AIDS Activists Announce Plans to Protest Obama’s Broken AIDS Promises at DCCC Fundraiser
Who: People with AIDS and their allies from the US and immigrants from countries affected by Obama’s broken AIDS promises, including members of ACT UP Philadelphia, ACT UP/New York, Africa Action, African Services Committee, NYC AIDS Housing Network, VOCAL-NY Users Union, Housing Works, Health GAP, AMSA, and Philadelphia Global AIDS Watchdogs.
What: Outraged at President Obama’s about-face on AIDS, hundreds of angry AIDS activists will demonstrate outside of his appearance at the DCCC’s $15,000-to-$50,000-a-ticket fundraiser. Activists will come from New York, New England, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, DC to demand that Obama meet his promises to fight global AIDS and stop turning people who were promised life-saving medication away from AIDS clinics around the globe.
When/Where: 5:00 PM, Thursday, May 13th, outside the St Regis Hotel, 55th St. at 5th Ave., New York City
Why: On the campaign trail, President Obama pledged “to provide at least $50 billion by 2013 for the global fight against HIV/AIDS, including our fair share of the Global Fund, in order to at least double the number of HIV-positive people on treatment and continue to provide treatments to one-third of all those who desperately need them.”
The reality is that since taking office, President Obama’s budgets have shifted funding away from AIDS programs, and his commitments to fighting AIDS have not even kept pace with inflation, let alone increased to the level he promised. As has been highlighted by recent stories in the Boston Globe and Newsweek, a flat-funded budget means that people who were tested under US-sponsored programs and promised treatment when they got sick are now being turned away. Clinics receiving money from the US government are being instructed to enroll no new patients in life-saving treatment programs. Doctors are being instructed to ration drugs and face choices between giving their dwindling supplies to young mothers or children. People who are turned away often have nowhere else to go, and will die. “Obama’s broken promise is killing people with AIDS around the world. We cannotbacktrack on our commitment to saving lives,” said ACT UP Philadelphia member Jose de Marco.
*Contacts: Antonio Davis, ACT UP Philadelphia – 215-715-8653
Jennifer Flynn, Health GAP – 917-517-5202*
Posted on May 3, 2010 at 8:47 pm
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