Everybody Matters:  My Life Giving Voice

Mary Robinson, Former President of Ireland

Mary Robinson has been a voice of fairness, justice and change throughout her career. She is one of the most influential public figures in Ireland.  As first female President of Ireland (1990-’97), she spoke forcibly for women’s contraception and equal rights.  As UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (’97-2002), she brought worldwide attention to human rights violations around the world. Everybody Matters, embodies the principles and convictions that Robinson acted upon her entire life – challenging elitism, abuse of power and marginalization of vulnerable groups in society. Robinson describes making “115 trips to more than 70 countries during 5 years, almost always with the idea of helping to amplify the voices of victims, helping them feel that somebody was listening.  It brought home to me the power of the act of bearing witness.” A frequent visitor to MA since her days at Harvard, Robinson has spoken strongly in Boston on behalf of undocumented Irish immigrants, for peace and justice in N. Ireland, and for victims of modern day famines due to war and climate change.

Bloomsbury US | $26 cloth |366 pages | March 2013 | ISBN: 978-0-8027-1801-3