,” he explained.
“I want to know what actually works. If I throw a punch, I want it to actually land. I enjoyed the wild swings of my youth. But now I’m excited by the strategy and tactics that might put injustice on the back foot,” Bono continued.
“And actually, in the end, it’s not personalities—as dull or luminous as singers can be—that change things. It’s movements like Jubilee 2000 or the ONE Campaign, which takes to the streets but also to the corridors of Capitol Hill and parliaments and G8 meetings…”
Concluding, he said that the best way for freedom to be found “in every part of the world where health and humanity are at risk” is for an approach to be put forward that has no selfish motive behind it.
“It’s what the fight for freedom needs today: faithful, stubborn, unselfish effort. For many years I quoted that line of Martin Luther King Jr.’s: ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’ I now know it does not. It has to be bent. And that’s how the walls will finally come down: in Ukraine, in Sudan, in Gaza, across the Middle East, in every part of the world where health and humanity are at risk.”
Taking to Instagram shortly after receiving the honour from Biden, Bono shared an image from the event and shared with fans hour the title “humbled” him.
“Thank you President Biden. Frontmen don’t do humble, but today I was. Rock n roll gave me my freedom… and with it the privilege to work alongside those who’ve had to fight so much harder for theirs,” he wrote. “And I want to give it up for my band mates – Edge, Adam, and Larry – without whom I would never have found my voice.”
In recent months, members of U2 have been hinting to fans that new music is on the horizon. Back in November, for example, guitarist The Edge confirmed that the band are back in the studio with drummer Larry Mullen Jr., following on from his hiatus due to injury.
Shortly afterwards, Mullen Jr. opened up about his recovery and shared what fans can expect from new material. “I don’t think it will be what we normally do. I would hope it would be something different. But I’m excited to get back in some capacity,” he said, going on to hint at a 2026 tour.
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