My testimony

A few days ago, I was interviewed by a BBC reporter about my story. It was on the front page of the BBC's website.

Igor, the other person interviewed, and myself had a conversation about how we contracted HIV and how we're coping with it today.

Listen to it here.

EU seizes medicines! We seize EU!

Do you know that the European Commission seized generic HIV medicines on their way from India to Africa, leaving thousands without their medicines?

Do you know that the EU is aggressively pursuing a Free Trade Agreement with India that will prevent generic ARVs from being produced and exported from India - the main source of HIV medicines for the developing world?

Do you know that the EU is in secret negotiations with the US and other countries on an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) that includes higher intellectual property protection and threatens import and export of generic HIV medicines?

We know! And we took over their booth to protest them.

This is the switch to keep the light on HIV AND HUMAN RIGHTS from the march last night that Annie Lennox threw. Here it is hanging out in our booth. I am on my way now to the official UNAIDS media booth because they want my photos from last nights event. I have posted them on my blog if you want to see them which is so much cooler than visiting the UNAIDS page, but either way look for them shortly. My blog is www.luckymichaels.blogspot.com

Photos from Day Three

Day three - taking on Goosby (US AIDS Ambassador) in two ways! We joined a sex worker rights march that confronted him directly in a press conference, and we went to a panel he spoke at where we held up signs, and asked him if the US planned to support increased treatment access, and starting people on treatment earlier, which helps keep people healthy.

Here are some photos:

Setting the tone

Today started off with a speech from former President Bill Clinton, who said that, essentially, activists need to give Obama a pass on funding, because of the economic crisis. As Stephen Lewis, the former UN AIDS Ambassador, said, we're looking for $2.5 billion more, not hundreds of billions of dollars. They've found hundreds of billions for other important (and not-so-important) needs. Keeping the promise to fully fund global AIDS would save literally millions of lives, and would barely put a dent in the federal budget. Clinton also said that we, as activists, should focus our energy on Congress instead, because, and I'm paraphrasing slightly, Obama would never veto a bill with sufficient funding for global AIDS.  Again, paraphrasing Stephen Lewis - this is a two-way street. Congress wouldn't reject a budget proposal from the Administration that included sufficient funding. But Congress is unable to increase funding much beyond what the President proposes. So it's on the Administration, not Congress, to push for the critical funding increases that are needed.

At first, I was frustrated by Clinton's remarks. But, the more I thought about it, and the more I talked with other activists about it, the more I realized that Clinton was responding (at the request of the Obama Administration?) to activist demands the day before, at our massive action. We have set the tone of the conference. This is the conference about ensuring that world leaders, including Obama, do not retreat from promises to fund AIDS. The Obama Administration heard us. We've put them on the defensive.

On top of this, press coverage of the conference mentions funding for global AIDS as one of the key themes of the action. The International AIDS Society put out a press release calling for full funding of global AIDS. And our activist meetings are growing, as we bring more and more people into the fight to ensure that universal access to AIDS treatment, prevention and care is achieved.

Four more days to make sure this message stays front and center in this conference.

Photos from Day Two

Activists challenged Bill Gates to support a "Robin Hood Tax" and we held a press conference detailing the effects of Obama's broken AIDS promises.

Act-Up Paris Asked us to post this so i am!

2010, l’année des promesses brisées ?
Des activistes interrompent le discours de l’ambassadeur sida français pour l’interpeller sur les promesses non tenues par la France
publié en ligne : 18 juillet 2010


Vienne, dimanche 18 juillet - Aujourd’hui, des militantEs d’associations de lutte contre le sida, dont Act Up-Paris, ont interpellé l’ambassadeur sida français Patrice Debré, en poste depuis quatorze mois. Ils ont interrompu son discours lors d’une session de la pré-conférence qui réunissait plusieurs ambassadeurs sida.

Flash - 1 ko
le zap en vidéo
(cliquer sur l’image pour visionner la vidéo)

Depuis mai 2009, 2,500 000 personnes sont mortes du sida dans le monde car elles n’ont pas pu recevoir de traitements. Nous demandons à l’ambassadeur sida : comment sera-t-il possible de mettre de nouvelles personnes sous traitements sans argent supplémentaire et en luttant contre des moyens efficaces de faire baisser le coût des médicaments ?

Des activistes américains se sont également joints à la manifestation, demandant à Eric Goosby, ambassadeur américain, de se battre pour que la promesse des Etats-Unis de financer la lutte contre le sida à hauteur de USD 46 milliards sur 5 ans, soit tenue. Les activistes ont également remis une lettre ouverte, signée par plus de 200 associations, appelant les dirigeants à travers le monde à financer à hauteur des besoins la lutte contre le sida.

2010 devait être l’année de l’accès universel aux traitements anti-sida, tuberculose et paludisme. 2010 sera l’année des promesses non tenues de la part des leaders des pays du G8. 2010 est l’année de la reconstitution des financements du Fonds Mondial pour les trois prochaines années. A ce jour, la France n’a pas montré de signes indiquant qu’elle allait augmenter significativement sa contribution au Fonds Mondial de lutte contre le sida, la tuberculose et le paludisme. Pourtant, sans une augmentation d’au moins 30% de sa contribution annuelle au Fonds (de 100 millions par an), il ne sera possible ni d’appliquer les nouvelles recommandations de l’OMS, ni de permettre le passage sous secondes et troisièmes lignes de traitements pour toutes les personnes qui en ont besoin. Les Etats-Unis n’ont quant à eux pas augmenté leur participation au niveau autorisé par le Congrès. Cela entraine des listes d’attente dans au moins quatre pays fortement touchés par la pandémie.

2010 est l’année de la guerre aux génériques : 2010 est l’année d’ACTA (accords anti contrefaçon) et des accords de libres échanges entre l’Inde et l’Union Européenne, accords qui, s’ils sont signés vont entraver ramatiquement la production et la circulation de médicaments génériques à bas prix.

http://www.actupparis.org