The 2011 U.N. High-Level meeting on AIDS kicked off on June 8 in New York, with more than 30 world leaders attending to discuss the progress and future of the global AIDS response. Outside, hundreds of AIDS activists rallied to call on the world leaders to fulfill their commitment from the 2006 meeting: providing universal access to treatment for the 15 million AIDS patients in critical need. Democracy Now! was there.
PROTESTERS: AIDS could be defeated, if the people are treated!
JENNIFER FLYNN: We’re out here today to make sure that the world leaders who are meeting across the street at the United Nations know that we want to hold them to their promises. The commitment that they made last time was that we would actually have universal access to treatment by 2010. Here we are in 2011, and we still have 10 million people who don’t have access.
TIDO VON SCHOEN-ANGERER: We are here today at the U.N. because this is a critical time for the AIDS response. We know a lot how we can respond to AIDS, and we even know that if we put more people on treatment, we can prevent the transmission of the virus. So there’s a lot of great news, how we can affect and break the back of the epidemic. But now it really comes down to governments and world leaders here at the U.N. to agree to take the right steps forward.
PROTESTERS: Keep your promise! End AIDS now! Keep your promise! End AIDS now!
LUCY CHESIRE: We just passed 2010, the year where we were saying each and every person who requires universal access to HIV prevention, care and support needs to get it. One year down the line, we haven’t seen that dream come true. So are we still just going to watch and let people die in the 21st century from AIDS, whether it’s going to be due to pneumonia, whether it’s going to be TB? I mean, these deaths are preventable. If we can spend more than a billion dollars in Iraq, we can spend $24 billion to ensure that the dream of many people who are out there waiting to get treatment will live to happen, so they can be able to continue going about their day-to-day activity without being hampered by the AIDS situation.
GUILLERMO CHACON: In the United States, over one million people are living with HIV and AIDS. And even here, we have more than 8,000 people on a waiting list. This is a crisis. And we believe that today, even though we’re going through a terrible economic crisis globally, we must keep the promise to secure treatment to these people, because without treatment, people will die. And the most important thing that I would like to remind all of us is to be in solidarity with those living with HIV. And one way to do it is to reduce the stigma, to reduce homophobia, and to raise awareness and to take the HIV test, and keep advocating until we reach the goal, that is, reaching 15 million people in treatment by 2015. United, we can.
PROTESTERS:¡Sí, Se Puede! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Thank you!
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $81,000 in one-time donations and to add 1250 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy