http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/ What's on the minds of young leaders from around the globe? en-us http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/42238 Sun, 20 Aug 2006 22:22:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/42238 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/42143
1) Listening to Beatrice Were’s call to action for African leaders and women during a discussion on the failures of the ABC Prevention model in Africa: I’ve heard Beatrice speak several times before and am never less than moved deep inside by the strength and resilience of this woman. Beatrice represents the people that the moralistic leaders of the world continue to neglect: she was a monogamous, faithful married woman who practiced the ABC model…and still contracted HIV. Her closing of the panel brought a long standing ovation, and when challenged by an American man during the Question and Answer session over the statistical evidence behind her argument, successfully threw the questions back upon him, providing her own statistics and winning another booming round of applause.

2) Speaking to Frika Chiu Iskander throughout the conference: Frika, a beautiful young Indonesian positive woman who won the thousands-strong crowd over during the opening ceremony as the youth speaker (only to have media focus—of course—on Bill and Melinda Gates), is a real pocket dynamo of an activist. It’s also lovely to meet fellow South-east Asian/Australasian people involved in the AIDS fight.

3) Talking to Watema and Acana from Uganda about the SPIT Youth Movement: Since an early ago, growing up on the gravel-tops of Western Australia, I have always loved street basketball, and I have grown to love the universal language that positive, conscious hip hop provides for my generation. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to learn that these two entrepreneurial streetballers and rhyme-spitters from Kampala, Uganda are creating an HIV movement that combines these two art forms with prevention methods and youth communication. They even performed a freestyle for me upon my request.

4) The Treatment Action Campaign’s staged protest at a major press conference: There are fewer more beautiful stories in the AIDS movement then that of Zackie Achmat and the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa, which successfully forced its government—through raw grit, heart, and fury at its government’s neglect—to scale up access to ARVs. I often see South Africa as the soul of the activist movement, and even as cases begin to escalate in India and other Asian population centers, for me, South Africa remains the moral compass of the movement. Nobody more so than Zackie Achmat, a positive Indian-South African doctor who refused life-saving medication until all South Africans had access to the drugs, represents this movement. Combine this with the zest for life—singing and dancing flow out of the actions of TAC like momentous Neruda-evoking love poems, and you have an inspirational movement. In particular, Sipho Mthati, a young, full-voiced woman who has captured many peoples’ hearts, articulates the needs of positive people with an eloquence, intelligence, and beauty that few can muster. It makes me choke up simply thinking about what she represents to people back in her home country. But her command over the press conference yesterday, where she astounded journalists and others with her understanding and power over all of the issues raised, was at times breathtaking and never more than affirming of the will and intelligence of the everyday human being: galvanized and mobilized towards a noble goal.

5) The Global Village in general: on the whole, this room was just the most wonderful, chaotic collision of humanity I’ve ever seen assembled in one place. Typing away in the media center, one was constantly overhearing song, music, drumming, and other aural inspirers flowing out of the Village. It is as if the whole of Grand Central Station in New York City was locked together, shaken up and down, and all those inside happened to be committed to ending the AIDS epidemic in a hundred different ways and by supporting every conceivable group. It was a welcome change from the dry, cerebral nature of many of the sessions, and breathed a huge gust of life into proceedings.

6) Paul Farmer’s Photographs: One of the true ‘rock stars’ of the AIDS fight, Dr. Farmer used to fly from his post at the medical faculty in Harvard to Haiti, illegally carrying over AIDS drugs in his suitcase for the many who need them in this suffering Caribbean nation. He’s also a brilliant writer and a man whose presence encourages all of us to put our actions where our words are. He showed several pictures of people at clinics from his health facilities in Haiti and Rwanda that I found particularly affecting, as I’m sure hundreds of others did during the session.

7) The ‘Come As You Are’ Sex Workshop: Come As You Are is a local sex store in Toronto. Their candid, this-is-how-it-works, sex workshop in the Global Village was at times humorous, eye-opening, and entirely maturely-led. For many of the participants who come from societies in which sex remains a largely taboo subject, I think it really broke new ground for them. Plus, I got a free pocket vibrator, and those are always handy to have around.

8) Seeing and laughing with friends from around the world once again: Working on HIV in Washington D.C. can sometimes be an isolating experience. It’s necessary for the soul and worldview-affirming to meet and reunite with brilliant AIDS activists from Egypt, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Botswana, Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Guatemala and so on. I am constantly reminded of the universality of human suffering, of human feeling, and human spirit, as we work together to finally send this terrible pestilence into the annals of our history as rapidly as possible.

9) Asking Peter Piot to wear a giant condom suit: Ever one to throw on the occasional giant phallic outfit, I thought it would be only suitable for us as youth reporters to ask him whether he would don such a suit to fight stigma, bouncing his way up to the microphone during the opening ceremony before the thousands of participants. He declined, in his endearing slightly socially awkward, over-educated Belgian doctor sort of way. The podcast is up on the site if anyone wants to catch it; we got a good laugh out of his response, and I’m sure he did too.

10) The Empancipation of Sovhik: I first bumped into this little Indian fashion designer on the night that we both got in. He was very lost, very tired, and told me that Toronto was the first time he’d stepped out of Calcutta. I helped him back to the dorm, and then had the chance to cover his fashion show, which had a jam-packed youth pavilion audience whooping and cheering. He then showcased the first Bengali music video to positively highlight gay male relationships. Afterwards, he was surrounded by a flock of eager journalists and enthusiastic viewers of his eye-catching work. I could tell that he was absolutely loving it. Sovhik’s rise from lost young man, fresh off of the plane, to rising designer and queer activist is in essence, the dream of the AIDS and social justice movement writ large. I know that he will return home a more empowered, more confident young man, and I believe and trust that his is only one in a sea of similarly life-affirming, positive stories coming out of this momentous gathering.


]]> Thu, 17 Aug 2006 18:46:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/42143 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/42109 Thu, 17 Aug 2006 12:44:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/42109 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/42107
With music from Soul Influence, singing the South African National Anthem. ]]> Thu, 17 Aug 2006 12:17:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/42107 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/42106 Thu, 17 Aug 2006 12:13:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/42106 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/42104 Thu, 17 Aug 2006 12:07:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/42104 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/42077
Young people are celebrated by contemporary society for a handful of characteristics that, while certainly true, can also be disempowering, banal, and of disservice to their needs. Today, young scholars from Benin and Canada spoke to fellow peers and other participants at the International AIDS Conference about their research, focusing on the fact that many young people are also something else:

They’re smart.

Will Turk, a 19 year-old University of Winnipeg student studying biochemistry, discussed his work on sex workers from Pumwani Kenya. He is an assistant researcher at Canada’s national microbiology laboratory, where he is studying the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLAG), which assists the body in recognizing self-cells and identifying foreign invaders, such as HIV, allowing the body to reject it’s entry and thereby preventing new infections.

The sex workers he has studied have been involved in high-risk sex trade work for roughly 20 years, however, many have remained negative. He found that those who had not contracted the virus had particular variants of HLAG, while those who were positive had more susceptible variants.

The theory is that by interrupting HLAG in the mucosal tract, through a vaginal applicant similar to a microbicide, the spread of HIV can be prevented, however he qualified that at this point HLAG research is still in its preliminary phases.

Sarah Switzer, a 23-year-old native of Toronto, discussed her research into discourses of self-care and responsibility. She recruited 50 students from her university and had them gather mass media material, which they then critiqued, reflected upon, and used to identify existing gaps in HIV theory. She showed the audience a book of compiled ‘secret messages’ the students had provided her.

“The book can be used as a prevention tool in itself,” she explained, but also serves to identify existing gaps in HIV/AIDS scholarship. She has been involved in the Otesha program, teaching “adbusting” to peers—assisting them in understanding mass media messages in terms of self-identity and behavior, and which runs several social justice and environmentalism campaigns.

Sophie Gbesso, a young woman from Benin, conducted a sexual and reproductive health baseline survey in her home community. Through community meetings, focus groups, and hundreds of individual interviews, she identified issues of transactional sex for young girls, intersecting issues involving poverty and marriage, as well as a need for faster program implementation.

Shocked at the results of her study, Sophie has taken it upon herself to help inform her peers within her community about the virus.

Maulik Baxi, a 23-year-old physician from India who moderated the event, asked the participants about the difficulties in gathering peer-review-friendly quantitative data in any HIV study, an issue to which they all acknowledged presents a common issue in numerous qualitative-based contexts.

When asked about their future plans, the young researchers expressed a strong commitment to furthering their education and engaging in AIDS activism. It’s wonderful to see the holistic involvement of my generation in the response to the epidemic, and projects a hopefully narrowing gap between the scholar and the studied.

]]> Wed, 16 Aug 2006 20:25:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/42077 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/42074
I had been waiting for this moment. Through personal sources, I had embedded myself with a Northern activist organization, Student Global AIDS Campaign (SGAC), which provided additional support to TAC during the action. Moving from a protest outside the convention center against U.S. Free Trade Agreements, they had regrouped inside the building and coordinated with their South African colleagues via cell phone, awaiting permission to join the demonstration. A few minutes later, a member of TAC arrived to give them the green light.

“They’re now accepting white people,” Matt Kavanagh, Harvard graduate and executive director of the organization, informed his colleagues, his tone a mixing both subtle humor and a sort of knowing liberal consciousness. Symbolic and literal representation of communities they view as marginalized or under-represented is an ever-present, almost obsessive concern for the AIDS activist community. TAC, which is largely comprised of HIV-positive black South Africans, but whose membership includes other ethnic groups, had previously expressed a desire to keep the demonstration as ‘black’ as possible. Over 60 percent of all people living with HIV are in Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Africa has more than any other individual nation: 5.5 million, of whom the vast majority of those diagnosed are black.

Upon receiving the green light, the SGAC group discretely slid into the media center, where they joined TAC members in one of the unused interview rooms for a quick briefing on their message and action plan. Then, they walked into the press conference with signs concealed, before taking over and reframing the entire event in efficient, if dramatic fashion.

The whole process took about 15 minutes.

It was not the first time they had co-opted an event in such fashion. Rather, it has become a practically expected part of any large-scale AIDS event for activists to take main stage through direct action tactics. Since the inception of organizations such as Act UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) in New York and Paris, whose “Silence Equals Death” slogan in the 1980s remains one of the most successful advocacy campaigns in recent history, through to today’s transnational advocacy movements, AIDS activists have played a historic, formative role in shaping the AIDS debate, battling for media representation and enlarging the circle of inclusion.

This conference is a case study of this consistent evolution. Originally starting as an academic and research-centered conference for the scientific and medical communities, it has since grown to become an extraordinarily broad gathering of people involved in HIV from every country and sector of society, including community organizers, peer educators, sex workers, music celebrities, and, of course, activists. It now even boasts its own global village, a colorful, lively hub of activity, where music and street theatre takes place besides sex workshops and fashion shows.

AIDS is commonly described as the petri dish of social issues. It serves to magnify and bring to light a broad spectrum of contemporary social ills, including race, class, sexuality, increasing corporate power, democracy, trade liberalization, and U.S. hegemony. In similar fashion, the AIDS activist movement, with its own complex dynamics and varied worldviews, effectively captures the state and direction of other global social movements, serving indirectly as its own petri dish.

Helen Gayle, whose glances of consternation towards TAC delegates before the ‘take-over’ suggested that this was not her first event at which activists had taken control, attempted to keep the conference as close to the original agenda as possible. However, following the conference’s unplanned transformation, she struggled to keep discussion on topic, and the majority of questions from the media were addressed to, or at least addressed by Ms. Mthathi, whose articulacy and well-informed response remained constant.

The general theme of Ms. Mthathi and her organization was the continued marginalization and lack of participation of those most affected by the virus: poorer people of color from developing countries. However, she touched on a variety of other issues, including what she viewed as her own government’s misinformation campaigns, difficulty in procuring second line treatment, and pharmaceutical lobby interests in the United States’ HIV/AIDS foreign policy.

Several times during the questioning process, one of the TAC’s leaders, who is a white man, condemned the moderator and several journalists for addressing their questions to Dr. Fauci, an American doctor.

“This is exactly the problem we’re talking about,” he shouted angrily. “Why don’t you ask Sipho to answer the question? Are only people who come from [English-speaking countries] allowed to answer?”

Meanwhile, media ravenously snapped up footage and photographs of the standing protesters, who continued to chant and cheer following particularly prescient points. More media gathered outside the pressroom, shooting their pictures with arms outstretched upwards, unable to squeeze into the now crowded entrance.

I noticed Frika Chiu, the young positive Indonesian woman who had spoken so eloquently at the Opening Ceremony, holding a sign towards the back which read “Face Reality About HIV/AIDS – People Are Dying,” another attack on the recent ‘celebrity circus’ nature of this year’s conference. This is, some might argue, an inevitable consequence of the more inclusive, populist direction that activists such as Frika herself have championed for the IAC. With increased media exposure comes increased commercial interest, in addition to a watering down, or perhaps more accurately, a “prettying up” of the event for lay audiences.

But then swiveling the video camera around the room, I couldn’t help but realize that this was a perfect “Petri dish” moment. Elevated at the front, Helen Gayle, an African-American woman with seasoned roots in the establishment and Dr. Fauci, from the upper crust of medical circles and representative of the white, educated, male elite in the North. Then, to his left, Ms. Mthathi and her colleague, two young 'community-level' women, aggressively representing the sentiments of the majority of people infected or affected by the virus. Finally, next to them, a Ugandan female minister, representing the oft-criticized African elite.

Before them in the audience lay more fragmented segments of international society. In one pocket stood the TAC protesters: angry, emotive, and black. Seated or kneeling around them, the media: mostly white yet certainly more ethnically diverse, many of whom are busy in their own career-driven lives--capturing footage on expensive cameras, emailing it back to their bureaus, then flying off to cover another story next week. At the back of the room, protesters from outside South Africa: some of them Northern, others from the South, all very vigorous in righteously supporting TAC, whom they often refer to as their “brothers and sisters,” a glimpse into their model of global citizenship and social equity.

In this heavily discussed globalizing world are mixed notions of choice, freedom and rights. As an activist example: the political and business leaders of the world have the choice to take decisive action in overcoming the epidemic; millions of people living with HIV without access to generic drugs do not have the choice to save their own lives. For them, many governments and pharmaceutical executives are denying the poor and disempowered the human right to life.

An opposing example: Pharmaceutical companies should have the freedom to patent and protect their intellectual property in a competitive global economy; the U.S. government has the freedom to encourage free trade agreements with poorer countries. For such individuals, activists do not understand the realities of macroeconomics or international trade, and their shouting and theatre provide more distraction than positive outcome.

Depending on where one stands, from a merely academic perspective, all of these arguments are relative, epistemological constructions of the same titanic debate, and a global, rapidly growing, middle-class population suggests that this is sure to continue.

What does not seem to be mixed is the notion of human worth. If human life is valuable, and indeed, the consensus in this AIDS debate concedes that it is, and if saving lives and overcoming the “black plague”—as one Ugandan youth described the virus--should come before profit or ideology or elements of faith, then why is it that 25 years into the epidemic, we’re not even at the point of curbing it, let alone close to eradicating it?

Depending on whom you talk to at this conference, the answer is sure to be different. And the answer will continue to change as new treatments are rolled out, and with new international trade agreements in flux. From what I’ve heard, it seems like we’re finally moving in the right direction. Positive statistical evidence from a recent UNAIDS report also suggests faint glimmers of improvement.

No matter the state of our efforts, however, at least one thing is assured: there will be angry, impassioned activists in whichever direction the AIDS response travels; demanding more minority participation, chastising anything short of universal access to drugs, steadfast in their belief that saving human life should come before all else. As the TAC members left the press conference today to go “tear down” the South African government’s booth, they sang together: it was a beautiful, mournful song which echoed out of the media center and into the main halls of the convention center.

The world’s response to AIDS is much better because of people such as Sipho Mthathi. Activists are just as necessary now as they were during the beginnings of the epidemic, so many years ago. And, let us hope, not too many years ahead. Enough life has been shed for my generation; I dare not to think what AIDS may bode for that of my children.
]]> Wed, 16 Aug 2006 19:57:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/42074 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/42068
The Commonwealth Games Canada organization hosted a discussion on youth-led games and sport activities, including “Kicking AIDS Out” soccer leagues used in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa.

The presenters led the audience in a series of call and responses.

“Cowabunga!” shouted (name), to which the audience clapped back a simple, syncopated beat.

“Senorita!” he then shouted, to which a longer, bossa nova-like reply clap was provided by the audience.

Mary-Jean from Namibia described the evolution of a high-school student targeting, volunteer-led program to include messaging within sports programs, including a soccer league specifically geared towards female student involvement. The education is not limited to HIV, instead including environmental and leadership training, with the expectation that “to whom much is given, much is expected.”

Katrina, a Namibian participant in the program, spoke of the personal impact the programming had on she and her peers.

“I know participants who have been involved in drugs and alcohol in the past, but who have stopped since joining the program,” she said.

Selecting a group of volunteers, one workshop leader had them play several of the games actually used in the field to teach key positive living lessons around the HIV theme, helping to reduce stigma and open lines of discussion.

During one game, the eight volunteers had to find a way to all stand on a single sheet of newspaper, an exercise designed to build open communication and teamwork. Another exercise had a group of volunteers form a hand-linked chain through which a ‘cat’ had to chase a ‘mouse,’ representing high-risk behavior or HIV’s pursuit of a young individual.

Kitso, a young man from Botswana, told the crowd about the positive impact the program had on his life. Before joining, he had gotten mixed up in a local gang in one of the poorest parts of the country, one involved in violent, criminal activity. Following membership in the soccer game program, he managed to change ways.

“If it wasn’t for these soccer games, I would be in prison now,” he told the audience.

Following this, a presentation of the use of soccer stars and child games offered similar approaches and results. Combining social learning theory with the power of soccer stars in various African nations, the organizer has developed a full-scale, 4-day curriculum for an in-depth children’s workshop, embedding prevention messages in homework and youth-connected metaphor, among other tools.

“Kids teach kids what they think is important,” said the workshop leader.


]]> Wed, 16 Aug 2006 18:21:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/42068 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/42015
There’s no questioning that the youthforce has the most visible messaging campaign of the conference. Its posters are on highly visible display throughout the entire conference center, un-missable with their powerful portraits of young, multi-ethnic individuals and the five key messages.

But it’s heartening to listen to professionals in the health, media, and social services presenting on youth-driven studies and initiatives already in play.

My personal favorite is “Haath Se Haath Milaa,” a reality TV program broadcast throughout all of India, and that combines the star power of Bollywood with the natural charisma of youth involved in HIV awareness.

Each story brings a top film star together with a yuva star (‘young star’), focusing on the yuva’s work, struggles, aspirations…in other words: the things that all youth can relate to. However, it’s presented through a ‘face-off’ with a huge Bollywood star, which as anyone with a faint understanding of Indian culture knows is absolutely massive there. Evidence shows that viewers recall the HIV activities of both the yuva and film star, and rock concerts, puppet shows, fairs and other community-awareness activities have subsequently grown out of this.

The presenter, from BBC World Service Trust and based in New Delhi, explained that there are many remaining issues with developing such mass media. Men who have sex with men cannot be covered, as such activities are illegal in India. Additionally, gender empowerment and other more sensitive HIV issues are left out, with the focus kept to overcoming stigma, all within a family-viewing orientation.

As disappointing as such limitations are, they’re only to be expected at this stage in the fight and should be viewed as long-term battles for the HIV movement. What’s most encouraging is hearing that such programming is having such a large-scale effect. The BBC World Service Trust is running similar programming throughout other countries in Africa and Asia, all presented through the cultural, celebrity, and linguistically-specific design that maximizes effective message reach, hitting target audiences powerfully and broadly.

I’ve heard a lot of the right ideas coming out of abstracts and presentations around youth and HIV that are only being turned into action over the last few years. Themes like youth-adult partnership, youth leadership and design, youth-specific messaging and programming, focusing on girls, education, and the like are all becoming standardized and recognized as the way forward in reversing current trends in youth infection rates.

It’s about time. Now its up to all of us as empowered youth leaders throughout the world to demand that our leaders follow this path.
]]> Tue, 15 Aug 2006 17:21:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/42015 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41965
Featuring "We Just Won't" by The Go! Team. ]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 20:59:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41965 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41910
The speakers voice dripped a particular Academy Award-inflected delivery, the entry of a new speaker came with a “whoosh” sound effect, even the swiveling boom camera…it certainly felt at times like speakers were about to announce award winners and hand out gold plaques, rather than issue prescient calls to continue fighting the epidemic. The crowd was civil and appeared pleased with what they were observing, but I slipped into the role of cynic.

I was not the only one. Stephen Harper, the new conservative Prime Minister, happened to publicly decline attendance of the event, and when the Health Minister took the stage, a silent protest of signs reading “Sleep in Steven? HIV never rests,” were held aloft. In addition to the Prime Minister’s no-show, signs and chants targeted the potential closing of Vancouver’s sole safe injection space.

During Peter Piot’s speech, others in the crowd lifted banners and wore shirts demanding that targets of universal access to treatment be reached. And when Bill Gates spoke, a sex workers group chanted “Rights not Regs,” the meaning of which I could not clarify.

The highlight of the ceremony for me was hearing Frika Chia, a beautiful, positive 25-year-old Indonesian woman speak at length about changes required to overcome the epidemic. She identified herself “as the new face of AIDS” – a young, Asian woman, and spoke of the need to include local communities “as part of the solution, and not simply target populations.”

Following this was a large-production benefit concert, at which my friend Ricardo had a 30 second spot, during which he declared his commitment to legislation against HIV discrimination in his country of Mexico, in between dancing to the thumping house beats from DJ Tiesto. Featuring people working so hard on the ground is certainly a step in the right direction.

I spoke to one woman from Ohio about the evolution of the AIDS response. She told me that it goes through waves of diverting attention—gay Whites, women, Africans, youth—when what is really needed is a total response encompassing all groups. As much as I agree with her—and that limiting one’s response to specific groups can be short-sighted—an issue as enormous as this one almost demands that we focus on specific populations, who otherwise will remain neglected or inadequately supported.

When all is said and done, I believe that the world needs an event such as the International AIDS Conference, if only as a space for creating education and awareness, and not for cutting-edge scientific knowledge-sharing. It’s true that an issue as serious and devastating as HIV doesn’t sit well as a celebrity circus—and a strong argument that it never should be can be made—but in the world we live in, such consequences are to be expected. Ultimately, though, this is a forum for meeting others involved in the fight, where enjoying each other’s company, variety of backgrounds and offerings is where the real value in such an event lies.

As Barry White (who else?!) led the crowd in a spirited version of “Stand By Me,” hundreds of middle-aged audience members took to their feet during a previously youth-oriented concert program. I glanced around the stadium. Here we were, youth and adults, grooving to the old classic, dancing in different ways and in different groups, but ultimately, as one unified entity. I think we could all do with a little more of the “Barry White factor” throughout this conference, and as we disperse back to our home countries for that matter.




]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 11:40:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41910 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41881
"I use condoms...USE CONDOMS," she explains.

Featuring the Canadian band Stars with a cover of "This Charming Man" by the Smiths.
]]> Sun, 13 Aug 2006 17:44:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41881 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41882
Featuring "Gamble Everything for Love," by Ben Lee.]]> Sun, 13 Aug 2006 17:40:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41882 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41883
Featuring "Two More Years" remixed by MSTRKRFT, from the Bloc Party original.]]> Sun, 13 Aug 2006 17:36:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41883 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41855 je vous complete l'interview pour vous donner l'entierete de son point de vue. c'etait une tres interessante rencontre avec lui

faisons entendre nos voix!!!]]> Sun, 13 Aug 2006 11:10:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41855 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41854 en dehors des ecrits nous avons donne la parole a un jeune beninois qui a bien voulu partager ses experiences avec nous.
merci]]> Sun, 13 Aug 2006 11:03:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41854 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41800
But now it is morning, and I sit in the glass walled, white ceilinged corridor of the Medical Science building in the heart of the stunningly beautiful University of Toronto campus. On my right are a gorgeous collection of men and women from Armenia, Jordan, Turkey, Bulgaria. I’m not sure where else, but regardless, they’re all way too good-looking for their own good. They’re being interviewed by a woman with red highlights clutching a cup of Tim Horton’s, part of a Canadian documentary being made about the youth conference.

See, this is the social movement of our time. Coming together in good will, online skills and sharp looks to fight the social illness of our time.

A group of young African are joking together, one beating rhythms into a table. Another has a guitar slung across his back. They exchange pounds.

Digital cameras flash, laptop screens glow, side glances are exchanged. This is like freshman orientation at college, except without the parents, and 250 leading youth activists leading mini-revolutions in each of their towns.

The excitement and nerves are palpable. There’ll be over 1,000 of us come the actual conference, and we are gonna be making some serious waves at this show!

]]> Fri, 11 Aug 2006 17:20:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41800 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41792 Fri, 11 Aug 2006 15:39:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41792 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41791
I’m sitting in on a session on providing care in ‘resource-constrained’ (read: impoverished) settings, put on by Save the Children Canada.

Hearing about villages like Meru in Kenya, in which ARVs are not provided for children because “they are going to die anyway” is tough to digest. And where men still choose not to disclose their positive HIV status, even to their spouses, or to join support groups or take proactive steps to increase their longevity.

To my ears, these are the sounds of a place without hope, even for their future generation. And that must be a truly destitute situation to be in.

But gains are being made, if only gradually. It’s important to realize the context, and to remove as many of your pre-dispositions that one brings in from an affluent West. Because you’re discussing areas where HIV is absolutely wreaking havoc and causing serious, structural damage to societies, this becomes a matter of long-term survival.

Grandmothers are given anti-retroviral drugs and alarm clocks so that they know when to give children under their care their medication. Children are taught to know that they need to take their medication upon hearing the alarm. Through a five-pronged approach encompassing treatment, nutrition, economic empowerment, prevention education and focusing on orphans and vulnerable children, progress is being made. Parent-child relationships are being prolonged, reducing psychological stress and allowing youth to stay in school.

Still, the point that was made clear to all at the session is that the focus on children and pediatric AIDS drugs needs to be increased. It’s one thing to advocate for youth (15-24 technically speaking). It’s a completely different, but entirely necessary calling to advocate for one of the most powerless of communities in modern society: children.


]]> Fri, 11 Aug 2006 15:36:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41791 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41790
But now it is morning, and I sit in the glass walled, white ceilinged corridor of the Medical Science building in the heart of the stunningly beautiful University of Toronto campus. On my right are a gorgeous collection of men and women from Armenia, Jordan, Turkey, Bulgaria. I’m not sure where else, but regardless, they’re all way too good-looking for their own good. They’re being interviewed by a woman with red highlights clutching a cup of Tim Horton’s, part of a Canadian documentary being made about the youth conference.

See, this is the social movement of our time. Coming together in good will, online skills and sharp looks to fight the social illness of our time.

A group of young African are joking together, one beating rhythms into a table. Another has a guitar slung across his back. They exchange pounds.

Digital cameras flash, laptop screens glow, side glances are exchanged. This is like freshman orientation at college, except without the parents, and 250 leading youth activists leading mini-revolutions in each of their towns.

The excitement and nerves are palpable. There’ll be over 1,000 of us come the actual conference, and we are gonna be making some serious waves at this show!

]]> Fri, 11 Aug 2006 15:35:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41790 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41778
Featuring music by Bloc Party, remixed by MSTRKRFT!]]> Fri, 11 Aug 2006 10:18:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41778 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667 http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41777
I sat in on the trade issues session, led by Matt Kavanagh, a friend from Washington and senior organizer at Student Global AIDS Campaign, and Constance Walyaro, from Kenya, of Oxfam International’s Youth Parliament Trade Justice Group.

The question was posed: “What is the state of access to anti-retroviral drugs in your country?”

The results were varied. Moshabi from Botswana informed us that everyone has access to first, second, but not third line drugs. Gabrielle from Brazil was one of the success stories, acknowledging that everyone has access to treatment, with a law reaffirming access to treatment. Amavis from El Salvador said that drugs in her country are largely unaffordable for those who need them, because generic drugs are not allowed. Veronica, from Kenya, spoke of wide access to first line drugs – those that treat the virus during the first five or six years of the disease, but limited access to second line drugs, which treat following that period. Her fellow Kenyan, Charles, however, mentioned that ARVs are accessible, free of charge, following recent legislation passed by the Kenyan government, which received a round of applause.

A statistic was offered: “6.5 million people, today, need immediate access to drugs but do not have it.”

A variety of reasons were provided from the session participants: race, stigma, discrimination, class, and other prominent global issues that span far outside of the epidemic. But one stood out: cost, and subsequently, international trade agreements. Following a quick run-down on the World Trade Organization and the Trade, Intellectual Property and Services Agreement, a mock debate between pharmaceutical organization representatives and advocates and conference participants from the Global South took place. Though many of us found the ‘legalese’ spoken in such agreements difficult, and terms such as “compulsory licenses” and “parallel licensing” foreign, the presenters managed to make their major points clear:

- Drug patents were not delivered by God: before WTO, most countried didn’t have drug patents. Why should they be forced to adhere to them now?
- Activism works: at one point, the US government was pressuring the South African government to abandon compulsory licenses, threatening to sanction them if they didn’t. During Al Gore’s Presidential campaign, a group of grassroots student activists pressured him long and forcefully enough that within several months, the Clinton administration reversed its course, leaving South African policy alone.

It was an inspiring message for a group that largely works at the roots of the virus, where their colleagues and peers deal with treatment, education, care and the like on a daily basis.
]]> Fri, 11 Aug 2006 10:13:00 EDT http://itslateagain.tigblog.org/post/41777 38.8950000 -77.036666738.8950000-77.0366667