AIDS rally April 10 in D.C.
By Elijah Crane
On April 10, HIV/AIDS activists will gather in Washington
for a national rally to demand that the Bush administration
increase its contribution to the Global AIDS Fund and drop the
debt of Third World countries.
The call to action, issued by Health GAP, ACT UP
Philadelphia, ACT UP New York, Artists for a New South Africa,
and Jubilee USA, states, "We will demand that the United States
contribute the modest resources--$750 million emergency
supplemental-- needed to fight the escalating global AIDS
epidemic."
The groups are also seeking access to medications and
treatment for all those living with HIV/AIDS.
The statement continues, "As we planned this event, we
considered periodically ringing a bell to mark each death from
AIDS during the time of our rally. Then we did the math. Some
8,000 people die from AIDS each day. One death every 11
seconds.
"That is not a periodic ringing. It is a metronome of
overwhelming and absolutely unnecessary suffering and loss from
a treatable illness."
There are currently 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS
in the world. The largest concentration of those infected, 28
million, is in sub-Saharan Africa.
"Since 1996 when life-extending antiretroviral therapy first
became available for those who could afford it in wealthy
countries," the statement explains, "not one person in the
developing world has received such drugs as a result of
financial assistance from the U.S. or other wealthy
governments.
"Not one person. Not one person of the 2.3 million Africans
who died in 2001 due to AIDS."
At the same time that George Bush requested a $48-billion
increase in the Pentagon budget to deal out death and
destruction, he cut the U.S. contribution to this life-saving
fund to a meager $200 million. The financial goal for the fund
is to receive $7 billion per year from the richest
countries.
Budget cuts at home continue to detrimentally impact
HIV/AIDS service organizations. And as housing, health care and
welfare continue to be wiped away, those infected with HIV are
some of the hardest hit.
Organizations from around the world have endorsed this call
to action. Free buses will be leaving from New York City and
Philadelphia to bring out the most oppressed in the struggle
against AIDS, along with their supporters.
Actor Danny Glover is scheduled to be at the 12:30 p.m.
rally on the west steps of the Capitol. Immediately following
the protest, hundreds of AIDS activists and other experts will
converge on U.S. congressional offices to demand action.
The national demonstration will conclude with a dinner for
participants in the day's activities.
For more information, see www.healthgap.org.
The struggle for AIDS funding will continue. On April 20, at
the National March on Washington Against War and Racism, an
HIV/AIDS contingent will mobilize to demand money for AIDS
care, not for war.
Reprinted from the April 11, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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