U2 France

Photo : REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

By Lesley Wroughton

When 116 million people recently stood up against worldwide poverty, their coordinated cry failed to make big headlines — but they did inspire Irish rocker and activist Bono to write a new song for his group U2.

In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Bono said the Stand Up and Take Action campaign in 131 countries had moved him to start creating a song called "Stand Up".

"It’s not finished yet but it’s inspired by this concept of stand up. It’s a little diamond, though," Bono said, speaking by telephone from Los Angeles.

"It’s not a ’let’s hold hands and the world is a better place sort of song.’ It’s more kick down the door of your own hypocrisy," he said.

Organizers said the 116 million people who called on global leaders not to forget their promise to reduce world poverty and hunger by 2015, represented nearly two percent of the world’s population and was a Guinness World Record "for the biggest mass mobilization on a single issue".

World leaders set a series of agreed targets on poverty, education, health, equality and malnutrition known as Millennium Development Goals or MDGs, eight years ago.

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