Sing for ACT UP - Saturday Apr 28th!

Karaoke fundraiser for ACT UP Philly

Sat, April 28, 2012

7pm until 2:00am - Karaoke
7pm-9:30pm - Bar proceeds benefit ACT UP
Raffles throughout the night

Adobe Cafe 1919 E Passyunk Ave

Come sing your heart out, try to win raffle prizes, and benefit ACT UP just by having a good time! 6 and a 1/2 hours to sing for those who are fighting for people living with HIV/AIDS in the community.

RSVP on Facebook, and help us spread the word!

Congress banned funding of syringe exchange... again!

For over 20 years our government has refused to fund proven life saving, health improving, health resource tools: Sterile syringes. After 20 years of preventable infections and deaths the 

federal ban on Needle Exchange was lifted two years ago after AIDS activists shut down the Capitol Rotunda in Washington D.C. President Obama signed it into law the Support Federal Funding For Needle Exchange.

Now, the new Republican Congress has once again banned funding of Syringe Exchange.

NEEDLE EXCHANGE SAVES LIVES

...has saved lives for over 20 years.

...prevents HIV infection.

...prevents hepatitis C infections.

...has prevented HIV infections for over 20 years in injection drug users.

...has prevented hepatitis C for over 20 years in injection drug users.

...has been proven scientifically to lower Hepatitis C and HIV infections for over 20 years in injection drug users.

************************************************************************************************

DEMONSTRATE Wednesday, March 21, 2012

12 p.m.

16th and JFK

************************************************************************************************

More info: Jose de Marco 267.333.3609 | josemarcos9@yahoo.com

Ask Senator Pat Toomey why he wants people to contract HIV and Hepatitis C.

Free buses leave 2nd and Lehigh Avenue on Wednesday March 21 at 

11 A.M sharp.

HuffPost: HIV/AIDS Activists Complain Of Unfair Treatment By U.S. Attorney's Office

By Arin Greenwood
February 8, 2012

WASHINGTON -- Last April, a dozen HIV/AIDS activists chained themselves together inside the office of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and were arrested on federal charges. They were protesting cuts to HIV/AIDS programs and a proposal that would have prevented the District of Columbia from spending its own money for needle exchange programs. (The needle exchange restriction was ultimately dropped in the final budget deal.)

The same day, 41 D.C. voting rights activists, including Mayor Vincent Gray, also were arrested on Capitol Hill. They were charged with misdemeanors by the D.C. attorney general. Most, including the mayor, paid a $50 fine.

Some of the HIV/AIDS protestors, along with their supporters, gathered Wednesday on the steps of the D.C. government's Wilson Building in an effort to get the charges against them dropped by the U.S. Attorney's Office. They complained that compared with the voting rights activists, the HIV/AIDS protestors have been treated harshly.

One of the HIV/AIDS activists is Antonio Davis, a paralegal from Philadelphia who said he's been subjected to especially punitive treatment by prosecutors. Davis was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 2002. He was also recently diagnosed with a painful joint disease. His doctor recommends that he use medical marijuana to manage his pain and to increase his appetite, Davis said.

The first prosecutor handling the activists' case ordered each person who had been arrested to pass three drug tests as a condition for having charges dropped. Davis' tests showed the presence of marijuana. There have been three prosecutors on the case by now, and the activists complained that each has set new conditions and failed to fulfill promises made by previous prosecutors. The other activists have been offered community service in exchange for the charges being dropped -- though they complain that prosecutors have twice refused to recognize the service.

Matthew Kavanagh said he completed 64 hours of service, twice the amount prosecutors said he had to do, and is now being required to do another 32 hours.

Because of his failed drug tests, Davis doesn't have that option. His trial is scheduled to begin May 7. He faces up to six months in jail if convicted.

Meantime, Davis said he has stopped using marijuana, causing mental and physical pain.

"I've been off of my medical marijuana for the last few months," he told The Huffington Post. "It has put me in great jeopardy with my health as well as my mental health."

"We think [marijuana] is a medicinal thing, and doctors are ordering people to do it. We think the U.S. attorneys should relax their views on it," said lawyer Ann Wilcox, who attended the press conference on behalf of the National Lawyers Guild. "But, you know, it's the federal government."

The activists' attorney, Mark Goldstone, told HuffPost he is "looking into a motion to dismiss," but hopes the U.S. Attorney's Office will decide to simply drop the case instead. Calls to the U.S. Attorney's Office were not returned Wednesday afternoon.

"The guy's got AIDS," Goldstone said. "He has a doctor's letter indicating that she's keeping track of him. It's inexplicable why they're treating him harshly."

It Could be a Wonderful Life for People with AIDS in 2012

**please forward widely, post to facebook, etc**
 
Check out this fun “Wonderful Life” video ACT UP Philly just made, and please forward/post widely.

Since our housing campaign started, it has become a tradition for ACT UP to send our “holiday cheer” to Mayor Nutter around the holidays. In the past years this “cheer” has included bringing an army of Salvation Army style bell-ringers to city hall, and singing personalized carols outside of Nutter’s home.

However, unlike Scrooge or the Grinch, the Mayor has yet to change his ways and include dedicated money for HIV/AIDS housing in the city budget. In the cast of holiday characters Mayor Nutter is looking more and more like Mr. Potter from It’s a Wonderful Life...

So this holiday season we re-enacted one of the famous scenes from It’s a Wonderful Life as a secret meeting between Mayor Nutter, Governor Corbett, City Council members, Health Commissioner Don Schwarz, local corporate CEOs and ACT UP members. (The original scene from the movie can be viewed online here.) Hope you have as much fun watching it as we did making it!

Wishing you and your loved ones a Happy Holiday and New Year.

xoxo,
ACT UP Philly

PS - We're a group of a bunch of volunteers taking on the big city, full of Mr. Potter's. Next year, we have big plans for continuing to raise the stakes on the City and win housing for people with HIV. But without your help, we won't be able to do it. If you are the kind of person who makes donations at the end of the year (and even if you're not!), then please consider donating to ACT UP. As Rachel Maddow once said, there's no group where you get a better bang for your buck than ACT UP Philly! Click here to donate now.

Russia: ITPC World AIDS Day Events

December 1, 2011
ST. PETERSBURG
FLASHMOB AND STARS
December 1, 2011. The following activists and volunteers of non-governmental organizations in St. Petersburg and Leningrad region joined together for an unprecedented event associated with the World AIDS Day under the slogan “Know and Live”:
E.V.A. Non-Profit Partnership to increase the quality of life for women living with and affected by HIV-infection and other socially significant diseases, MadStyleGroup Creative Holding, MadMedia Communication Project, Dance4life Social Project, International Treatment Preparedness Coalition in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ITPCru), Svecha Organization of People living with HIV, “Positive Dialogue” community of people living with HIV/AIDS, “Red Ribbon” Foundation and Salvation Army volunteers.

Housing is Healthcare Panel

Tonight I had the honor to be on a panel with ACT UP member and peer educator Cliff Williams, Chief of Staff of the Philly Dept. of Health Nan Feiler, and Representative Jim McDermott (D-Wa.) It was neat to convene all of these people to talk about federal and local solutions to the AIDS housing crisis in Philadelphia.

I just learned that the camera battery ran out before we got to me, and since my notes (see photo) are illegible even to me, I thought I'd try to recreate at least the gist of the speech so that the ideas can keep being used.

So here goes:

"I'm going to keep this short. As the med students here know, events in this room always end the same way: with homework. And that's my job for tonight. I've got homework for all of you, but most of my homework is for you, Ms. Feiler, so I hope you're taking notes.

We've heard from the politicians here tonight, and one thing that we've heard is that they can't do this alone. We need to step up and create the change we want to see. We need to push them. Well, that's what we're doing right now. Consider yourselves pushed. We need politicians to step up now, like Representative McDermott did with Representatives Pelosi and Schumer when they started HOPWA as freshmen in Congress.

Sunday 11/8: ACT UP @ Occupy Philly TWICE!

ACT UP's going to be at Occupy Philly TWICE on Sunday.

First, we are doing a direct action workshop at noon.

ACT UP Philadelphia has been using direct action to win major victories for people with HIV since 1988. Come learn one model of direct action organizing that has worked to build a movement that is lead by low-income people, people of color, queer people, and people with HIV. Jose de Marco and Kaytee Riek will talk about how we plan and execute smart actions that get to the people in power and get covered accurately by the media, and how we interact with the cops throughout the action. 

Sunday, November 6th at Noon at **NEW LOCATION** Thomas Paine Plaza/Municipal Services Building - Broad and JFK, where the game pieces are, across from City Hall. 

After the presentation, there will be a discussion of other models of direct action organizing that you have seen work in other contexts, and we'll come up with a quick, effective and strategic direct action that everyone can take.

Second, ACT UP will have a speaker as a part of a discussion called "You can have your playground when you/we fix our city!", from 4-6pm at the GA area.

Occupy Philly sits in the way of a $50 million development that will turn Dilworth Plaza, currently public space where homeless people live and share free food, into a privatized ice-skating rink and cafe: a playground for tourists and those with cash. We'd rather use that $50 million for homes, lasting jobs, education, health care, gardens, and other community-controlled efforts to rebuild our city. 

** What would YOU do to fix our city with $50 million? ** 

The city has hinted that renovations may start around November 15, meaning that Occupy Philly and the many people living there will have to leave. We would like to take this moment of tension as an opportunity to highlight the unjust allocation of resources in Philadelphia and the hard work that organizers have already been doing to rebuild our communities. How to respond to the city's demand that we make way for this "playground for the rich" is an ongoing debate in which we welcome your voice.
Occupy Philly's new and dynamic energy has inspired us to try out an interactive discussion workshop style!

So come out Sunday and join us!