World AIDS Day Event at the University of Washington on Inequality, AIDS, and the Occupy Movement
Unequal Infection: How Inequality Fuels the Global AIDS Pandemic
SEATTLE – (Dec 1, 2011) –The Critical Development Forum (CDF) and the Global 99 will be hosting an event titled “Unequal Infection: How Inequality Fuels the Global AIDS Pandemic” on World AIDS Day, Thursday, December 1st at Smith Hall, Room 120 at the University of Washington, Seattle Campus from 3:30-5:00pm, with organizing meeting afterwards from 5:00-7:00pm.
This event aims to highlight the relationship between global inequality and the AIDS epidemic. HIV/AIDS is an affliction of inequality, continuously striking the most vulnerable and and marginalized. Inequality drives the epidemic - from the social conditions that provoke HIV transmission to the global politics of pharmaceuticals, healthcare, safety nets, and foreign aid that shape public health. CDF and the Global 99 have assembled a panel of AIDS activists and public health experts to describe how the Occupy movement is a part of the struggle for equity in addressing the AIDS crisis in the United States and around the world.
Panelists include Renee McCoy, Director of the Washington AIDS Alliance, Phil Bereano, Co-Founder of Seattle's ACT-UP, graduate students and doctors from around the world who have worked with HIV/AIDS in their own countries, and many more.
There will also be a media presentation from Scribes, a local hip-hop and R&B artist who has collaborated with artists like Pearl Jam and Macklemore.
Following the panel discussion there will be an opportunity to make connections for future events and activities at the UW and in the greater Washington community.
About the Critical Development Forum: The Critical Development Forum is a student run group on the UW campus dedicated to promote dialogue between students, faculty, and professionals who are engaged in global development and global justice work. The CDF formed from the recognition that while UW students are increasingly driven by an inspiring aspiration to “do something,” collaboration between groups is minimal, and the causes of inequity and social injustice are not always explicitly discussed or considered. The CDF encourages those interested in challenging poverty and inequality to reconnect with one another, critically reflect on their work through a lens grounded in social justice, and challenge themselves to move beyond good intentions. http://criticaldevelopmentforum.wordpress.com/
About Global 99: Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street global movement, a group of faculty, staff and students from UW created an organization called “Global 99” to look beyond the United States borders to the 99% around the world struggling for a more just global financial order. As global health advocates, members of Global 99 plan to highlight and act upon the growing health inequalities around the world created by a global financial system designed only to deliver the highest profits to the richest 1%. As difficult as the current crisis has been for Americans, the impact has been most severe in poor countries where even the most basic services to the poor majority have been undermined. Global 99 seeks to educate about this global inequality, challenge the institutions that perpetuate the structural violence of the current global order, and build bridges of solidarity across borders. http://www.facebook.com/Global99
