Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Stephen Lewis: And everybody expected the opposition to be clobbered and instead the
government was routed and the opposition came to power and it was very exciting. And it
has often been said that the work which Maurice and others did in softening up the culture
and attempting to change attitudes and working on all these fronts simultaneously helped
deliver a blow to the outgoing party which were... Their attitudes around issues of men
who have sex with men and sex workers and injecting drug users, the attitudes were crypto-fascist
frankly. They were just absolutely unacceptable in every respect. So that felt extremely good.
SL: So we have the women's agency, we have *** violence, we have questions of homophobia
which we're hoping to introduce that particular two-prong strategy into some countries in
Africa where the anti-homosexuality stuff is running riot. And then number four... Don't
worry, it ends at 41.
[laughter]
SL: Number four is the question of disabilities. One of the most upsetting things when I was
the envoy for ***/AIDS in Africa is the disabled who would come to you deaf, blind, wheel chair
bound, desperate for some protection because they were so vulnerable to *** violence
and nobody responded. They were on the margins of the margins. They were the vulnerable group
that was always seen as expendable. And I have to say that I didn't respond. To this
day I can't forgive myself.
SL: We were at the time, I make the rationalization it has some legitimacy, at the time we were
so consumed by death everywhere. Everywhere you turned people were dying. Countries were
graveyards. The only businesses that were flourishing were funeral parlours. It was
just awful. So segmenting specific groups in the population responding to them, I just
didn't get around to it. But when the envoy ended, my colleagues and I determined that
we would, by God, we would deal with this question of disabilities.
SL: So at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City in 2008, we had a Town Hall
bringing disabled people from around the world and a number of other people involved in AIDS
and we managed to work on the intersection of AIDS and disabilities. We don't assume
that these changes will emancipate situations. If you get rid of the homosexuality, the sodomy
laws in Jamaica, that's just the first step to creating a free and open society for LGBT
populations. You've gotta reach the stage where the President of the United States talks
comfortably about gay marriage and then you know...
[applause]
SL: Exactly. Then you know you're making some progress. It takes time. But on disabilities,
we had a tremendous open forum. It was quite inspiredly moderated by a young fellow named
Avi Lewis.
[laughter]
SL: Nepotism in my family knows no limits, absolutely no limits. And it made quite an
impact. But what somebody realized, or many people realized at the time, was that there
weren't even ramps to get people onto the stage. You had to lift wheelchairs or have
people in wheelchairs speaking from the floor rather than on a platform and the sign language
interpretation, which had to be very sophisticated because the sign language is often different
in Kenya, Mexico, the United States. American sign language is not universal so there was
a lot of orchestration involved. We didn't pull it off. But in Vienna in 2010 we had
a couple of major sessions on AIDS and disabilities and had made tremendous advances to the credit
of the International AIDS Society on all of the access questions.
SL: And then this year at the International AIDS Conference in Washington, we're going
even further. We are having a whole day session on the eve of the International AIDS Conference
bringing in young disabled people for a whole day session on advocacy. On how they can advance
their own positions. We're holding it at Gallaudet University for the Deaf which is a wonderful
facility in Washington and then the young disabled people, men and women, will be integrated
into the convention itself in a way which gives them the kind of equal status and equal
voice that they haven't had before.
SL: These things, as I say, they always take time, but it is so refreshing when you make
some progress. And then finally on this side of things, just to show you what pre-occupies
us, we're working on something called... And this is particularly, we have three lawyers
in our little 10 or 11-person group, never go beyond 25%, but...
[laughter]
SL: But you can live with 25% sort of.
[laughter]
SL: And, we have a number of... I mean AIDS Free World is an avowedly, unabashed, feminist
organization. We work on a feminist analysis. We work most strongly around women, and women's
issues. And we started to work on vertical transmission. That is the transmission of
the virus from mother to child during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding. And, again, my co-director,
and colleagues with her were aghast at the claims that were being made by the United
Nations agencies at the inadequate nature of the responses, and the sometimes reckless
nature of the responses.
SL: So, on three separate occasions now, we have backed the United Nations into a corner,
such as the WHO, UN AIDS, and UNICEF had to withdraw initiatives they've taken, because
the initiatives imperil the life of the mother, or the child or the initiatives were poorly
fashioned or designed, or the initiatives required significant amendment before they
should be applied.
SL: And I say that with some pride, because nobody takes on the United Nations. You know,
it's sacrosanct. You dare not criticize the agencies. But, we love taking on the agencies.
[laughter]
SL: We are experts in alienation.
[laughter]
SL: I think it's probably fair to say that we don't have a friend left in the entire...
[laughter]
SL: In the entire UN system and, if possible, by the end we won't have a friend left on
the planet.
[laughter]
SL: And, we don't care. Well, I haven't talked to Chris about it. I don't know if Chris cares.
But we are determined when we see an issue to engage in the advocacy that can make it
surrender. And, all of these areas are tremendously important, because fundamentally they involve
human survival. And, I've learned that one should never give up. One should understand,
you wake up one morning, as Jack did, and you have 103 seats. I mean it's phenomenal
when you are tenacious, and determined and principled. What can happen as the pendulum
swings.
SL: So, I'm filled with kind of spirited enthusiasm about the struggles in this world. You get
beaten up, you get bashed, you lose many of them, but you grit your teeth, and you keep
on fighting. And, sometimes it becomes perilous, ominous and deeply important that we mount
the battle. I did want to give you a sense of the advocacy that I'm engaged in at the
moment. But, more important the way in which advocacy can bring hope and life to people,
the way in which it can be undaunted, the way in which if principled and uncompromising,
it can actually move things forward. And, one should never be oppressed or depressed
by the occasional defeats. Just be enlivened by it. When you're defeated, grit your teeth
and take it forward.
SL: Thank you for having me.
[applause]