The AIDS pandemic
Two parties, one record of shame
By Imani Henry
According to the activist group AIDS Coalition to Unleash
Power, 43 million people in the world are living with HIV/
AIDS. As of 2003, women represented 30 percent of the newly
infected; 19.2 million women worldwide now live with HIV/
AIDS.
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control report
between 850,000 and 950,000 people living with HIV. Since 2002,
40,000 per year have become infected. While the CDC has yet to
include transgender people in its AIDS reporting, of the newly
infected, 70 percent are men and 30 percent are women. Sixty
percent of the new cases were men who contracted the virus
through sex with male partners.
Although African Americans and Latin@s represent only 12
percent and 14 percent of the U.S. population, respectively,
they accounted for 50 percent and 20 percent of the newly
infected in 2002. Half of all newly infected people globally
are under the age of 25. (U.S. Dept. of Health and Human
Services)
AIDS is a preventable disease. Yet it is the greatest health
crisis the world has ever known.
It is a disease in which racist, sexist and anti-gay
governmental policies add insult to injury. Over 2 million
people have died but there is still no cure. All this has
united an international movement to demand the billions of
dollars needed to sustain life and combat this global
pandemic.
The United States, the richest country in the world, could
fund a global AIDS program at the cost of $10 billion a year.
Instead, the Bush administration will have spent 12 times that
amount on the war in Iraq by September 2004.
(costofwar.com)
Dems & Reps track record on AIDS
On Aug. 18, President George W. Bush announced that he would
"set aside $120 million for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria." (Reuters, Aug. 19) Whether or not
the money will actually make it to the fund is another
story.
The continent of Africa is home to only 10 percent of the
world's population yet Africans make up 70 percent of the
people living with AIDS. (News 24. com) Asia has the
fastest-growing HIV rate, with 1.1 million new infections in
2003 alone.
The Bush administration has yet to make good on its 2003
promise to provide $15 billion to fight global AIDS over five
years. So far, only $3 billion has been authorized in the 2004
U.S. budget. Not to be outdone, the Kerry/Edwards ticket has
pledged that, if elected, they would contribute $30 billion to
fight global AIDS. (AIDSVote.org)
Both the Clinton and Bush administrations paid lip service
to the AIDS movement on the campaign trail, but their actual
records speak volumes.
Act-UP created a "Crimes against Human ity" fact sheet on
President Bill Clinton. During his first presidential campaign,
Bill Clinton made a promise to set up an extensively funded
research project to find a cure for AIDS. Once in office, he
completely abandoned this idea.
In 1993, Clinton signed into law the HIV Immigration Ban and
Travel Restrictions. The law not only authorized deportations
but enforced "a 10-day limit on U.S. travel for HIV+ foreign
nationals," forcing the AIDS movement to hold international
conferences outside the United States.
In 1994, in a racist, sexist maneuver, Clinton fired Surgeon
General Joycelyn Elders, an outspoken proponent of the use of
condoms and their distribution in the public schools. By his
second term, Clinton's policies had helped usher in a new wave
of AIDS activism. Not only did he refuse to lift the ban on
needle exchanges, but he gave only $100 million toward funding
for Africa's AIDS orphans.
But it was Clinton's signing of the Welfare Reform Act in
August 1996 that drastically affected the lives of all poor and
working people, especially people living with AIDS.
George W. Bush, unlike Clinton, has not hidden his real
agenda. In 2000, when asked by activists about his position on
AIDS, Bush said: "I do not favor needle-exchange programs and
other so-called 'harm reduction' strategies to combat drug use.
I support a comprehensive mix of prevention, education,
treatment, law enforcement and supply interdiction to curb drug
use and promote a healthy, drug-free America, not misguided
efforts to weaken drug laws."
In July 2003 ACT-UP documented 19 reactionary policies,
including creation of the Advancing HIV Prevention initiative,
a CDC program used to identify and track people living with HIV
to "prevent" them from further transmitting the virus. Bush
continues to champion "abstinence-only" sex education,
allocating $50 million for programming annually.
During the 2000 presidential elections, AIDS activists
hounded both Gore and Bush at campaign stops. This "hounding"
of the candidates helped keep the issue of generic drug patents
to fight global AIDS in the national news.
This election year, again, AIDS activists are not letting
the Democrats or Republicans off the hook. In New York City
during the Republican National Convention, the Still We Rise
March, led primarily by people of color, people living with
AIDS and lesbian, gay, bi and trans activists, may be the
largest AIDS-related demonstration in the United States in the
last decade.
The Still We Rise coalition was built on a platform of
solidarity around HIV/ AIDS, homelessness, health care,
immigration, housing, civil rights, criminal justice, and
welfare. Over 35 organizations were brought together through
the longtime leadership of progressive groups such as New York
AIDS Housing Network, ACT-UP New York, Picture the Homeless,
Housing Works Inc., and Families United for Racial &
Economic Equality.
On Aug. 30 the Still We Rise march past Madison Square
Garden will bring thousands into the streets in solidarity with
people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. Still We Rise promises
in its news release, "As the world spotlight turns to New York
for the Republican National Convention, we will ensure that
issues affecting low-income communities are also projected onto
the world stage." (www.stillwerise.org)
Reprinted from the Sept. 2, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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