Posted on 11/25/2003 11:49:30 PM PST by Stultis
In Washington, Hundreds Protest Bush AIDS Policy
Joe De Capua
Washington
25 Nov 2003, 12:47 UTC
A week before World AIDS Day, about 800 people from about a dozen organizations gathered in Washington, DC, to protest the Bush administration’s AIDS policies. The demonstrators called for greater spending as well as expanded treatment and prevention programs.
"People with Aids are under attack, what do we do? Act up, fight back."
The woman leading the chant is Asia Russell of the groups ACT-UP and the Health Gap Coalition. She says President Bush failed to follow through on his promise when he announced his AIDS initiative for Africa and the Caribbean.
"No one denies that the great speech Bush gave last year was just that, a great speech. And it was a revelation after two decades of this plague that treatment needs to be at the heart of any intervention that’s going to actually make a difference in fighting this pandemic. But one good speech and a promise finally to commit enough money is actually not sufficient."
The Bush plan called for spending 15-billion dollars over five years, in effect tripling US spending on HIV/AIDS. But in the first year, the administration requested two billion instead of three. Congress later added on an additional 400-million dollars for a total of two point four billion. But Ms. Russell says anything short of full funding will cost lives.
"What we’re demanding of this administration is to fully fund the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria – and to permit life extending services and programs for people at highest risk of HIV infection right here in the United States. To be able to move forward free from the censorship that conservatives, who are quite close to the Bush administration, are right now tramping down."
The AIDS activist says, “The bottom line is people with AIDS recognize when politicians, whom they elect, make promises that they break.” She says some of the same protesters spoke out against the Clinton administration, as well.
"Medication for every nation...Medication for every nation," chanted protesters.
The Bush administration says it spends more on the fight against HIV/AIDS than any other country – and contributes heavily to the Global Fund. In fact, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson is chairman of the Fund’s board. And Mr. Thompson leaves soon for a tour of Africa.
I haven't got the full details sorted out, but I don't think this is correct. My understanding is that the Bush admin proposed very close to $3 billion ($2.9 billion?), of which $900 million was for the "global aids fund". (I presume the remaining $2 billion was to be expended more directly by U.S. agencies.) Congress reduced the $900 million to $400 million. Add to this that it is the Democrats in the Senate who are holding up all of the $2.4 billion for african/carribean aids relief by obstructing the fiscal 2004 omnibus spending bill. So why are the leftist marching on the whitehouse instead of congress, and protesting the President who proposed this massive and historic increase in global aids relief, lobbied congress for it last spring, and devoted a portion of his time in London to bringing the Brits on board in an HIV/AIDS alliance for Africa?
I think we all know the reason why. This is NOT about AIDS. It's about hating Bush. No American President has done more than Bush on global aids relief, but the response from "AIDS activists" is blame and vituperation. In this they bastardize their issue, and therefore undermine their advocacy. Hating Bush is literally more important to them -- overwhelmingly more important -- than helping those who suffer.
AIDS Marchers Decry 'Broken Promises and Betrayals'
http://www.oneworld.net/article/view/73537/1/
Africa Action today joined allied organizations and activists for a major mobilization in Washington, D.C., to condemn the Bush Administration's inaction on the HIV/AIDS crisis, domestically and globally. Protestors from around the country, many of them people living with HIV/AIDS, marched on the White House to denounce the Administration's policies on HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care.
Africa Action's Executive Director, Salih Booker, told the crowd: "We are here at the White House to protest the broken promises and betrayals of the Bush Administration. The President promised action against HIV/AIDS in Africa and here in the U.S., but he lied. His Administration is blocking greater funding for HIV/AIDS, and its restrictive policies on prevention and treatment are undermining an effective response to this crisis."
Booker continued, "AIDS is the greatest threat to human security in the world today. It is devastating the African continent, and it is on the increase here in the U.S., especially in communities of color. But President Bush prefers to ignore those most affected by this crisis, spending $4 billion a month in Iraq while rejecting the $3 billion a year he promised for HIV/AIDS in Africa."
Today's mobilization was co-sponsored by ACT Up Philadelphia, ACT UP New York, Africa Action, Housing Works, Student Global AIDS Campaign, African Services Committee, Health GAP and others.
Today, Africa Action also re-released a set of talking points on the AIDS policies of the Bush Administration, entitled "Broken Promises and Betrayals." The talking points include quotes from the President promising leadership in the war on AIDS, and the facts about the reality of his Administration's policies. They are available at: http://www.africaaction.org/action/brokenprom0309.htm
On December 1, World AIDS Day, Africa Action will join with local activists in five cities and on more than 20 college campuses across the U.S. in a range of activities to keep the pressure on President Bush to fulfill the $15 billion promise he made to Africa in his State of the Union address in January 2003.
These activities will include:
Students on more than a dozen campuses across the country will take part in a Day of Silence, organized in partnership with Africa Action.
Students on more than 20 campuses will take part in World AIDS Day activities and will collect thousands of Africa Action postcards, demanding that President Bush keep his promise to fight AIDS in Africa.
Local activists in the Bay Area will stage a protest at the Federal Building, calling for action to fight AIDS.
Activists in Houston will hold a press conference to announce support from civic leaders and local groups for an Africa's Right to Health Resolution.
Events in Boston, Detroit and Washington, DC will draw attention to the links between the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa, and the HIV/AIDS crisis in the U.S., which is disproportionately concentrated in communities of color.
Africa Action's work with activists across the U.S. on World AIDS Day is part of the Africa's Right to Health campaign, which seeks to end the injustices that have given rise to the HIV/AIDS crisis. As part of this campaign, Africa Action's MOST WANTED strategy targets President Bush as the single greatest obstacle to increased AIDS funding and improved access to anti-AIDS treatments.
Absolutely. The gubmint should supply free meters that ring up dollar amounts of AIDS money they deserve every time they do the nasty with one another.
I see. So if the President had initially named $30 billion, then giving only $29 billion would cost lives, right? If the initial figure were $300 billion, then paying only $299 billion would make him a murderer, wouldn't it?
Reminds me of Rudyard Kipling's poem Dane-Geld:
| IT IS always a temptation to an armed and agile nation, To call upon a neighbour and to say:— “We invaded you last night—we are quite prepared to fight, Unless you pay us cash to go away.” And that is called asking for Dane-geld, It is always a temptation to a rich and lazy nation, And that is called paying the Dane-geld; It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation, “We never pay any one Dane-geld, |
Say what you want, but personally I don't want not one cent of my tax money going to Africa.
If the government wants to be charitable with the tax money they collect then why not spend it on the people who actually pay it?
Charity begins at home.
Are you insinuating that we steal these natural resources from the Africans?
"AIDS has more dollars-per-victim funding than any other major disease. Your disease is largely behavior-driven and preventable. You are getting more now than you have ever gotten, and you are still bitching about it. Y'know, I'll bet the diabetes foundation and cancer society would be grateful to get these funds. So since you aren't happy with what you are getting, I'm going to give the funds to medical causes that will appreciate it. F*** you".
(Of course this is cleaned up considerably from what I would REALLY say!)
This fails to properly apply Million Man Math.
A week before World AIDS Day, about 800,000,000 people from about three quarters of a million organizations...
There, that's better.
Well, it's called the HIV/AIDS initiative, but actually also covers TB and Malaria (IIRC). IOW it's targeting the diseases that are having the major impact on human productivity in Africa and the Caribbean.
And when the peoples with AIDS attack us by spreading their disease, killing tens of thousands, we should attack back. Murder charges for all who know that they have AIDS and spread it. Attempted murder for those who don't spread it but perform acts that could easily spread it. Spreading AIDS is murder. Those are some VERY evil people promoting lifestyles that kill others.
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