the "i am african" campaign

[adruu]

Everyone has forgotten the deals Al Gore and Clinton enforced on behalf of Western Pharms before they left office...not a major gripe given the hell-on-earth that Bush has unleashed, but people forget these things and then they have a tendency to repeat...

Re: Asia -- India has had inroads into the African market as long as we have been drinking earl grey -- net result -- nothing!

Going to Zambia this year for work, I honestly can't wait to be there. Hope someone will hook me up with a soundtrack or two...

[djshiva]

it's that age old chestnut; cultural ownership. Just because you've got multi-cultural savvy, doesn't give you a passport to be a tourist in the problemsolving.

BAM. dead on point there, seckle.

i mean, i DO think westerners can HELP, i have no problem with that. but when it's well intentioned charity type stuff instead of things that actually do anything, i wonder again how much of it is "let's help the poor unfortunates."

i mean what it really comes down to, in helping the AIDS crisis is:

1) drugs HAVE to be cheaper. right now, people in the US can barely afford them, much less anyone on the poor end of the scale. and this goes for medications across the board, not just AIDS meds. and as someone pointed out above, favors to pharmaceutical companies have been going on longer than bush has been in office. it's a continued handout to an industry that makes ungodly profit at the expense of fuckin' sick people. and our US tax dollars pay for research and development in the form of tax breaks and grants, too! so we are double paying the bastards!

2) our administration needs to be chucked right out the window, because needed money is being denied countries and aid organizations who don't preach this half-baked "abstinence only" BS in countries where married couples have AIDS, forced prostitution is a reality and religions may *gasp* differ from ole bushie's favorite christianity. guh. talk about colonialism. the bush policy toward AIDS in africa absolutely REEKS of it.

more babbling right before i head to work. i need to check this discussion when i actually have time to do more than post and run...

[shonky]

Think the Pope could do a hell of a lot by realising that rather than condoms stopping new life, they're actually more likely to stop death. Fuck the theological business and start saving some lives.

They pay him enough cash don't they?

[vertigo]

[quote="Shonky"]Think the Pope could do a hell of a lot by realising that rather than condoms stopping new life, they're actually more likely to stop death. quote]

Do you really think African people pays attention to the Pope >

[shonky]

Think the Pope could do a hell of a lot by realising that rather than condoms stopping new life, they're actually more likely to stop death. quote]

Do you really think African people pays attention to the Pope >

The catholic church is growing in Africa, the catholic church is against condom use - condoms stop, or reduce the spread of AIDS. I know that there are many cultural reasons other than this that aren't helping, but the church still has considerable influence in parts of Africa, and usually the less liberal end of it to boot.

It's not going to end the disease, but it certainly wouldn't hurt for this condition to be lifted by the Vatican in order to try and save some lives.

[j rock]

1. Can't help but be cynical with all those celebrity faces flashing at me, selfish stnuc. How about donating a shit load of money you useless dickheads, rather than plastering your faces everywhere?

2. Charity begins at home.

agreed. how bout not spending 10 thousand on a fuckin purse or buying a 10 million dollar mansion. and i'm probably underestimating those figures too.