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LGBT Pride, Africa and the AIDS crisis

Published Jun 8, 2005 7:48 PM

June is a whirlwind of Pride activities in the United States as lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people commemorate the beginning of their liberation movement, the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion in New York City. Prominent among the Pride events, from San Francisco to Boston, are the annual AIDS walks. These mark the continuing struggle against the deadly AIDS virus, which was first reported in the United States within gay men’s communities during the 1980s.

Increasingly, these AIDS walks offer the LGBT communities—made up of many nationalities and sexes—another challenge: How to build solidarity in the fight against racism, women’s oppression and imperialism.

In a March 2005 report, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released figures showing that for the first time since the AIDS epidemic began in the United States, more Black and Latino men have contracted AIDS through male-to-male sexual contact than white men. The epidemic is hitting all men of color especially hard.

In 2003 the rate increased 103 percent for African American men and 40 percent for Latinos.

The Kaiser Foundation states unequivocally that AIDS is accelerating most rapidly in the U.S. among women of color. Among all women over age 13 living with AIDS, 67 percent are African American and 16 percent are Latina.

AIDS crisis for African women, children

The U.S. figures reflect an increasing global crisis, with African peoples currently experiencing the most extreme suffering. Twenty-five million people in sub-Saharan Africa have the HIV virus. In 2004 alone, 2.3 million died. (New York Times, May 11)

One-tenth of the world’s people live in Africa. But Africans make up 70 percent of people living with AIDS. The vast majority of those affected are women. (News24.com)

According to Dr. Peter Piot, director of the United Nations AIDS program, the epidemic is still accelerating. He says, “In Swaziland, the country most affected by AIDS in the world, adult prevalence continues to climb; 42.6 percent of pregnant women there tested positive for HIV in 2004.”

An additional tragic effect of the epidemic: AIDS has orphaned 12 million children in Africa. The impact of losing their parents is falling more heavily on African girls than boys. The orphaned girls drop out of school to take care of siblings. They do the work of their mothers, cooking and walking miles for water. And they also need work that brings in money.

Some obtain employment as domestic workers. The economic pressure to seek money for sex is intense. This increases their risk of contracting the AIDS virus.

A new UNICEF study shows that orphaned girls in Zimbabwe are “three times more likely to become infected than girls whose parents are alive.” (New York Times, June 3)

Solidarity with African peoples

And how has the U.S. government responded to this global crisis?

The Democratic Clinton-Gore administration invoked copyright law to fight African nations’ attempt to produce inexpensive generic AIDS drugs that would have saved millions of lives.

The Republican Bush administration boasts of its pledge to combat AIDS. But the $15 billion allocated in its 2003 budget was spread over three years and among 15 countries, while the United States has spent over 10 times that amount on the war on Iraq. (costofwar.com)

This “Global AIDS Bill” also mandated that up to one-third of its funds be spent on “abstinence-only”programs, which research has proved to be ineffective. (SIECUS)

These genocidal U.S. policies flow from centuries of super-exploitation of Africa by Western nations. Bush administration officials are open about their goals, saying any aid to Africa must be part of “increased trade and private flows of capital” into the continent.

From the profits made from the slave trade, to the 19th century carving up of the continent into colonies by Britain, France, Germany and others, Africa has lost incalculable riches in resources, infrastructure and people. Today, says Global Witness Director Simon Taylor, “Western companies and banks have colluded in stripping Africa’s resources.” The June 1 British Guardian notes, “A new ‘scramble for Africa’ is taking place among the world’s big powers, who are tapping into the continent for its oil and diamonds.”

The devastation in Africa; the AIDS epidemic; the ravages of imperialism, racism and women’s oppression—all challenge those celebrating Pride this June in the United States to internationalize the struggle. This includes demanding the right of the African peoples to reparations from the capitalist countries that plundered this continent for centuries.

Simon Nkoli—a gay South African freedom fighter, a leader of the 1976 Soweto uprising—was an AIDS activist for 13 years. Before he died of the disease in 1998, Nkoli said: “Homophobia is part of discrimination. We cannot deal with it in isolation. We are trying to link our struggle with the struggle of the majority of the people against apartheid and racism.”