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>HOME Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 21:51:24 +0200 Subject: [viva_hiv_aids] FW: [CCS-l] A great story about Zackie Achmat from Makino す。 ------ Forwarded Message ------ > From: "Centre for Civil Society Centre for Civil Society" > Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 16:06:30 +0200 > To: > Subject: [CCS-l] A great story about Zackie Achmat > > Mandisa Mbali 12/10/02 12:14PM > > A good man > > 10 December 2002 07:17 > > Zackie Achmat is not hungry, but tucks into the chocolate cake just the > same. Achmat is HIV positive, yet refuses to take the antiretroviral > drugs that could prolong his life. But he does boost his immune system > with protein -- with chocolate cake. > > Achmat is not a shanty dweller unable to afford the drugs; he is not a > so-called "Aids dissident" who believes the drugs are poison; he is not > mad, and he is not suicidal. Zackie Achmat, according to Nelson Mandela, > is a national hero: an ordinary man whose extraordinary resolve could > help save thousands of African lives, at the cost of his own. > > At a reception in Johannesburg last week, the former president turned > to Achmat and asked him, with cameras rolling, to take the > antiretrovirals. "Give me, as an old man, your promise that you will now > take your medicine." Not for the first time, the national hero, dressed > as ever in T-shirt and jeans, said no. > > A few days later, in a suburban Johannesburg garden, between mouthfuls > of cake, he explains why. "It is a personal issue of conscience. I have > become middle class but my brothers are working class, and if they were > infected they could not afford the medicines." > > Twelve years after he was diagnosed with HIV, the virus that causes > Aids, and given six months to live, Achmat has turned his health into a > hammer against the government. All his life he has fought authority, but > never did he expect to fight his own party, the African National > Congress (ANC), or the leader he campaigned for, Thabo Mbeki. > > Mandela is not alone in fearing that this will be a fight to the death. > South Africa braced itself for an emotional funeral several months ago > when the 40-year-old became too weak to do more than whisper, yet still > rebuffed friends' pleas to relent. > > The scythe missed and Achmat recovered -- even put on weight -- but > sometimes the hands shake and the strain shows. "I wouldn't recommend > anyone to take this stand. There is no longer a need." > > There is no longer a need because the organisation that he chairs, the > Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), is winning its battle. The drug > companies have lowered their prices, and the government has promised to > distribute antiretrovirals. But until that promise is kept, Achmat will > not take his medicine. > > It has been a long, strange fight waged in courtrooms, hospitals and > cabinet meetings. But stranger still is the odyssey of the teenage > rioter who became a prisoner, a prostitute, a gay leader and finally, > for some, a saviour. > > Achmat's unease at such superlatives was visible at the Johannesburg > reception. He awkwardly shuffled his feet as 700 doctors, business > executives and journalists gave him a standing ovation. As he says in > his soft but fast Cape Town cadence, many others have joined the fight, > not least of them Mandela. > > The stakes are colossal. HIV/Aids has infected at least 4,5 million > South Africans, more than in any other country. The 360 000 who died > last year may only be a prelude to a steep upward curve that will > devastate a generation in its prime and turn millions of children into > orphans. > > The crisis is as unprecedented as it is complex. A society and economy > poisoned by decades of apartheid was bound to be hit hard. But not this > hard. Some 70 000 babies are born with HIV each year, and Johannesburg > is so short of space for the dead that it is reportedly considering > putting disused mine shafts into service as catacombs. > > President Mbeki's suspicion that HIV is not a cause of Aids but a con > by drug companies hungry for profits has been blamed for crippling the > state's response. Doctors have been prevented from giving > antiretrovirals and other drugs because the president deemed them too > toxic. > > There was little to suggest at Mbeki's inauguration in June 1999 that a > sick ANC cadre in Cape Town would become his dogged foe. Of mixed > descent, his mother a garment maker, his father a furniture maker, > Achmat began his political career at the age of 14 when he tried to burn > his school during the uprising against apartheid education. > > They were violent, chaotic times and, when not in jail, the son of > conservative Muslims was sleeping on the streets or in a stranger's bed. > "Yes, I was a sex worker. I have never hidden that." > > It was when he emerged from the underground in 1990, a Trotskyist > turned social democrat, that he was diagnosed with HIV. > "The doctor said I had six months to live. I went home and took out > every film I could -- I had always wanted to make films. But instead of > getting worse, I got better." > > Reprieved, Achmat flung himself into a gay rights campaign, took a > degree in English at the University of Western Cape, and canvassed for > Mbeki after Mandela stepped down from the ANC leadership. "I thought > he'd make a good leader." > > In November 1998 he fell seriously ill with thrush, an opportunistic > infection common to those with HIV, and came close to a painful death of > sores and wasting away, unable to swallow. Friends chipped in for drugs, > which he took, and he recovered. > > Later, doctors said he should go on a permanent course of > antiretrovirals, but by now Mbeki's Aids policy, or lack of one, had > emerged. "At first I said yes because I wasn't feeling well, but then I > thought about it and said no." The people he grew up with were falling > sick but did not have middle-class friends to buy them drugs -- why > should he be different? > > TAC used legal and moral arguments to shame the pharmaceutical > multinationals into allowing South Africa to import cheaper generic > copies of patented Aids drugs. It was an epic victory, and one that > raised hopes that millions of Aids sufferers would finally be able to > gain access to drugs that could prolong their lives. > > But there were more battles to be fought. Mbeki continued to keep drugs > such as nevirapine, which can halve the incidence of mother-to-child > transmission of the virus, from the public sector. > > "The central problem," says Achmat, "is the absence of political will. > Why is the president like this?" He smiles and plays with his spoon. > "Unfortunately, there is no God, so you won't get an answer there. We > may never know." > > Some say that Mbeki's intellectual vanity was seduced by the > "dissident" scientists who challenged Aids orthodoxy; some say he > resents the strain that the drugs would exert on the exchequer. Achmat's > theory is this: "The president doesn't want to believe that people in > Africa have a lot of sex." > > Whatever the reason, TAC rebutted each government objection and showed > that existing funds to fight Aids were enough -- if only they were spent > properly. Mbeki refused to meet the activists, but the official > denigration has evaporated since Mandela visited a very sick Achmat at > home earlier this year. > > "We were really under siege, and Nelson has given us protection. It was > not for us that he did it. He's not interested in opposing the > government. He's interested in doing what is right." Despite his > gratitude, Achmat has twice refused the old man's request to take the > drugs. > > Chastened by the international outcry, last April the South African > cabinet announced a U-turn and promised to distribute antiretrovirals. > Yet in some provinces they remain unavailable because officials fear the > president's wrath, and avoidable deaths continue, says Achmat. In > addition to the drugs, the government needs to do what other African > countries did long ago: coordinate a national response, train nurses and > doctors in Aids care, and urge people to take HIV tests. > > More recently, TAC has toned down its criticism as it senses a move by > the government to realise its promises -- but still has a February > deadline for a campaign of civil disobedience if there is no real > change. > > For the chairman, the stakes do not get more personal. Ask what will > persuade him to take his medicine and the body stiffens, the smile > vanishes. "As soon as it is feasible," he says; a calculated ambiguity. > His death would be a public relations disaster for a government which > knows that the next time Achmat falls sick, it may be too late for drugs > to stay the scythe. And a rebel with a cause will have become a martyr > to it. - Guardian Unlimited (c) Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001 > > > Mandisa Mbali > (Research Intern) > The Centre for Civil Society > Rm 176, MTB > University of Natal > Durban > 4041 > > Ph: +27 31 260 2825 > Fax: +27 31 260 2502 > E-mail: mbalim1@nu.ac.za > Website: http://www.nu.ac.za/ccs > > > > www.nu.ac.za/ccs * cf.Achmat, Zackie(in Japanese) http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/acd/gr/gsce/dw/achmat.htm UP:20030810 ◇HIV/AIDS 2002 |