Who needs bathrooms? ([email protected])
Sun, 25 Oct 1998 11:49:12 -0600
Stars come out for Amnesty to support human rights
By Paul Cullen
With just a little help from its friends in
showbusiness, Amnesty International is seeking 1
million signatures from Irish people in support of
human rights. The petition, and others from around
the world, will be presented to the United Nations in
December, the 50th anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.
The campaign was given a high-profile start in
Dublin yesterday when most of U2, along with a
slew of other celebrities, signed the petition on
O'Connell Street under the slogan "One million
signatures, one powerful message".
Bono, his eyes hidden behind trademark
wraparound sunglasses, did the talking for the
group: "One of the greatest problems in the world is
the cynical idea that the world can't be changed and
that politics and economics are too complicated to
deal with. But with Amnesty it's simple; you can
write a postcard and make a gigantic difference to
the life of someone who is in jail or suffering human
rights abuses."
Besides, the singer added, he was proud to be part
of an organisation which was founded by another
Irishman, Se�n MacBride, and in which so many
other musicians were involved. "It's a cool club to
be in," he concluded.
Globally, Amnesty is hoping to collect 60 million
signatures to be presented in the "World's Biggest
Book" to UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, on
December 10th.
In Ireland, those who have already signed up include
the President, Mrs McAleese, S�amus Heaney,
Mick McCarthy, Van Morrison and Brendan
O'Carroll.
They were joined yesterday by Roddy Doyle, Donal
Lunny, Paul Brady and Michelle de Bruin, all of
whom turned up on O'Connell Bridge to lend their
support. A visiting Indonesian human rights activist,
Wilson bin Nurtyas, also signed; he was recently
released from prison, where he was tortured with
electric shocks.
The director of Amnesty's Irish Section, Ms Mary
Lawlor, said the aim was to send a powerful
message to governments that "human rights do
matter".
"Human rights are everyone's business. It doesn't
take much to sign up your name. In some other
countries the price of standing up for human rights
is often imprisonment, torture, disappearance or
death."
Signature cards are being made available at shops,
churches, schools, businesses and other public
places over the coming weeks. Signatures will also
be collected at public events and sports fixtures.
The Cabinet is due to sign the petition this morning.
------------
>From The Belfast Telegraph:
Bono leads human rights campaign
U2 star in new Amnesty appeal launch
By Una Bradley
U2 STAR Bono was today at the forefront of a star-studded
campaign for human rights.
The multi-millionaire singer joined a galaxy of celebrities to launch
an Amnesty International campaign in Dublin last night.
Wearing trademark wraparound shades, the famous frontman told a
crowd of hundreds: "One of the greatest problems is the cynical
idea that the world cannot be changed.
"But with Amnesty it's simple; you can write a postcard and make
a gigantic difference to the life of someone who is in jail or suffering
human rights abuses."Speaking of his relief at the arrest of the
dictator
General Pinochet, Bono said he believed U2 had inspired civil unrest
in Chile.
He said: "When we played in Chile, we addressed Pinochet from the
stage and the message went out live on TV.
"I asked him to tell the mothers of people who have disappeared
under his rule where the bones of their sons and daughters were.
"I also told him that God would be his judge, not us, but I said the
least he could do was to do something for the families.
"They have a memorial, but there are no graves. It's important that
they find out what happened."He added: "We got away with it
probably because we are U2."Bono said staff at the Chilean
embassy later told him the gig had boosted morale.
"An official told us that our gig inspired the current wave of
unrest there.
"They said it was an inspiration to them and their colleagues."Bono
joined a host of Irish celebrities including Ronnie Drew, Don Baker,
Paul Brady and Roddy Doyle - on O'Connell Bridge to launch the
campaign.
Amnesty International hopes to gather one million signatures in
Ireland to present to the United Nations in December the 50th
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney, Irish president Mary McAleese
and Van Morrison have already backed the campaign.
The Irish cabinet were to sign the petition today.
� Copyright Belfast Telegraph Newspapers Ltd.
------------
Here's what the problem(and my revelation) was:
There are THREE "Sweetest Thing" singles
1. CID 727 572 466-2:
Sweetest Thing (single mix)
Twighlight (live from Red Rocks)
An Cat Dubh (live from Red Rocks)
2. CIDX 727 572 464-2:
Sweetest Thing (single mix)
Stories For Boys (live from Boston)
Out Of Control (live from Boston)
3. CIDT 727 572 468-2:
Sweetest Thing (single mix)
Stories For Boys (live from Boston)
CDs 2 and 3 look IDENTICAL, but 3 has only two tracks....
------------
Thanks to Anthony Zaidan at http://www.u2dublin.com for the following:
Dublin city centre was brought to a standstill for a short time
yesterday
afternoon and it was all down to U2.
Bono, Edge and Adam were on hand on O'Connell Bridge in the centre of
the
city to lend their support for Amnesty International's 'Sign For Human
Rights' campaign.
In reference to Larry's absence, Bono joked "Larry is at a drummers
rights
meeting - thats why he can't be here, drummers have no rghts".
As the three arived at O'Connell Bridge, the PA system pumped out their
new
single 'The Sweetest Thing' which went on sale yesterday.
They added their names to the amnesty campaign which hopes to get a
million
signatures from Irish people in support of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights.
Bono did all the talking as he asked every person in Ireland to sign up.
"We've always been proud to be associated with Amnesty International
over
the years" he said.
"It's a cool club to be in, especially since we joined", he joked.
"But we all should be really proud that it was an Irishman who helped
set it
up" he said, referring to it's co-founder, Irishman Sean McBride.
"One of the greatest problems in the West is the cynical idea of many
that
the world cannot be changed. It can."
"Amnesty International is so simple - you can write a postcard and make
a
difference in the life of a prisoner of conscience"
U2 posed on the platform with a six foot pen and explained how they had
personally campaigned against world injustices when on tour.
Bono said "In Chile, when we protested against General Pinochet, things
got
a bit interesting. We brought the Mothers of The Dissappeared on stage
with
us and asked him to tell them where their sons were"
"Dictators and human rights abusers are all very vain and sussed. The
more
signatures that arrive at their door, the harder it is for them to
continue
with their repression"
Bono spoke also about Salman Rushdie.
"It is very sad that his book caused so much outrage, but you cannot be
sentenced to death for expressing an opinion"
The 1 million signatures collcted from the people of Ireland will form
part
of the Worlds Biggest Book which will be presented to the UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan in Paris on December 10.
------------
Just a warning to everyone to not spend too much on the ST singles.
I've seen fellow-Canuckle-heads offering them for as much as $12US
online.
With the current rate of exchange, $12US is approx $18CDN !!!
GAH!!!!
I just bought BOTH CD singles from HMV for $6.99CDN each....
------------
>From Chart Attack(Thanks to deseree stukes):
DID BONO HARBOUR SALMAN RUSHDIE?
A fascinating report surfaced late last week suggesting that U2 singer
Bono may have had an occasional house-guest that has been in hiding for
almost ten years. The Sunday Independent printed a story stating that
writer Salman Rushdie, best-known for his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses,
was a frequent visitor to the Irish icon's country estate.
Representatives for U2 immediately denied the story, stating that Bono
was unavailable for comment on the issue. Now, The Edge (aka Dave Evans)
has told New Musical Express that Rushdie has indeed been Bono's guest
on occasion, but was adamant that the newspaper's suggestion the visits
were frequent is just plain wrong. "He did stay the weekend on maybe two
occasions," the guitarist releated. "But it wasn't like he was living
with Bono for months on end, which was sort of what the story claimed."
Rushdie has been living more or less underground since The Satanic
Verses was published, which sent the world's Islamic population into a
frenzy over alleged blasphemous content. Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini
issued a religious order called a fatwa calling for Rushdie's death, and
certain Islamic groups have since put a bounty on the novelist's head
(almost $3 million U.S. at last report) to boot. While no harm has come
to Rushdie himself, a translator who worked with him was assassinated,
and an employee of the publishing company that released the
controversial novel was attacked by unidentified groups. One of
Rushdie's few public appearances since 1988 took place onstage at a U2
concert during the Zoo TV Tour. This was allegedly at Bono's request,
which likely spawned the questions about the relationship between the
two. The Edge concluded his interview by saying "We don't have a problem
standing beside him (Rushdie). But the focus of the story seemed to be
on Bono's house, which we could have done without, from a security point
of view." Hopefully no fanatical Islamic terrorists will converge on
Bono's stately Killiney home looking for revenge...there are enough
Irish terrorists in Ireland, thankyouverymuch...
------------
>From a reader:
The Edge and Bono have apparently been on O'Connell Street
in Dublin all day, taking part in a signing rally for Amnesty
International. The line-up to meet them/get autographs was
long, and therefore the person(who wishes to remain
anonymous) did not get a chance to wait around and meet
them...
------------
The inside CD sleeve of the Best of album is available at:
http://yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au/~monsoon/u2hits.htm
------------
The following Irish Times articles are available at their site.
Great and good add 'Late Late' congratulations
- article mentions Bono congratulating Hume on Nobel
Prize
http://www.irish-times.com/irish%2Dtimes/paper/1998/1017/hom27.html
Hume struggles to cope with weekend of plaudits
By Louise Flanagan, in Belfast
The SDLP leader is well used to fighting his political
battles but he was clearly moved by the endless plaudits
he received from members of the public, politicians and
pop stars. His eyes moistened after U2's Bono's tribute: "
. . . I'm so privileged to live in this island, with this man".
Sinn F�in president Mr Gerry Adams also paid tribute,
saying if anyone deserved the Nobel prize, it was Mr
Hume.
http://www.irish-times.com/irish%2Dtimes/paper/1998/1019/north3.html
------------
(Prarit's note: Do a search at CNN on "Bible" and "Bono" and you
will find the following article -- it's worth the read...)
Condensed from CNN:
Feature Gnashing of Teeth Over Britain's New Bible Series
Reuters 18-OCT-98
LONDON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - In the beginning was the Word, the
Bible says. But lo, a Scottish publisher has added a few lines and,
behold, he is in hot water with the faithful.
Some of Britain's Christian bookstores are boycotting a new
series of 12 books of the authorised King James Bible, published
individually as pocket-sized paperbacks, because they contain
rather unorthodox introductions.
Jesus, for example, is described as "pushy" by writer Blake
Morrison in an introduction to St John's gospel. God is a "frivolous
trickster," says best-selling author Louis de Bernieres in his
preface to the Book of Job.
"Blasphemy!" charge the Christian critics.
"Nonsense!" says publisher Canongate Books of Edinburgh,
which sought out 12 well known people-- including a Jew, a
Buddhist and several apparent atheists-- to write the prefaces to
its Pocket Canons.
"The Christian fundamentalists don't own the Bible," huffed Claire
Paterson, commissioning editor for Canongate.
"We're trying to reach people who wouldn't normally read the
Bible," she said. "It's one of the greatest, possibly the greatest
book in English literature, and it's very daunting and alienating to
many people."
Canongate is not worried, and the publisher is going ahead with
plans to publish another 12 books of the Bible with more
introductions. In the next series, Psalms will be introduced by
Bono, the lead singer of the Irish rock group U2.
------------
Thanks to Derek Mark McAllister for the following information:
The Sunday Independent has apologized to Bono and Salman
Rushdie for the article in which it said that Salman Rushdie had
been a house-guest for several years. The apology appeared on the
front page of the paper.
------------
Condensed from www.wired.com:
Willie Wonka of the Net by John Alderman
Check out http://www.davestewart.com for theThe Edge(and Bono!!!) piece.
-- Prarit....[email protected] U2 news: http://www.members.home.net/u2-news/u2.html
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