Fighting AIDS -
Global day of action against drug company power
The grass roots campaign fighting HIV/AIDS in South Africa, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has called on activists across the world to mobilise locally and globally against the profiteering of the pharmaceutical industry.
Campaigners across the world, including in Brazil, Chile, Italy, the United States and Britain will be protesting in solidarity with TAC on the opening day of the legal action brought by 42 major companies against the South African government to prevent it importing cheap generic drugs and making them available to people with Aids.
For heath campaigners, trade unionists and socialists the grotesque levels of profits of these vast multinationals have long been a source of anger.
But this rage has increased many times over in regard to their response to the spread of AIDS where the obscenity of their greed has become even more obvious to broader layers.
At the same time, with the rise of mass protests against globalisation, the drugs industry is one of the most graphic symbols of what is wrong with the neo-liberal world we live in.
Below we print the letter which will be appearing in papers across the world which demonstrates the way drug companies are putting their greed for profit before the right of thousands of people in the Third World to stay alive.
In Britain action will be focused through pickets against GlaxoSmithKline, the world’s largest drug corporation which leading the fight to enforce patent rights and price fixing for anti-HIV drugs.
Activities are taking place in London, Birmingham and Manchester and will involve activists from Globalise Resistance, Action for South Africa and various HIV/AIDS groups.
"The outcome of this court case will affect 32 million HIV sufferers in poorer countries, who cannot afford these exorbitant-priced drug therapies" ,according to gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who is backing the protest.
"GSK says that under its Accelerated Access scheme it has cut the price of HIV drugs by 85 per cent. But this scheme applies only to Africa and even the reduced price of $1500 a year is too expensive for most people in Third World countries".
"A victory for GSK and the other pharmaceutical giants will make cheap anti-HIV drugs illegal and condemn millions of people to a painful, slow death".
"GlaxoSmithKline’s multi-billion pound profits are obscene. The argument that they need these mega profits to fund research is false. GSK made a profit of $7.6 billion in 1999, but invested only $3.75 billion in research that year. Meanwhile, 2.5 million people in the developing world die needlessly of Aids every year".
For further information, visit the TAC web site at http://www.tac.org.sa or email [email protected]