AIDS Community Call to Action:
HIV WILL NOT DEFEAT US
Washington, DC * Thursday, May 20, 2004
POST PROTEST REPORT
CLICK HERE TO WATCH A 9 MINUTE VIDEO FROM THE PROTEST (see www.sinkers.org for more info and pics)
98 Arrested in Capitol Hill AIDS Protest: Marchers Seek More Funds for Care, Research
By Karlyn Barker, Washington Post Staff Writer
Several hundred protesters marched on Capitol Hill yesterday, and 98 were arrested, during a demonstration that urged the presidential candidates and Congress to do more for people with AIDS.
The marchers, most of whom arrived on chartered buses from out of town, chanted, "Fight AIDS now," and, "Bush is a jerk, condoms work," as they paraded through the streets to Republican and Democratic party headquarters. They then congregated at the foot of the U.S. Capitol for a carefully orchestrated civil disobedience demonstration.
The arrests, on charges of unlawful assembly, came after a crowd of demonstrators lay down in the street where tour buses drop off visitors. A U.S. Capitol Police spokesman said the offense is punishable by a $50 fine.
"We need to get loud," shouted Martin Wiley, a protest organizer from ACT UP Philadelphia. "We need to find a spot of anger for the loss of people to a disease that should have been cured years ago."
Click here for full Washington Post story
Coalition Press Release: AIDS Protest Shakes up Political Headquarters in Washington!!
WASHINGTON (May 20)—More than 1000 marchers chanted “Wake Up, Times Up” in an election-year march through Capitol Hill to call attention to the global and domestic AIDS crises.
Bearing 1000 alarm clocks, the marchers brought their wake-up call to the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic parties. The march ended on the steps of the Capitol, where over 120 protesters lay in the street until being arrested in one of the largest AIDS-related civil disobedience actions in a decade.
“Our elected officials and presidential contenders need to get serious about battling AIDS,” said Terje Anderson, executive director of the National Association of People with AIDS. “I am participating in civil disobedience today to call attention to the enormous inadequacies of our national response to AIDS: every 11 seconds someone in the world dies of this disease.”
Several prominent AIDS advocates and agency leaders participated in the civil disobedience action, including:
Charles King, president of Housing Works;
Terje Anderson, executive director, National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA);
Vanessa Johnson, president, National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA);
Sean Strub, chairman and founder of POZ Magazine;
Jeff Graham, executive director, AIDS Survival Project, Atlanta;
Bill Arnold, CEO, Title II Community Action National Network (TIICANN);
Kim Nichols, co-exective director, African Services Committee;
Jennifer Flynn, executive director of the New York City AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN);
Julie Davids, executive director of the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP);
Jodi Jacobsen, executive director of the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE);
Salih Booker, executive director of Africa Action;
Adam Taylor, executive director of Global Justice;
Walt Senterfitt, policy chairperson, Being Alive, Los Angeles;
Anna Forbes, policy director of the Global Campaign for Microbicides;
Sean Barry, policy director of the Student Global AIDS Campaign;
Anne Donnelly and Ryan Clary of Project Inform of San Francisco; and
the entire staff of the Health GAP Coalition
Participants came to DC for the march from all parts of the nation, including California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, key states in November’s election.
"In this election year President Bush, John Kerry and Congress must do more to address HIV/AIDS-the greatest health and humanitarian crisis in history," said Salih Booker, Executive Director of Africa Action who was arrested with other demonstrators today. "HIV/AIDS will be an election issue this November and any candidate who expects success at the polls must first show their commitment to fighting AIDS at home and at its epicenter in Africa."
Stressing that the 8% of voters in a tight election identify HIV/AIDS as their number-one health concern, the protesters pledge continued activity, demanding that elected officials and candidates alike commit to comprehensive programs to prevent HIV transmission, to bring treatment and support services to people living with HIV, and to redouble efforts for a cure, in the United States and around the world.
PHOTO GALLERY:
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HIV is not just a virus. AIDS is not just a disease. HIV/AIDS is a pandemic – the biggest health crisis in world history, leaving a wake of death, destabilization and still more disease. Even as AIDS remains unchecked in developing nations, we now face an acceleration of the epidemic in vulnerable populations in the United States.
But the greatest horror may be that our leaders know what it would take to stem the tide of the pandemic, and have chosen not to act. Comprehensive programs of prevention, treatment and care have been shown to work, and are needed worldwide. The United States government – both the Executive and Congressional branches – have consciously chosen to ignore what is needed to stop this virus, which has claimed more lives that every war in the history of modern civilization.
Despite widespread consensus on what must be done to stop AIDS, The Bush Administration and the U.S. Congress have failed to provide the funding and leadership necessary to reign in the epidemic and save millions of lives.
We are people whose lives are at risk, people who have lost our loved ones, people who have grown up in a country that has acted as if HIV/AIDS cannot be stopped, and as if our lives and the lives of others around the world are expendable.
We will not allow ourselves to be pitted against each other across region or national borders, HIV status, race, gender or sexual orientation. We are people who know that this is no time for inaction or hesitation – we need immediate and full-scale action to end AIDS in our lifetimes.
We are traveling to Washington DC on May 20, 2004 to unite our voices into a single call, demanding that Congress, the White House, and the presidential candidates commit to concrete actions towards a full-scale, comprehensive effort to stop HIV/AIDS
THE WAR AGAINST AIDS CAN BE WON
New documents confirm that we can confront the crisis, save the lives of people with HIV around the world, and get on track towards shutting down the pandemic. ...MORE...
Click Here to Download PROTEST FLYER as PDF File
Click Here to Download OUR DEMANDS as pdf
DONATIONS NEEDED
We need your individual or organizational contributions for this mobilization. We are asking for donations of $250 - $2500, but any amount is appreciated.
Housing Works will serve as a fiscal conduit for donations, which will be processed by their management services organization. They will accept checks, cash, money orders or credit cards -- but will not accept pledges. Checks and money orders should be made out to Housing Works, Inc., with a note indicating "May 20 Fund" and mailed to 320 W. 13th Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10014 -- please write kink [at] housingworks [dot] org with amount of donation.
For details on credit card payments, email Bridgid Lang at lang [at] housingworks [dot] org
THE WAR AGAINST AIDS CAN BE WON
New documents confirm that we can confront the crisis, save the lives of people with HIV around the world, and get on track towards shutting down the pandemic.
Institute of Medicine provides plan to guarantee care for all people with HIV in the United States, saying that 60,000 currently lack comprehensive treatment
Combining most state and federal HIV programs into a single national organization with streamlined rules and a larger budget, the proposed HIV Comprehensive Care Program would prevent the deaths of 20,000 Americans in the next 10 years
Read "Public Financing and Delivery of HIV/AIDS Care: Securing the Legacy of Ryan White"
Click here to read press coverage of the IOM report"World Health Organization releases report calling for comprehensive HIV/AIDS Strategy:
A comprehensive HIV/AIDS strategy can link prevention, treatment, care and long-term support. At a crucial moment in the pandemic's history, the international community has an unprecedented opportunity to alter its course and simultaneously fortify health systems for the enduring benefit of all.
Read more / download "The world health report 2004 - changing history"
Read press coverage of the WHO report"
KEITH, JOE AND JOE: WE WILL REMEMBER
We march and commit civil disobedience on May 20 in loving memory of three NYC AIDS warriors: Keith Cylar, co-founder of Housing Works, and Joe Capestany and Joe Bostic, co-founders of New York City AIDS Housing Network:
Read about Keith's life and support the Keith Cylar Activist Fund endowment
Listen to the NPR report on Keith's funeral
Learn about the work of NYCAHN and the memorials of Joe Bostic and Joe Capestany 
