Meet Act Up-Paris !

For us, fighting AIDS is like fighting a war.
Our friends are dying all around us. We do not want to die too.
In every war, there are those who collaborate with the enemy.
AIDS too has its collaborators: those who see the epidemic as an opportunity to make money; those who do nothing to fight it; those who use it as a pretext to encourage discrimination and hate. We have been fighting them since 1989.

Our roots are in the lesbian and gay community but our aim is to defend equitably all groups affected by AIDS

AIDS is not inevitable.
Winning the fight against AIDS is not the responsibility of medicine alone:
it mainly depends on the commitment of all those who are in charge of public health policies, in France and the rest of the world. For Act Up-Paris, fighting AIDS also means fighting all kinds of discriminations, putting pressure on the government and raising public awareness at the same time.
That is why Act Up-Paris is an activist group, a lobby and a militant group. It is not the only one:

Golden gate New York

Philadelphia

As an activist group,

Act Up-Paris tries to attract media attention by staging Zaps, i.e. quick and very spectacular actions focused on particular issues.
Our aim is to encourage the media to report on the situation, to force people to react, to expose specific problems, to urge onlookers to respond and take a stand, and to show to what degree of violence we are confronted daily.

As a lobby,

Act Up-Paris has been recognised as expressing the point of view of people with AIDS by political parties, members of parliament, pharmaceutical companies, research institutions, health care providers and AIDS education authorities

 

As a militant organisation,

Act Up-Paris has proved capable of organising massive demonstrations joined by several thousands of sympathisers. The purpose of those demonstrations is to establish our representativeness and ensure that the institutions listen to our demands. Act Up-Paris has to be present on all fronts:
in the streets, in the media and in the offices of policy-makers, for that is where decisive action must be taken, day after day, in the fight against AIDS

FIGHT BACK, FIGHT AIDS !

The AIDS epidemic began 16 years ago :

• No truly effective antiretroviral is available for all.
  
• No effort is made to provide information about HIV to gay men, IVDUs or people who do not speak french (to take a few examples).
• No AIDS education or sex education is available in schools.
  
• Nothing is done to promote risk reduction among IVDUs.
  
• No rights for undocumented foreigners suffering from life-threathing.
  
• The prison system completely ignores HIV-related issues.
  
• No emergency measures have been taken to help French hospitals deal with the AIDS crisis.
  
• Too little research has been done about women and AIDS.
  
• The housing difficulties faced by many people with AIDS who are not being properly addressed.
  
• Nothing is done to provide people with AIDS who are unable to work with a decent income.
  
• Too little research is being done about children and AIDS.
  
• No real measures have been taken to help developing countries deal with the AIDS crisis.

More information can be found at other ACT UP web sites:


• ACT UP/New York
  
• ACT UP/Golden Gate
  
• ACT UP/Philadelphia
  
• Help us : Order T-shirts,buttons, the book and the video from Act Up-Paris.
  
• Make a good action: suscribe to Action! (our newsletter) 80 FF and 11 issues at home.
  
• Return to the home page of Act Up-Paris
  
• Return to the "meet Act Up-Paris" page or the "Some history..." page
  
• Read our news and what we have done in Vancouver