------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Dec. 13, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
EDITORIAL: AIDS AND POVERTY More than two decades into the AIDS pandemic, with more than 20 million lives having been lost worldwide and the disease spreading most rapidly wherever there is deep poverty and social instability, the countries hit hardest are in Africa. Why then did some of the U.S. media choose the occasion of World AIDS Day to focus in on the government of South Africa as the villain in the epidemic and accuse the people of that country of being promiscuous, irresponsible, sexually predatory and uninformed? That was the message of feature articles in many prominent U.S. newspapers. This is a classic case of shifting the burden of guilt from those who are ultimately responsible for the toll that AIDS is taking in South Africa onto the backs of its victims. The pharmaceutical giants bear direct blame for pricing AIDS drugs out of the reach of most African workers and poor. In fact, United Nations figures show that anti-retroviral therapy alone would cost countries like Bangladesh, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia roughly 30 percent of their respective gross national products. But the drug companies have not acted alone. The government in Washington has been their closest ally. When the South African government tried to make cheaper generic AIDS drugs in an attempt to save many lives, the drug companies dragged its officials into court. And let no one forget that it was Democrat Al Gore--chair of the United States/South Africa Binational Commission--who acted as point person for these greedy imperialist goliaths. Only after a worldwide outcry did the U.S. government and the pharmaceuticals relent somewhat and "allow" South Africa to import cheaper generic drugs from India. These pharmaceuticals are a part of the class-riven economic system that has ravaged the African continent and helped lay the basis for a public health crisis that hits people with AIDS the hardest. Essential for the health of all individuals--especially people with AIDS--is access to clean water and good nutrition. Yet 50 percent of the people in sub-Saharan Africa do not have clean water and 32 percent of children under five years old are malnourished. How can they afford AIDS medications, or even condoms? This poverty is not universal. Even though apartheid has ended and the African National Congress presides over the government, privileged whites still own 87 percent of the land in South Africa. The same bankers, mine owners and industrialists still control the reins of the economy. For decades, South African miners have been forced to live in hostels far from their families, while they dig out the precious gold and diamonds. These are then ostentatiously displayed in ads in the same magazines and newspapers here that accuse the men of that country of not displaying appropriate "family values." Colonialism, apartheid and now economic subjugation to U.S. imperialism have resulted in a system of low wages and intense exploitation. These combined conditions make it very difficult for the South African government to meet the needs of the masses of workers and poor. Put the burden of guilt back where it belongs: on the poverty resulting from more than a century of oppression. Racist articles like those in the U.S. press add vicious insult to injury. The banks and corporations that have grown rich off African labor and resources owe a massive debt of reparations to South Africa and its sister countries. Imagine how much easier it would be to deal with a public health crisis if that obligation were paid in full. That's not likely to happen without revolutionary changes here and in Africa. But that would be subversive of Bush's New World Order, wouldn't it? - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
