BitterSweet 16

As we all know, the world comes together every two years to discuss how to bring an end to AIDS. How can we, as world citizens fighting the AIDS pandemic, make it our individual and combined mission to work toward an end to AIDS over the next two years?” That was the question A&U posed to activists, artists, and researchers as many in the AIDS community look toward the sixteenth biennial International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada, this August. In the face of an estimated 11,000 deaths from AIDS a day, it’s a question that needs to be asked much more frequently than every two years. And indeed the members of our impromptu forum, who all had thoughtful answers at the ready, know that the time to ask, the time to answer, the time to deliver is now.

Terri Ford
Director, Global Advocacy, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF)
Toronto 2006 is a crossroads for us all—if we do not make this conference a catalyst for ACTION, there
is no point to meeting again in Mexico City or any other city in 2008. How do we start?
• Commit to universal access to treatment as a human right
• Commit to the inclusion of NGOs in direct funding mechanisms
• Commit to transparency and accountability
• Commit to working together and putting aside past conflicts
At Toronto 2006 again the theme is AIDS Treatment Now—it is TIME TO DELIVER. It is long overdue. We must unite and also think “outside of the box” in order to make it happen.

Joe Amon
Director, HIV/AIDS Program, Human Rights Watch
We know what works to fight AIDS and we must demand that our leaders adopt policies which are evidence-based and respectful of human rights. For example, the United States government refuses to support needle-exchange programs. These are programs that have been endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, even the American Academy of Pediatrics, and are proven to be effective. There is no excuse for not expanding them if we are serious about defeating AIDS. As global citizens, together we can call for the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, and other organizations to speak out forcefully when AIDS activists are detained or abused, or when people living with HIV are targeted and victimized. We must make sure that governments around the globe protect the rights of those infected and those most vulnerable to infection.

Janet Feldman
Director, KAIPPG, ActALIVE
I approach this question as an activist, artist, and director of two HIV/AIDS-related nonprofits, one the international branch of a Kenyan HIV/AIDS organization, KAIPPG, and the other an international arts coalition called ActALIVE, whose members use the arts and media to address HIV/AIDS and development issues. As an individual, I think it’s important to educate oneself, to keep updated on HIV/AIDS-related issues and challenges, both locally and globally. This is one form of activism, and there are many others: writing letters to news media and politicians, talking with friends (and complete strangers!) about what we learn, engaging in creative projects, linking with others in collective activities on a range of issues, from lack of treatment access to more funding for programs, working with people affected by or living with HIV/AIDS, volunteering with a local nonprofit (or starting one!), reaching out to support efforts halfway around the world, becoming a member of a discussion group, marching. As collective entities—whether that be organizations, networks, coalitions, dynamic duos, or in whatever form—we can also do so much to address and reverse this pandemic. ActALIVE is a good example: Composed of 300-plus members in thirty-five countries (all of whom are activists in their own right), this coalition has engaged in projects such as the coproduction of an edutainment music CD in Sierra Leone, an African Youth HIV/AIDS Best Practices Handbook—with ninety-five creative projects from twenty-five countries—and a mural project called Peace Tiles [Gallery, February 2006], which involved 1,000 or more youth across twelve countries in tile-making workshops and/or mural displays on HIV/AIDS themes, for World AIDS Day 2005. As artists, activists, and world citizens, we have a powerful role to play in bringing an end to HIV/AIDS. Art—and creativity in all forms—is already saving lives, instilling hope, and offering new solutions to a disease which has sometimes been seen as unstoppable. ActALIVE is an acronym, standing for “Arts for Creative Transformation: Activism, Lifeline, Inspiration, Vision, Education,” which reflects the multifaceted role that the arts—and the creative spirit within each of us—can play in stopping this pandemic for good.
 

Jan Jordaan
Director,
Art for Humanity
As Bertolt Brecht said, “Art is not a mirror to hold up to society, but a hammer with which to shape it.” I suppose it all depends how one views art but it is striking that in sub-Saharan Africa, where there are very few art schools of note, there are also very few art museums.
Art practice as it is understood both in the east and west, created with the intention to inspire all, the other, does not really have its counterpart in sub-Saharan Africa. In terms of cultural development this is very significant, particularly if one accepts that ultimately all our actions are governed by our cultures. One should also note that art is generally employed by the donor community in Africa as a means of therapy and celebration, very seldom as a tool for development. This situation persists in spite of, as observed throughout the history of humanity at large, the central position that art has played in social and cultural development.
As a result I will maintain that not until there is a major intervention in the development of public art-based programs with the focus on health, in the cases of TB, HIV/AIDS, etc., and many other endemic problems associated with Africa, future generations in Africa will remain marginalized and health, poverty, education, gender issues, etc., will remain endemic to the subcontinent.

Dr. José M. Zuniga
President/CEO,
International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (IAPAC)
In some countries, twenty-five years regrettably represents a lifetime. And so it seems with the twenty-five-year-old battle against AIDS. We have individually and collectively achieved much, yet often it seems there remains so much more to accomplish that our achievements are quickly overshadowed. Rather than succumb to fatigue or rejoice in what we have accomplished, we must redouble our efforts to ensure that all this effort—these donations of money, time, talent, and enthusiasm; the momentum generated by political and societal commitment to the fight against HIV/AIDS; the sacrifices made by so many, but most especially by people living with HIV/AIDS—are not wasted. Every bit of value must be extracted to combat
a disease that has had its way for far too long.

Christian Heppinstall
Stage Director,
The Inner Circle
As a stage director working in Alaska, I have seen the power of drama and theater to move teenagers and adults toward both a broader comprehension of HIV/AIDS and a commitment to safer behavior. Ultimately, compassion springs forth from
greater knowledge brought about by art.

Dr. Robert Gallo
Director,
Institute of Human Virology and Division of Basic
Science,
University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute
By getting rid of the “feel good” platitudes and recognizing that, like all the key advances in HIV/AIDS, this disease’s end will come from basic science. In this case, it will be a successful preventive vaccine.

Zackie Achmat
Chair,
Treatment Action Campaign
In our country, government death certificate data tell us that the majority of adults who die now live only till they are thirty to thirty-four years-old. This individual, family, community and social tragedy undermines the freedom, life, and dignity of all people in South Africa. HIV/AIDS demands personal responsibility as well as social commitment. Every global citizen has a duty to ensure that they take the necessary personal and political steps to prevent further HIV transmission. But stopping HIV transmission must be a part of the effort to make effective antiretroviral treatment accessible for all who need it. The demand for effective political leadership to address gender inequality and violence, economic inequalities and social marginalization of gay men, children, sex workers, drug users, migrants, prisoners, and refugees. Everywhere we must hold political leaders accountable and make certain that members of civil society and the business community are also doing their part in efforts to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS. Working together with clear accountability is non-negotiable.

Charles King
President/CEO,
Housing Works, Inc.
To end the AIDS pandemic we need to collectively demand that our political, religious, and civic leaders take seriously their responsibility to do what needs to be done. We have the tools to end AIDS. It’s not rocket science. It’s common sense. We need to provide everyone across the globe who is infected with access to HIV treatment, care and services, including housing for those who are homeless. We need to provide universal access to prevention programs that are guided by science rather than ideology, including clean needles and condoms. We need to invest seriously into research, not just for a vaccine or a cure, but also into prevention technology such as vaginal and anal microbicides that would eliminate the need for condoms. Finally, we would bring an end to stigma and discrimination that drives the virus underground. Our failure to end the AIDS pandemic is not due to a lack of resources. Rather, it is a lack of political will, based on the fact that HIV is a disease of marginalized people, people of color, and people who are very poor. Five years ago, the government of the United States was a signatory to a United Nations declaration in which we pledged to develop and implement a plan to address AIDS in our own country. This year, our government signed another United Nations document promising to work for universal access to prevention programs, treatment, services, and care by 2010. We need to hold our leaders and the other leaders of
the world accountable to keep their promises.

Larry Gurney
Director/founder, MADaboutART
Each year we do come together and each year we all go away again; some learn much, others have a lovely holiday. Having been to so many over the years my resolution remains firm without attending them anymore….The solution I have seen lies in creating a passionate creative response to HIV. If we allow our humanness, our striving to problem-solve, to be lost, then It will have won. Our answer to the question is to fully empower the youth through involvement in establishing a people’s movement that feeds also into giving them something…not telling them or teaching them, but involving them. Draw it, paint it, understand the emotions the feeling and love and the loss, sculpt it or write about it, but whatever you do make it something that shares emotion and feeling and mutual respect and understanding. If you judge you will have lost.
Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I may remember. Involve me and I learn.

U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee
Democrat—Oakland, California
All of us have the ability and responsibility to talk openly and honestly about HIV with our friends, and our partners and within our communities to break the silence around HIV/AIDS. We can also lobby our local, state and federal governments and demand that they provide the necessary funding and implement the right policies to prevent the spread of this disease and ensure universal access to care and treatment services.

August 2006