On Saturday, ten Wesleyan students from Student Global AIDS Campaign (SGAC) converged with thousands of other college students from across the country in Washington, D.C. to demand greater US support in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The Student March Against AIDS, which drew over 4,000 people, was hailed as the largest march against global AIDS in a decade.
“It was really exciting,” said Mark Purser ’08. “I looked back and saw the entire length of the block behind me full of students. Cars were honking in support.”
The rally was much larger than organizers predicted, demonstrating that AIDS is an important issue to young people, according to Aimee Rose ’05, who attended the march and is on the National Steering Committee of SGAC.
“Young people are saying to their representatives, ‘This is important to me,’” Rose said. “This was all organized by students. [And] people aged 15-24 have the highest rates of infection.”
“It was certainly good to see students from all over the country express their views,” Purser said.
Marching up Constitution Avenue to the Capitol, students protested the government’s abstinence-only education programs in Africa and their refusal to adopt the use of cheaper generic drugs.
“The Bush Administration is spending the money, but not in the right places,” Rose said. “We could be treating more than twice as many people if we spent money on generic drugs.”
The protesters demanded the debt cancellation of African nations stricken with AIDS. They also recommended that $1.5 billion be provided for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and malaria, as well as the renewal and increased funding of the Ryan White CARE Act. This act helps provide access to needed treatment for Americans living with HIV/AIDS.
The United States currently provides much of its assistance for HIV/AIDS through bilateral relationships. But SGAC claims that venues such as the Global Fund and U.N. organizations are better because they address the AIDS epidemic in a more comprehensive manner.
Among the people who spoke at the march were Eric Sawyer, one of the co-founders of ACT UP, an AIDS activist organization, and Bernice Johnson Reagon, a prominent activist from the civil rights movement.
The march was part of a three-day series of activities, including a Youth Summit on Sunday and a Lobby Day on Monday. The Youth Summit featured workshops on topics concerning the global AIDS epidemic, such as pediatric AIDS and women with AIDS.
“It was really important to sit down and discuss the issue instead of just saying, ‘We’re against AIDS,’” said Lauren Smith ’07, one of the new heads of SGAC. “You’ve got to learn about different facets of the problem. Powerful people came from all these different organizations to talk to college students.”
According to its supporters, the Student March reaffirmed that grassroots activism was the key to affecting meaningful change in the fight against AIDS.
According to Rose, the SGAC led a grassroots campaign in Iowa, which successfully pressured U.S. Representative Jim Nussle [R-IA] to increase international assistance funds by $2.6 billion.
On Monday, as part of Lobby Day, students met at the offices of their respective Congressional representatives to emphasize that, as constituents, the issue of AIDS was important to them.
“We want to make sure Congress and the President don’t say that AIDS isn’t an issue because no one is talking about it,” Purser said. “We have a moral obligation.”
Students met with dozens of members of Congress, though it is still unclear how successful the meetings were. During Congress recesses in March, SGAC plans to arrange for its supporters to meet with their representatives in their home offices. Organizers hope the event will garner a larger Wesleyan student turnout than the event in Washington, D.C.
“I hope this brings everyone together to see what’s out there,” Smith said. “To have this be all college students is amazing.”
Wesleyan’s SGAC chapter meets on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. in PAC 002.