Treating AIDS - direct action in action

Today the South African government announced its intentions to finally implement a national HIV treatment plan. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-South-Africa-AIDS.html?hp This could be a big victory, if actually implemented, for the Treatment Action Campaign, a massive direct action and solidarity movement demanding care for people with HIV. I wrote an essay earlier this year about one of TAC's international solidarity actions. <!--break--> INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE SOUTH AFRICAN TREATMENT ACTION CAMPAIGN (TAC) May, 2003 It was just symbolic. Six hundred pairs of shoes. Six hundred people. Six hundred deaths. One country. One disease. One day. Every day. Untreated AIDS in South Africa. There are effective treatments for HIV, and some people get to have treatment. For example, if you live in the U.S. your chances of getting treatment and living a good life are reasonable. If you live in Brazil, where the government assertively defied pressures from U.S. trade negotiators to 'honor' pharmaceutical patents, you are guaranteed antiretroviral treatment. Sorry, though, if you live in South Africa or in most other places where HIV is a big problem, you must feel like you are expected to shut up and die. Maybe your kids will be placed in orphanages, but they could just as well wind up on the street. If you are brave enough to be a leader in the fight for HIV treatment in South Africa, your friends and comrades might urge you to be one of the few to get treated. After all, directing resources toward keeping you out there fighting would be rational. But you probably won't go for that -- you will say that it is not fair to have treatment for some people and not for others. You are countless dead South African heroes. Your name on April 9 could have been Edward Mabunda, a thirty-six year old poet and father of three, known for your speeches that moved masses of people to action. The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is one of the most important direct action movements in the world. These South African AIDS activists called for international solidarity on Thursday with their recently stepped-up civil disobedience campaign, urging their government to stop dragging its feet on a national treatment plan. In Washington, D.C. activists showed solidarity by displaying 600 pairs of shoes, representing the 600 South Africans who die of AIDS every day, at the South African embassy. All over the world, activists and ordinary people who see the imperative to treat HIV everywhere -- not just in selected places -- telephoned, faxed and emailed South African officials. TAC earned international attention in 2001 when it fought back against the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PMA) and forty drug companies. The pharmaceutical industry had taken the South African government to court for planning to produce and import generic antiretroviral drugs. Through international campaigns and intensive legal research and advocacy, TAC helped secure an unusual victory against global pharmaceutical interests. The PMA lawsuit against the South African government failed. This was important for South Africa because brand name HIV drugs typically cost about fifty times as much as effective generic equivalents. TAC's public campaign surrounding the drug companies' lawsuit brought much needed clarity on just how predatory the pharmaceutical industry can be when it comes to maintaining "super-profits" without regard to public health disasters. I remember a top U.S. trade representative claiming to have not known about the devastating consequences of global HIV and AIDS. That was in 2001, not the eighties. We started hearing about proposals for drug company 'discounts' around this time. Soon after, in November of 2001, the World Trade Organization issued the Doha Declaration on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) and Public Health. In an uncharacteristic emphasis on public health, the WTO moved toward freeing countries from restrictive patent laws in cases where public health would be served by access to generic drugs. Two steps forward and several shoves back, with more and more shoes emptying out every day…. This year, the South African government still has not come up with the political will to treat the people. This year, President Bush has added ideological strings to his promise to finally join the global fight against AIDS. This year, Cipla, the Indian generic antiretroviral drug manufacturer, announced that it would shift production to other drugs due to a lack of demand for generic antiretroviral drugs. This year, U.S. trade negotiators attacked and undermined the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health. It is not coincidental that the pharmaceutical industry spent over $19 million on political donations during the 2002 U.S. election cycle. Later this year, President Bush will start campaigning for re-election. Later this year, the World Trade Organization will meet in Cancún, Mexico. Throughout the year, TAC members will undoubtedly wear out many shoes marching, demanding access to life-saving HIV treatment, before some of those same shoes are prematurely emptied. I cannot begin to imagine what it would be like to walk in Edward Mabunda's shoes. We must choose ways, though, to step up. The following is from the TAC website, April 9, 2003; on Edward Mabunda's death: Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) STATEMENT: Edward Mabunda died this morning in Johannesburg Hospital, from Aids-related illnesses. The Congress of South African Trade Unions sends its deepest condolences to his family and comrades in the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). Edward's personal tragedy highlights the hundreds of other tragedies experienced by people living with HIV/Aids. He should not have died. He is one of hundreds whose lives could have been saved if they had had access to anti-retroviral medicines at an earlier stage. They would still be with us and Edward would still be playing his leading role in the TAC campaign for a national treatment programme. When COSATU leaders, Willie Madisha and Zwelinzima Vavi met Edward on 3 April, he spoke about TAC with pride and hope and expressed his determination to recover and continue campaigning. COSATU pledges its continuing support for the TAC's campaign for antiretroviral treatment. The best way to remember Edward will be for the campaign to be taken to new heights and more and more pressure exerted on government and business to sign the draft Nedlac agreement on a national HIV/Aids prevention and treatment plan and to make sure that it is implemented as fast as possible. Let there be no more unnecessary deaths!

<p>Today the South African government announced its intentions to finally implement a national HIV treatment plan. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-South-Africa-AIDS.html?hp">http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-South-Africa-AIDS.html?hp</a><br /> This could be a big victory, if actually implemented, for the Treatment Action Campaign, a massive direct action and solidarity movement demanding care for people with HIV.<br /> I wrote an essay earlier this year about one of TAC's international solidarity actions. </p> <!--break--><p> INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE SOUTH AFRICAN TREATMENT ACTION CAMPAIGN (TAC)<br /> May, 2003</p> <p>It was just symbolic. Six hundred pairs of shoes. Six hundred people. Six hundred deaths. One country. One disease. One day. Every day. Untreated AIDS in South Africa. </p> <p>There are effective treatments for HIV, and some people get to have treatment. For example, if you live in the U.S. your chances of getting treatment and living a good life are reasonable. If you live in Brazil, where the government assertively defied pressures from U.S. trade negotiators to 'honor' pharmaceutical patents, you are guaranteed antiretroviral treatment. </p> <p>Sorry, though, if you live in South Africa or in most other places where HIV is a big problem, you must feel like you are expected to shut up and die. Maybe your kids will be placed in orphanages, but they could just as well wind up on the street. </p> <p>If you are brave enough to be a leader in the fight for HIV treatment in South Africa, your friends and comrades might urge you to be one of the few to get treated. After all, directing resources toward keeping you out there fighting would be rational. But you probably won't go for that -- you will say that it is not fair to have treatment for some people and not for others. You are countless dead South African heroes. Your name on April 9 could have been Edward Mabunda, a thirty-six year old poet and father of three, known for your speeches that moved masses of people to action. </p> <p>The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is one of the most important direct action movements in the world. These South African AIDS activists called for international solidarity on Thursday with their recently stepped-up civil disobedience campaign, urging their government to stop dragging its feet on a national treatment plan.<br /> In Washington, D.C. activists showed solidarity by displaying 600 pairs of shoes, representing the 600 South Africans who die of AIDS every day, at the South African embassy. All over the world, activists and ordinary people who see the imperative to treat HIV everywhere -- not just in selected places -- telephoned, faxed and emailed South African officials. </p> <p>TAC earned international attention in 2001 when it fought back against the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PMA) and forty drug companies. The pharmaceutical industry had taken the South African government to court for planning to produce and import generic antiretroviral drugs.<br /> Through international campaigns and intensive legal research and advocacy, TAC helped secure an unusual victory against global pharmaceutical interests. The PMA lawsuit against the South African government failed. This was important for South Africa because brand name HIV drugs typically cost about fifty times as much as effective generic equivalents. </p> <p>TAC's public campaign surrounding the drug companies' lawsuit brought much needed clarity on just how predatory the pharmaceutical industry can be when it comes to maintaining "super-profits" without regard to public health disasters. I remember a top U.S. trade representative claiming to have not known about the devastating consequences of global HIV and AIDS. That was in 2001, not the eighties. We started hearing about proposals for drug company 'discounts' around this time. </p> <p>Soon after, in November of 2001, the World Trade Organization issued the Doha Declaration on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) and Public Health. In an uncharacteristic emphasis on public health, the WTO moved toward freeing countries from restrictive patent laws in cases where public health would be served by access to generic drugs.</p> <p>Two steps forward and several shoves back, with more and more shoes emptying out every day….</p> <p>This year, the South African government still has not come up with the political will to treat the people. This year, President Bush has added ideological strings to his promise to finally join the global fight against AIDS. This year, Cipla, the Indian generic antiretroviral drug manufacturer, announced that it would shift production to other drugs due to a lack of demand for generic antiretroviral drugs. This year, U.S. trade negotiators attacked and undermined the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health. It is not coincidental that the pharmaceutical industry spent over $19 million on political donations during the 2002 U.S. election cycle.<br /> Later this year, President Bush will start campaigning for re-election. Later this year, the World Trade Organization will meet in Cancún, Mexico. Throughout the year, TAC members will undoubtedly wear out many shoes marching, demanding access to life-saving HIV treatment, before some of those same shoes are prematurely emptied. I cannot begin to imagine what it would be like to walk in Edward Mabunda's shoes. We must choose ways, though, to step up.<br /> The following is from the TAC website, April 9, 2003; on Edward Mabunda's death:</p> <p>Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) STATEMENT:</p> <p>Edward Mabunda died this morning in Johannesburg Hospital, from Aids-related illnesses. The Congress of South African Trade Unions sends its deepest condolences to his family and comrades in the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). Edward's personal tragedy highlights the hundreds of other tragedies experienced by people living with HIV/Aids. He should not have died. He is one of hundreds whose lives could have been saved if they had had access to anti-retroviral medicines at an earlier stage. They would still be with us and Edward would still be playing his leading role in the TAC campaign for a national treatment programme. When COSATU leaders, Willie Madisha and Zwelinzima Vavi met Edward on 3 April, he spoke about TAC with pride and hope and expressed his determination to recover and continue campaigning. COSATU pledges its continuing support for the TAC's campaign for antiretroviral treatment. The best way to remember Edward will be for the campaign to be taken to new heights and more and more pressure exerted on government and business to sign the draft Nedlac agreement on a national HIV/Aids prevention and treatment plan and to make sure that it is implemented as fast as possible. Let there be no more unnecessary deaths!</p>