rafmed
Refugee
April 15, 2002
From The Irish Mirror:
PRESIDENT ALI
HUMAN RIGHTS WORK MAKES BONO'S WIFE LABOUR PARTY'S CHOICE AS
HEAD OF STATE
Caoimhe Young
THE Labour Party is to invite Bono's wife Ali Hewson to run for President, it emerged
yesterday.
Party chiefs believe the high-profile human rights campaigner would be a winner with
voters.
Hewson, who has always shied away from her husband's fame, has spearheaded the
massive Shut Sellafield Campaign. Labour Party HQ in Dublin refused to comment on
plans to bring the anti-nuclear campaigner on board.
However a party insider said: "I think Ali might need a bit of convincing.
"She's a mother of four but she has always had world issues at heart and she'd make
the perfect candidate.
"The Labour Party has always had a high opinion of Ali and her wide knowledge of
environmental issues."
The 41-year-old is a close friend of the party's failed presidential candidate, Children
of Chernobyl champion Adi Roche.
Labour took the Irish political scene by storm in 1990 when it enlisted barrister and law
lecturer Mary Robinson for President.
She defeated Fianna Fail's Brian Lenihan and Fine Gael's Austin Currie in the race for
Aras an Uactarian.
But the party's bid to repeat the victory fell short in 1997 when President Mary McAleesse
finished well ahead of Adi Roche.
Hewson has raised her own public profile in recent months with the clever anti-Sellafield
campaign.
She has called in the support of pop diva Samantha Mumba and Hollywood actor Colin
Farrell.
Every household in the country has received a pre-paid postcard addressed to either
Tony Blair, Prince Charles or the chief executive of British Nuclear Fuels.
Four million cards have been printed in three designs featuring an anti-Sellafield message.
Hewson managed to persuade all major supermarkets, except British-owned Tesco, to sell
the cards.
Determined campaigner Ali has spent the last month doing endless television and radio
interviews to convince the people of Ireland to help close down the nuclear plant.
A childhood sweetheart of the U2 frontman, she went to the same school as Bono in Marino,
Dublin.
Ali studied politics at UCD and like Bono, who has campaigned to end Third World debt, she
has never stepped back from issues she believes in.
She has visited Chernobyl many times and won an award for her documentary Black Wind
White Land on the devastating aftermath of the disaster.
A spokeswoman for Hewson said the Labour Party has not yet approached the Sellafield
campaigner.
Ali hopes all postcards will be posted by April 19 so they can reach the desks of Britain's most
influential people by April 26 - the 16th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
She said: "We don't know yet how many postcards have already gone.
"But the reaction has been very positive, people are stopping me on the street all the time to
say they've sent cards.
"I know people power can make a difference but the deadline is getting close now, so post
that postcard."
Just one word, WOW!
------------------
Please...don't make me say please, champagne and ice cream, it's not what I want, it's what I need.
From The Irish Mirror:
PRESIDENT ALI
HUMAN RIGHTS WORK MAKES BONO'S WIFE LABOUR PARTY'S CHOICE AS
HEAD OF STATE
Caoimhe Young
THE Labour Party is to invite Bono's wife Ali Hewson to run for President, it emerged
yesterday.
Party chiefs believe the high-profile human rights campaigner would be a winner with
voters.
Hewson, who has always shied away from her husband's fame, has spearheaded the
massive Shut Sellafield Campaign. Labour Party HQ in Dublin refused to comment on
plans to bring the anti-nuclear campaigner on board.
However a party insider said: "I think Ali might need a bit of convincing.
"She's a mother of four but she has always had world issues at heart and she'd make
the perfect candidate.
"The Labour Party has always had a high opinion of Ali and her wide knowledge of
environmental issues."
The 41-year-old is a close friend of the party's failed presidential candidate, Children
of Chernobyl champion Adi Roche.
Labour took the Irish political scene by storm in 1990 when it enlisted barrister and law
lecturer Mary Robinson for President.
She defeated Fianna Fail's Brian Lenihan and Fine Gael's Austin Currie in the race for
Aras an Uactarian.
But the party's bid to repeat the victory fell short in 1997 when President Mary McAleesse
finished well ahead of Adi Roche.
Hewson has raised her own public profile in recent months with the clever anti-Sellafield
campaign.
She has called in the support of pop diva Samantha Mumba and Hollywood actor Colin
Farrell.
Every household in the country has received a pre-paid postcard addressed to either
Tony Blair, Prince Charles or the chief executive of British Nuclear Fuels.
Four million cards have been printed in three designs featuring an anti-Sellafield message.
Hewson managed to persuade all major supermarkets, except British-owned Tesco, to sell
the cards.
Determined campaigner Ali has spent the last month doing endless television and radio
interviews to convince the people of Ireland to help close down the nuclear plant.
A childhood sweetheart of the U2 frontman, she went to the same school as Bono in Marino,
Dublin.
Ali studied politics at UCD and like Bono, who has campaigned to end Third World debt, she
has never stepped back from issues she believes in.
She has visited Chernobyl many times and won an award for her documentary Black Wind
White Land on the devastating aftermath of the disaster.
A spokeswoman for Hewson said the Labour Party has not yet approached the Sellafield
campaigner.
Ali hopes all postcards will be posted by April 19 so they can reach the desks of Britain's most
influential people by April 26 - the 16th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
She said: "We don't know yet how many postcards have already gone.
"But the reaction has been very positive, people are stopping me on the street all the time to
say they've sent cards.
"I know people power can make a difference but the deadline is getting close now, so post
that postcard."
Just one word, WOW!
------------------
Please...don't make me say please, champagne and ice cream, it's not what I want, it's what I need.
