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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Dec. 12, 1996
issue of Workers World newspaper
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Editorial: AIDS Day, 1996

There were solemn ceremonies. People marched in candlelight vigils. Long lists of names were read. The observances marked World AIDS Day-Dec. 1. For those who have lost loved ones to the epidemic, it was a way to find some comfort and to rededicate themselves to the fight against AIDS.

But for those who actually have the power to end the disease-the international capitalist class, which controls most of the world's money and resources-it was a day like any other. Workers were exploited. Profits were made. The United States government continued to allocate a pittance to AIDS research and treatment while throwing gobs of money at the Pentagon.

Fifteen years into the epidemic, this part of the story remains the same. As the disease ravages communities and nations, the scientific battle against it, along with education and prevention programs, remains drastically under-funded.

As a result, the epidemic continues. According to a report by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, there has been no decrease in the spread of AIDS. If anything, the number of new cases is rising more rapidly than ever. AIDS has killed some 6.4 million people. One quarter of them died in just the last year.

The devastation is increasingly centered in the poorest countries of the Third World. Ninety percent of all people with AIDS/HIV live in developing countries. Sixty-three percent are in Africa. Within the next three years, the number of HIV-positive people is expected to reach 20 million in India alone. Brazil has been reeling for a decade.

Imperialism robbed the wealth of Africa, Asia and Latin America; the resulting poverty has made the fight against AIDS extremely difficult. In this country, where AIDS continues to devastate the gay, Black and Latino communities, the government's continuing inadequate response is anti-gay and racist.

This is genocide. The world bourgeoisie is guilty.

Now that some promising new treatments have emerged, finally bringing hope, the criminal character of health care under capitalism becomes even clearer. Most people with AIDS can't get a crack at the new protease inhibitors. They don't have the money. Even actor Elizabeth Taylor told the UN Dec. 2 that the "disparity between rich and poor" is the primary obstacle to "a resounding solution to AIDS."

We agree. That's why we'll fight and fight and fight to tear down this murderous system and replace it with one based on equality-socialism. In the meantime, the fight to demand funding for AIDS treatment, education and research must go forward.

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