September 7, 2004
20 ARRESTED IN DIRECT ACTION TO PROTEST THE BUSH/REPUBLICAN "COMPASSION FAILURE" ON HIV/AIDS
With the Still We Rise march on Monday, the ACT UP arrests in the Garden and our demonstration in Bed-Stuy on Wednesday, and with our Grand Central action on Thursday, there were AIDS protests in the news throughout the Republican Convention.
Over 200 AIDS activists from Housing Works took over Grand Central Station at 8am Thursday morning. Twenty people were arrested; over 200 people carried out a loud and raucous legal picket to protest the Bush Administration's "Compassion Failure" on HIV/AIDS. The action included a large banner drop, civil disobedience, and peaceful picketing to call attention to President Bush’s failure to stem the deadly tide of HIV/AIDS at home and abroad.
"On HIV/AIDS and 'compassion' President Bush talks the
talk, but he doesn't walk the walk," said Michael Kink, Legislative
Counsel for Housing Works. "We have more HIV infections, more AIDS
cases, more homelessness and more extreme poverty than we did four years
ago."
"President Bush has kept domestic AIDS funding flat or cut it, and
he hasn't kept his promises to help Africa and the rest of the world,"
said Kink. Marchers criticized the Bush AIDS record on:
- Worldwide
Access to HIV/AIDS Medications: Cheap generic drugs could save millions
of lives. But President Bush insists on wasting our money to buy high-cost
name-brands, rewarding his political supporters at the drug companies.
- Real-World
HIV Prevention: Federal studies have shown that clean needles for active
drug users and condoms for sexually-active young people work to reduce
HIV infections. But President Bush puts extremist politics ahead of
science and saving lives.
- $ To
Fight AIDS in America: President Bush has tried to dismantle Medicaid,
the nation’s largest source of HIV/AIDS care. He’s letting
Americans die on waiting lists for AIDS drugs. Infrastructure funding
has been flat or cut, despite hundreds of thousands of new HIV infections.
- Housing
Homeless People with AIDS: The Bush budgets have neglected money for
AIDS housing, and the President’s allies in Congress are trying
to cut the HOPWA and other crucial programs at the Department of Housing
and Urban Development.
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