Bono, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom last week, has penned an article for The Atlantic called The Gorgeous, Unglamorous Work of Freedom.
The singer outlines his activism for freedom, and his work with Joe Biden to cancel debt for developing nations.
“Freedom is a word that turns up with embarrassing frequency in rock-and-roll songs,” he writes. "How we love to free-associate about freedom. On occasion, we’re good for a ‘Chimes of Freedom’ (at least Bob Dylan is), but if we’re honest, the freedom musicians are most interested in is our own.
“Rock and roll promised a freedom that could not be contained or silenced, an international language of liberation. The freedom songs of the folk singers went electric, the coded messages of gospel music burst into the full flower of funk and soul.
“Is the Medal of Freedom a nostalgia act? Is freedom itself a nostalgia act? Maybe the idea of freedom as a guarantee. But not freedom as a mighty, worthy struggle.
“Lincoln spoke of a ‘new birth of freedom.’ I think he meant that freedom must be re-won by each generation. That is a fine call to action for a new year.”
The whole article can be read here.
