Bono’s Palestinian dream

U2 frontman Bono’s "shout out" to Palestine, as The Nation calls it, at yesterday’s concert at the Lincoln Memorial, is a little underwelming when you just read it: "Let freedom ring. On this spot where we’re standing 46 years ago Dr. King had a dream. On Tuesday, that dream comes to pass," before launching into ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

U2 frontman Bono's "shout out" to Palestine, as The Nation calls it, at yesterday's concert at the Lincoln Memorial, is a little underwelming when you just read it:

U2 frontman Bono’s "shout out" to Palestine, as The Nation calls it, at yesterday’s concert at the Lincoln Memorial, is a little underwelming when you just read it:

"Let freedom ring. On this spot where we’re standing 46 years ago Dr. King had a dream. On Tuesday, that dream comes to pass," before launching into ‘Pride (In The Name Of Love)’, U2’s tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"This is not just an American dream," he said, adding that it was "also an Irish dream, a European dream, an African dream… an Israeli dream… and also a Palestinian dream."

Palestinians have dreams too. Is that really such a bold statement that it warrants the exceedingly dramatic pause that Bono gives it? Certainly not as gutsy as when Bjork shouted out Tibet while peforming in China.

On the other hand, the president-elect does look extremely uncomfortable.

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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