How to Survive a Plague Page #6

thousands of people died from

pneumonia because there was no

priority within the government,

or within the medical system

as a whole, to push the known

preventative treatments

for a long time.

Now those thousands

of people are dead.

It would seem to me that someone

who was within the government

while that took place, as you

were, must have on their

conscience these deaths.

That is a tough one, um...

No, it really is.

It's inexcusable that an

academic priority should ever,

ever come before the health of

the people that you're working

with, there's no

question about that.

But the reality of the situation

is there was a great reluctance

among the community of

everything from the scientists

to the congress saying that what

we should be doing is not

telling investigators what to

do, but we should allow them to

do what they feel is

the most important.

Now that sounds awful when

you're putting it in the context

of what we're talking about here, but

the whole world isn't in this room.

Every 12 minutes someone dies!

Protests won me a Nobel prize!

Every 12 minutes,

someone dies...

AIDS activists stormed the government's

premiere disease research center.

The national institutes of health is

where an AIDS cure might be found.

It is where therapies are being

tested in clinical trials.

No more secret meetings!

No more secret... Demonstrators

blocked access to buildings.

Scientists and administrators reporting

to work stood around looking confused.

Activists charged the bush administration

with foot-dragging on AIDS research.

It's not the amount of federal

money allocated to it so much as

how research priorities

are defined.

We need new drugs to keep

people alive, but the NIH is

only testing old drugs,

drugs that we already have.

Can you tell us

what you're doing?

Hi, I'm Jim Jenson and I'm

in a clinical trial here.

And right now, I'm observing and

participating in the ACT UP demonstration.

Why? Why do you

support this action?

Because we need far

more AIDS research.

And we're just beginning.

What trial are you in?

I'm in interleukin-2 A.Z.T.

Combination study.

Are there any women

in your trial?

No, there aren't

any women at all.

People of color?

Uh, no, there are not.

Why do you think that is?

Just the beginning

of the problem.

Murder, murder!

There are three major things

that control stupidity,

incompetence and greed.

Those are the three major

driving forces behind what's

going on here and why there are

no treatments out there for

people living with this disease.

In that building down that way,

Dr. Anthony Fauci is deciding

the research priorities

for the national

institutes of allergy and

infectious diseases.

We're down here 'cause we think

we should be deciding the

research priorities, because

these are the people who know

what's going on 'cause they're

dealing with it every day.

The whole world is watching!

The whole world is watching!

The whole world is watching!

The whole world is watching...

The whole world is watching!

The whole world is watching!

The whole world is watching!

The whole world is watching...

If anything, the mood after

the n.I.H. Was even bleaker than

the mood before, because we had

no indication that they were

gonna change or respond to our

demands, and we had in fact had

a meeting with them in Bethesda

after the n.I.H. Action that

indicated that there was total

resistance to putting people

from the community on the

research committees, to letting

the ACT UP observers attend

the meetings, and to open up the meetings

so that they weren't secret anymore.

Why should science be

shrouded in secrecy?

It's supposed to be based on

a free exchange of ideas.

And, so, it was very important

to stage in San Francisco

before, again, the global

community of scientists and

people working on AIDS, why we

had been at the n.I.H., why the U.S.

system wasn't working out,

and to reach the people directly

that we had reached symbolically

through the n.I.H. Action.

About a hundred protesters

have already been arrested at

the international AIDS conference

that began today in San Francisco.

Hundreds more are angrily

protesting a government policy

they say neglects research

and ostracizes victims.

Why don't you do an

informational slide first?

"United States has the most discriminatory

immigration policies regarding HIV."

I could say, you know, as a way

to bridge the, uh, the rift

between the scientific community...

all of you...

and the activists, we'd like

you to join in some activism.

...and I've always been

painfully aware that in order

for me to beat this virus and

live, I will need a great

deal of help from all of you.

Can we all, before it's too late,

begin to understand each other?

Will we realize that we

share similar motivations?

During the upcoming days, act

up New York will be handing

out our AIDS treatment agenda,

which includes a list of

99 drugs that we believe could

be ready for small phase-one

studies this year or next.

However, from your side, we're

being constantly told to butt out.

On my side, the level of anger

and frustration is reaching such

a point that attitudes claiming

that all of you are uncaring and in

it for greed are now widespread.

While at times we may offend

you, remember as well that

like you, ACT UP has succeeded

in prolonging the lives of thousands

of people living with HIV disease.

I would like to be joined in front of

the stage by my fellow AIDS activists.

Would you all come up?

At this moment, there are others

just like us who are trying to

get into this conference but are

being barred by the Billy clubs

of San Francisco police.

And there are still others like

us who are trying to get through

customs at the San Francisco

airport, but are being detained

instead because they are gay.

There's a man that could have

prevented these absurdities.

This man has said that he would like

to see a kinder, gentler nation.

If you believe that the

immigration policy barring

people living with HIV disease

from entering this country is

useless as a health policy and

discriminatory as well, please

stand now and remain standing.

Join us in vocalizing

our collective anger.

Join us in a chant against the man who

could bring down the I.N.S. Barriers.

Join us in a chant against the

man who has decided to show his

commitment to fighting AIDS

by refusing to be here today.

Instead, he is at this very

moment in north Carolina,

attending a fundraiser for the

homophobic author of the I.N.S.

Barriers, that pig in the

senate known as Jesse helms...

Join us in this chant:

300,000 dead from AIDS,

where is George?

300,000 dead from AIDS,

where is George?

300,000 dead from AIDS,

where is George?

300,000 dead from AIDS,

where is George?

You can all now consider

yourselves members of ACT UP.

One of the things that

happened in San Francisco was

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