Society
Cristina Odone on Bianca Jagger as Mother Teresa
Published 24 February 2003
How Bianca Jagger (yes, the same) became the new Mother Teresa
The photos from the anti-war march in Hyde Park show a smattering of OAPs, a swathe of Middle England and a cluster of celebs. The most intriguing of all was one of a glamorous dark beauty - a familiar face above a caption that read: "Human rights campaigner Bianca Jagger". Human rights campaigner? Wasn't this the Nicaraguan firecracker who married Mick, was BFs with Andy Warhol and famously rode a white stallion into Studio 54? The very same. But a few decades on, Bianca Jagger is no longer synonymous with Mustique, Ibiza and jet-setting glamour but with Unicef, Amnesty and the Red Cross.
While other ex-rock chicks take their kit off in the West End, Bianca flies from war zones (Bosnia) to Aids zones (India), speaking out against genocide and child prostitution along the way. While other former models launch their own lingerie range, Bianca launches passionate attacks against Bush's record on capital punishment and America's record in the third world.
Slowly, over years of regular appearances on the podium and under the activist's banner, Bianca has transformed herself into one of the biggest human rights names out there. There's no right-on event without Bianca, no liberal petition that can afford to miss her signature. The powers that be are beginning to take notice. She is flown to Washington to attend congressional hearings about capital punishment, asked to the UN to testify about her experience among Palestinians and invited to accompany academics and human rights campaigners to Iraq. From Washington to Baghdad, she uses her celebrity to gain access to those suspicious officials or frightened civilians who - the world over - cannot resist a famous face. Doors that are shut to the likes of Jack Straw and Colin Powell fly open to take a curious peep at the former Mrs Mick.
What effect can she have as an international troubleshooter? Perhaps more, given this immediate access to the elite, than some of our politicos. And Bianca does her homework: every visit is prefaced by a careful briefing and chronicled in her own hand, in a notebook she won't travel without. All of which explains why Bianca is emerging as the rightful successor to Mother Teresa: the world's most famous do-gooder.
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