December 8, 2006
'THERE IS ONLY ONE AIDS'
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Want a high-energy World AIDS Day? Try Washington, DC, where hundreds protested and twenty-two offered themselves for arrest in a powerful direct action expressing outrage over persistent government neglect of the AIDS crisis.
"There is not AIDS in Africa and then AIDS in America, there is only AIDS," said Alex Lawson of DC Fights Back!. The multi-issue rally at the White House drew hundreds of supporters and demanded global solutions to the AIDS crisis - with DC and the US included in the "global."
The highlight of the day: twenty-two people living with AIDS, students and AIDS activists sat down in front of the White House, laid their protest signs before them, and were arrested one-by-one. Clever costuming illustrated the call for universal access to prevention, treatment and care: some activists dressed as clean needles, pill bottles, and health care providers in white lab coats.
'We need the same things everywhere'
"There is not AIDS in Africa and then AIDS in America, there is only AIDS," said Alex Lawson of DC Fights Back! "The same disparities drive the epidemic everywhere, and DC is a perfect case study. If you walk 400 yards across the Capitol from (wealthy) Northwest to (poor) Southeast- life expectancy decreases 10 years. There are 7 hospitals in DC; 5 are clustered around Georgetown. The greatest need is in Southeast but the greatest facilities are in Northwest. Any indicator of health, wealth and opportunity is the same, and we know those disparities drive epidemics here as they do in South Africa."
DC Fights Back! advocates and agitates for access to clean needles, which would save more lives in DC if they were more broadly available. Needle exchange programs could also turn the tide of the epidemics in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.
But opposition in the U.S. federal government to needle exchange undermines local efforts in all of these places. Despite a public health mandate and support of DC leaders for needle exchange programs, the District of Columbia has been barred by Congress from using its own money to fund them. Despite boasting of its massive contributions to the global fight against AIDS, the U.S. government prohibits any of its funds from being spent on needle exchange.
"We see this not only as a matter of justice but a matter of practicality. AIDS is a public health issue - a disease. We know how to treat it and how to prevent it. We just need to be allowed to do what needs to be done," explained Lawson.
Indeed, stockpiles of evidence from health and human rights experts worldwide support every one of the protesters demands:
- Provide a US contribution of $8 billion dollars to train and pay enough doctors, nurses and healthcare workers to respond to AIDS in Africa;
- Lift of the ban on needle exchange programs; Pass fair-trade rules to facilitate access to treatment for the ten million people in immediate need of lifesaving HIV/AIDS treatment by 2010;
- Ensure full funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria; and
- Drop the debt for all impoverished countries.
Heroes, if just for one day...
 "There were more deaths this year than last year, as there have been every year since I was born," said Meheret Melles, National Student Coordinator of the Student Global AIDS Campaign (under arrest). all photos by Larry Bryant |
George Washington University junior and Student Global AIDS Campaign (SGAC)Chapter leader Lindsey Wheeler said "For the past five years, AIDS has been my issue. I've learned everything I could. In Mexico and in India, I've seen it on the ground, and I've done what I can to promote campus awareness. Now, I have the demands so clear and burned into my mind, and when I know I can make my voice heard just by stepping across the street, how can I not? AIDS is such intense injustice."
Facing this crisis of injustice, at approximately 3:30 in the afternoon on World AIDS Day, twenty-two activists sat down on the White House sidewalk near Lafayette Park, laid their protest signs before them and were arrested one by one.
From across the street, hundreds rallied, chanting, "When people with AIDS are under attack, what do we do? ACT-UP! Fight back!"
Wheeler, who has medical school aspirations, has witnessed the epidemic here at home and abroad and believes activism is critical to generating the government response we need to end AIDS. On World AIDS Day 2006, a quarter-century into the epidemic, Wheeler was arrested for the first time.
"I didn't understand activism until SGAC, and I have such a faith now that our voices can be heard," Wheeler said. "There was a feeling of joining activists by crossing Pennsylvania Avenue, joining those who were there and all of those from ACT-UP and everybody who have protested to end AIDS since the beginning. I crossed that line in the best way."
"There were more deaths this year than last year, as there have been every year since I was born," said Meheret Melles, National Student Coordinator of SCAG and a senior at University of Maryland.
"My government needs to take clear action to make good on its promise of universal access to treatment in the next few years - if it's just another broken promise to people living with AIDS then millions more lives will be lost."
The rally was co-sponsored by ACT-UP Philadelphia, Africa Action, Student Global AIDS Campaign, Jubilee USA Network, NAACP, DC Fights Back!, MWPHA, University Coalitions for Global Health and the Global AIDS Alliance.