South Africa
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U2's Bono Endorses "Shoot the Boer" Song
The Irish pop star Bono has been criticised for apparently endorsing a song which include the lyric: "Shoot the Boer".
The U2 front man said the song, which was sung during the fight against apartheid, had its place, like music supporting the Irish Republican Army.
His comments came at the start of U2's tour of South Africa.
But callers to local radio stations said the song was designed to stir up racial hatred.
"That's hate speech. They don't know our history at all," said one caller to a South African radio talk show.
The song has been at the centre of a political storm in South Africa, with the controversial leader of South Africa's youth league, Julius Malema, locked in a legal battle with a white lobby group over whether it should be banned as hate speech.
Boer is an Afrikaans word for farmer, which has become a derogatory term for all white people.
'Folk music'
In an interview with the South African Sunday Times, Bono said: "When I was a kid and I'd sing songs I remember my uncles singing... rebel songs about the early days of the Irish Republican Army."
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
We sang this and it's fair to say it's folk music”
End Quote Bono U2 singer
He went on to sing a song whose lyrics spoke of carrying guns and readying them for action.
"We sang this and it's fair to say it's folk music," he told the newspaper.
But he said such songs should not be sung in the wrong context.
"Would you want to sing that in a certain community? It's pretty dumb," he said.
"It's about where and when you sing those songs. There's a rule for that kind of music."
Callers to local radio stations described the song as an example of hate speech.
South Africa's highest court is currently considering whether the song violates the rights of Afrikaners.
Since apartheid was banned in 1994, more than 3,000 white farmers have been murdered.
It was into this political minefield that Bono has wandered, says BBC Africa analyst Martin Plaut, apparently unaware of the depth of feeling his remarks would stir up.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12444061
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I was going to see U2 at Magnetic Hill, and also have U2 tickets as a prize for the Viking Games at the Atlantic Canada Heathen gathering, but not anymore.
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Originally Posted by Pallantides
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