On January 1, 2014, ActUP activists staged a Die-In at Major De Blasio’s inauguration. The protestors disrupted the inauguration after they repetitively demanded that New York City lawmakers revert their attention to the AIDS epidemic. To prove that the NYC government has blood on its hands, activists staged a Die-in where they lay for hours to disturb the inauguration, and symbolize those whom the government’s negligence has killed.
On August 23, 1997, five activists were arrested after locking down the Old Executive Office Building to deny Al Gore access to proceed with his U.S.-South Africa deal on pharmaceutical access. ActUP activists argued that his proposed agreement unfairly limits South Africa’s right to produce and import essential drugs at affordable prices. These activists postponed the workday, as officials took hours cutting the activists’ chains. The activists’ goal was to interrupt the workday to distrust the movement on Al Gore’s harmful procedure.
In the 1980s, the AIDs epidemic began to wreak havoc across the country, specifically amongst gay men. These affected communities felt that the government and other facets of society were not addressing the epidemic properly and so, they were dying in massive proportions. A group of committed activists formed an organization called ACTUP and used disruptive tactics to create more awareness about their issue. One of the most provocative techniques they used was to gather in large amounts and play dead with signs that suggested who was responsible for their death, like the CDC. This paper by Steven Epstein details other such tactics that disrupted people’s every-day movements and oftentimes, forced them to reckon with the AIDs epidemic and its victims.