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December 1st is Everyday - Submission for Panorama
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December 1st 1988 19 years ago, I was at pre-school and my mom, then working at my country’s AIDS/STI unit, dropped by to give me a free t-shirt with a fancy logo and a red ribbon. This was the first inkling of the term HIV/AIDS. In Botswana, where I grew up, most people have heard of HIV/AIDS, most people have had family members die from AIDS related Opportunistic Infections. In my immediate family, no one has been infected to my knowledge as we are all careful, I hope. My mother has been involved with the epidemic as a volunteer and public health specialist from its emergence and I am currently involved in researching the media response to the epidemic in Southern Africa. For us in the sub-Saharan, Indian, Eastern European, Latin American, South East Asian and Chinese contexts, AIDS has and will become a major part of our every day psyche. How effective is having World AIDS Day?

From my personal viewpoint, December 1st 2007 is important. It’s a day to see how far we’ve come, to revisit the past and look towards the future with brighter and better responses to the epidemic. It is a day to recognize the fact that while AIDS has become our everyday nightmare, we are aware and doing something towards changing the effects of the epidemic. But it is also a warning, that we haven’t done enough and that we can do better, at home and abroad. We need freer access to generic ARVs and grants for research in the field. We need the young people of the developing world and AIDs affected regions to go out and learn skills and trades to return to not only immediately mitigate the epidemic, but create the opportunities for development in order to counter the social factors contributing to the spread of disease. AIDS is multi-faceted and has brought along with its far reaching consequences a grave warning.

When the next major virus arrives, we need to be prepared, educationally, economically and culturally. We need to prevent social stigma, have alternative forms of employment and bolster peace and securities within our borders. The stress of climate change on resources can only serve to increase the possibility for armed conflict, which in the case of AIDS has been a major contributing factor. International Development is much more than the creation of opportunities for a better life above subsistence, it is the key towards survival, and is as multi-faceted as the AIDS epidemic that has been a major hindrance to its progress. For my country and others, with promising economies and increasingly talented citizens, AIDS and other epidemics prove to be a stumbling block. However the creation of a vaccine for one disease may stem the tide but effective social change and cultural ownership of development can prove to be effective barriers to the effects of disease, famine and disasters.

I hope that for the TIG community, December 1st is an opportunity to learn and share knowledge about AIDS and the effects it has on our societies, whereby we can create a consciousness towards better preparedness for the future, rather than just a day about free t-shirts and red ribbons.

November 27, 2007 | 4:04 PM Comments  0 comments



Inspiration for the new century

The world today is faced with many challenges and as concerned activists we tend to attack those in power, older and less in touch with reality. However, the mainstream of popular culture is targeted at youth, even less in touch with realty. If popular culture cannot inspire youth to take action to better their planet and fellow humans, then the prospects for the future of Inspire Inform and Involve are bleak. Through music, media and targeted youth-oriented discussion, it is my hope that we inspire a global identity among youth towards a goal of mutual understanding and assistance. We should exploit the airwaves and make use of bandwidth to inspire change. Listening to feedback and voices from around the world, a community of motivated youth can make suggestions and plans towards global participation in environment and human rights affairs. With effective lobbying through popular culture, we can strive to achieve change and demand that resources are effectively and fairly distributed worldwide.

I see the upcoming green movement as an example of this mobilisation, whereby bands and artists are championing a response to climate change. There are many areas in which this can be done and it is important that organisations such as TakingITGlobal are involved in concerts and charity events in addition to the daily discussion and communication among its members. In each country where TakingITGlobal is involved, culturally specific and astute methods for mobilisation can be suggested by the youth members in order to gain local support. Conversely on the global scale, the use of flash video websites, blogs and personal networking sites can provide the visual and textual links to information and research in a youth-oriented and simplified manner. Personally, as a recent graduate, I see simplification and popularization of development issues as crucial whereby academic and research-oriented tools can be alienating and ‘boring’ for youth worldwide.

May 4, 2007 | 12:44 PM Comments  1 comments

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