heathcare

ActUP Activists Lock Al Gore Out of Office

1990-2010, Blockade/Barricade, Date, Defining the Enemy, Disruptive Spaces, Institutions, Occupation, Queer, Subjectives of Refusal, Tactics of Disruption, The Workplace

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.

Activists Lock Gore Out of His Office, Criticizing Proposed S. Africa AIDS Drugs Deal – ACT UP_DCDownload

AIDS Activism- “By Any Means Necessary”

1990-2010, Authority, Blockade/Barricade, Consciousness Raising, Date, Defining the Enemy, Disruptive Spaces, Institutions, Occupation, Privatization, Queer, Sabotage/Ecotage, Subjectives of Refusal, Tactics of Disruption

Kiki Mason, an ActUP activist, wrote “Manifesto Destiny, By Any Means Necessary” to raise consciousness among his LGBTQ+ community to refuse the negligence of the United States Healthcare system and continue to live by “any means necessary.” Mason defines his disruption as continuing to live despite the government’s refusal to act rigorously in fighting the AIDS epidemic.

 “This is my message to everyone with AIDS: If you think the end is near, take someone with you. Hold the president of a drug company hostage. Splatter your blood across the desk of a politician. Trash an AIDS researcher’s home. When some silly-assed, blow-dried, brain-dead TV reporter asks you a stupid question about living with AIDS, spit in his face. Call the police and tell them you’ve put LSD in the water supply in retaliation for our genocide. Do it so they’ll know what it’s like to have your life ripped apart”

Kirk Mason (1996)

The-ACT-UP-Historical-Archive_-By-Any-Means-Necessary-by-Kiki-MasonDownload