• Home Page
• World
• U.S.
• Weather
• Business
• Sports
• Analysis
• Politics
• Law
• Technology
• Science & Space
• Health
• Entertainment
• Offbeat
• Travel
• Education
• Special Reports
• Video
• Autos
• I-Reports

• E-mails
• RSS
• Podcasts
• Mobile
• CNN Pipeline

AIDS protesters: Fewer voices, still heard

Activists' tactics continue to evolve

By A. Chris Gajilan
CNN

From left: Activists Judth Dillard, Walt Senterfitt and Kim Sue at the 16th International AIDS Conference.

HEALTH LIBRARY

• AIDS & HIV

YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS

AIDS (Disease)

Bill Gates

or Create Your Own

Manage Alerts | What Is This?

TORONTO, Canada -- "Act Up! Fight Back! Fight AIDS!

"Condom, needles, and the rest -- we need more than just a test!"

"Save people's lives!"

"Life before profit!"

From the sex workers' demonstration to the women's march to sporadic chants on the escalators, protesters made their presence felt at the 26th International AIDS Conference in Toronto.

In fact, a discussion between former President Bill Clinton and Bill Gates was disrupted by a group holding up a cluster of pillowcases spraypainted with the words, "Fight AIDS. Fund Healthworkers Now" and chanting an indecipherable rhyme about needing more doctors and nurses. Clinton and Gates displayed good humor. The former president grinned and said, "I actually agree with that. We do need more nurses." The protest lasted about 15 minutes, then the conference headliners started their discussion.

Despite some well-timed events, however, the overall sense was that there were fewer protests this year.

"In none of the demonstrations are we actually expecting a major change," said Walt Senterfitt, board chair of Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP). "It's mostly a reminder, a tap on the shoulder that activists are still here." A reminder of a time when advocates such as ACT UP founder Larry Kramer protested at the conference and government buildings, calling top U.S. health officials "murderers" and burning effigies of then-President Ronald Reagan and National Institutes of Health Director Anthony Fauci.

In the late 1980s, Dr. Fauci invited a few protester representatives to his office, some would say under extreme preasure. That meeting led to the development of the parallel-track system. It allowed AIDS patients who had exhausted all other limited treatments unprecedented access to experimental medications not yet FDA approved. It was a precursor to today's FDA fast-track system.

Fauci has said, "If you got beyond the theatrics and listened to what they were saying, a lot of it made sense."

Today things are different. "In the '80's, all you had was your anger. Reagan wouldn't even say the word....now we're grappling to find different targets and use new strategies in activism," said Senterfitt. "Now, we have agencies created by our demand in the first place." In fact, CHAMP, Senterfitt's own agency, is an example.

Senterfitt, 62, has been an activist all his life. As a 15-year-old he started with civil rights protests in the South. In the 1960s he was an avid participant in anti-war demonstrations. In the '70's he played a large part in the gay liberation movement. For the past 15 years, he has been HIV positive and an AIDS activist.

The conference is a magnet as much for such advocates as it is for scientists. "I didn't come for the research, but I came for the networking and the grass-roots advocacy, said Judith Dillard, 52, who has been HIV positive for 16 years. The Toronto conference was her first International AIDS Conference.

Senterfitt and other activists says the smaller numbers of protesters don't mean that fewer activists are fighting AIDS. The line between activism and protest, they said, is now blurred.

Kim Sue, a 21-year-old recent Columbia University graduate, acknowledged that many of her activist predecessors felt they were fighting for their lives in the early days of the epidemic. Today, she points out, many activists have jobs at non-governmental organizations, health care organizations and pharmaceutical companies.

Just as the disease and the needs of people with HIV and AIDS have changed over 25 years, so have the advocates' strategies. "It may be inherently conservatizing....but now there is a sophistication of how to be an activist," says Senterfitt. "Instead of shouting in the streets, we are lobbying politicians and donors."

The first International AIDS Conference was held in 1985 in Atlanta. It began as a small meeting of scientists and researchers in the field and was held annually. Soon, the conference was held biennially and became a meeting of both the scientific community and AIDS activists.

At the Barcelona, Spain, conference in 2002, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson's speech was inaudible over the deafening chants of protesters. He finished, but was visibly shaken.

In 2004 in Bangkok, Bush-appointed U.S. delegate to the conference Ambassador Randall Tobias stepped on stage to speak and was booed off within minutes.

This conference's protests are a far cry from such confrontations. In fact, looking around the room when the handfuls of protestors do get going, there are visible sighs and head-shaking as if to say, "not again."

"People have said to us that they might agree with us, but don't be so rude or impolite," said Senterfitt. "Those same shaking heads are the heads that have been here since the beginning. They may go about change a different way, but our goals are similar."

Sue says, "We're not trying to win everyone over. Our target is not the average person who doesn't care about AIDS. We just want to get our priorities out there."

Being heard is critical today, as unprecedented amounts of money are being donated to the fight against HIV and AIDS. There is Bush's pledge of $15 billion over five years in the form of PEPFAR or "The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief." Bill and Melinda Gates have given millions including $500 million to the Global Fund through their foundation.

At a time when more resources than ever are available, activists are still pushing for more to be done. "What we have today is better than what we had before, but we won't be happy until every single person gets treatment, care and testing. We're going to keep fighting until then, says Senterfitt. "And I don't think that's a bad thing."

A. Chris Gajilan is a senior producer in the CNN Medical Unit.

Story Tools

Subscribe to Time for $1.99

Home Page Get up-to-the minute news from CNN CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more.

Home Page Get up-to-the minute news from CNN CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more.