[Ip-health] WashPost: S. Africa Protesters Decry AIDS Response

[Kate Krauss]

S. Africa Protesters Decry AIDS Response
Embassy Rally Is Part of Global Effort

 By Manny Fernandez
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 25, 2003; Page B07


Salih Booker's opposition to apartheid took him to the doorstep of the Sout=
h
African Embassy in Washington at least a dozen times through the 1980s, as
thousands gathered for almost-daily rallies that led to hundreds of arrests
and helped fuel the urgency of the anti-apartheid movement.

Yesterday, Booker was back. Back to the same smooth stretch of sidewalk on
Massachusetts Avenue NW, back at the understated embassy, back to raise his
voice in protest, this time against South Africa's handing of its AIDS
crisis.

Booker marched with about 200 others, and they dumped 600 pairs of shoes
onto the concrete at the side of the embassy to symbolize the daily death
toll from AIDS in South Africa. The marchers, many of them HIV-positive,
tumbled the donated shoes -- white-trimmed sneakers, tan wing-tips, leather
sandals -- out of cardboard boxes and two blue tarps that activists had
carried like coffins into a pile about two feet high.

"Then, we were fighting apartheid in one country," said Booker, 45,
recalling his earlier protests at the embassy. "Now," said the executive
director of Africa Action, an advocacy group for Africa in the United
States, "we are fighting global apartheid."

The demonstration was organized by Africa Action, the Health GAP Coalition
and ACT UP groups in New York and Philadelphia, among others. It coincided,
activists said, with similar protests around the world. The global day of
protest was initiated by Treatment Action Campaign, a South African AIDS
activist group.

Kwame Asante, 44, a member of ACT UP Philadelphia, said some of the same
passion that led to the rise of the anti-apartheid movement was evident
yesterday. Near the end of a peaceful rally at the embassy, one that ended
not in arrests but in a meeting with South African officials, protesters
listened to old anti-apartheid songs, the lyrics updated to address the
problem of access to AIDS medicines. "I believe it's just as much of a
struggle," said Asante, who said his HIV was diagnosed in 1981.

The protesters, including several African immigrants, said the South Africa=
n
government has failed to respond aggressively to the crisis, leaving
millions without access to treatment. The country has more people infected
with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, than any other. Activists said the
number of those infected is roughly 4.6 million. Activists said about
200,000 HIV-positive South Africans died last year.

"We stand before you with a simple message: Act now to put an end to the
needless suffering and death," Asia Russell, 26, told the crowd to applause
as she stood next to the pile of shoes. Protesters were prevented from
getting close to the embassy by a line of uniformed Secret Service officers=
.

About 2:30 p.m., Russell, of Philadelphia, the director of international
policy at Health GAP, read a memorandum that activists planned to give to a
representative of the embassy. Acting South African Ambassador Thandabantu
Nhlapo came outside to accept it and read a brief statement to the
protesters. He thanked those gathered for their advocacy. "As we all know,
South Africa's commitment to fighting this disease is well recorded and wel=
l
reflected in the national programs and resources we have committed," said
Nhlapo, whose brief remarks were greeted with applause.

Nhlapo said the government's budget allocation for HIV/AIDS and other
infectious diseases has increased tenfold since 2001. Materials handed out
by embassy officials said that the government distributed 350 million free
condoms last year and that South Africa has a comprehensive five-year
strategy that addresses prevention, treatment and care. Activists said that
the treatment strategy is far from adequate and that the government has not
taken advantage of all the legal and financial mechanisms available to
address the epidemic.

After the rally, a few activists -- including Booker -- were invited inside
the embassy for a meeting. "It was a positive meeting," Booker said. "It
does represent progress."

See the link below for a photo:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35426-2003Apr24.html
Activist Ibibia Altraide lies atop 600 pairs of shoes symbolizing the
country's daily AIDS death toll that were dumped at the embassy. (Frank
Johnston -- The Washington Post)


=A9 2003 The Washington Post Company