The Big Noise is a rather interesting twist on the old sign-a-petition school of activism; it’s an interactive web project by Oxfam to register public opinion on the issue of fair global trade. Bono endorses it:

“Away from calamity and physical circumstances, there’s often a structural aspect to poverty in the developing world. We’ve had some success raising awareness about the burden of old debt, and we must now also focus on the unfair trade status of these most fragile and seedling economies. Oxfam has got it right. It wouldn’t cost much to change the rules of trade so that poor countries can work their way out of poverty. But the world’s leaders won’t act unless they hear enough people telling them. And every day they fail to act, thousands of people die because they can’t afford the basics of survival.”

Debt-relief foes in Congress have warned that the benefits of debt cancellation would never reach the poor. We found the opposite. In each country that we visited on this trip – Malawi, Uganda, Ghana – the government is pursuing a meticulous and transparent process to ensure that budgetary savings from debt relief are actually channeled into urgent social sectors. The problem is not waste or corruption, the problem is that the extent of help from the United States and Europe is so meager in the face of the enormous crisis.

A piece about AIDS in Africa by Bono’s current brother-in-arms, Harvard economist Jeffrey Sachs. The piece goes on to mention a solo performance by Bono of ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ in Malawi last February, during one of his fact-finding missions. (Thanks to our anonymous tipster)