Friday, January 28, 2005

I tried(below) to say it but PROPER read on ....


Pip-arm along 1 small
Originally uploaded by Pip Wilson.





Rock-star activist Bono has emerged as the insider's favorite outsider at the World Economic Forum.

The lead singer of best-selling Irish rock band U2 has lent an air of popular legitimacy and urgency to this week's gathering of the world's rich and powerful that prime ministers and top corporate chieftains only wish they could attract.

"I really believe if we all gather forces on this and we don't create easy bad guys and good guys on this, we can make progress," Bono told a news conference in New York on Saturday.

"The great thing about hanging out with Republicans is that it's very unhip for both of us. There's a parity of pain here," Bono said referring to his newfound conservative party friends.

As a tireless campaigner for debt relief for the world's poorest nations, Bono has gained unprecedented access and a new public platform for his cause by mixing here with conservative US politicians and top pharmaceutical CEOs.

Wearing blue wrap-around sunglasses and an open-collar checked shirt, Bono stands out sharply from the pinstriped suits and ties that are the uniform of the most of the summit's 2,700 attendees.

"It's more difficult than you might imagine to get attention for these issues. Hence the unusual juxtapositions you are seeing on this issue," he told reporters during a news conference where he shared the stage with the world's richest man, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, to demand greater health care funding.



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