One of the oldest coalitions of AIDS community groups in the country is turning to new media to get a message to national policymakers that "AIDS is not over."
On Monday, 1 December, AIDS Action will mark World AIDS Day by launching what it's calling "the first electronic march on Washington" - a Web site, complete with a "Virtual Mall," that will enable netsurfers to learn more about AIDS policy, community activism, and the current outlook on the epidemic, as well as to send email to President Clinton and members of Congress. The site will remain online for a year.
Clinton himself will inaugurate the launch with a taped message viewable on the site, emphasizing the virtues of AIDS education for young people and encouraging open dialog on the subject. "Let me send a special message to young Americans," the president says. "Only you have the power to keep yourself safe.... This disease does not discriminate.... Share the facts with your friends. We must fight fear with facts. We must fight AIDS, not people with AIDS."
Though declining death rates for people with AIDS are cause for hope, says Daniel Zingale, the executive director of AIDS Action, "This is a pivotal time for AIDS policy. We can either recognize that our investments are paying off and redouble our efforts to fight this disease, or we can be lulled into simple complacency."
Most disturbing, Zingale observes, are statistics indicating an increase in sexually transmitted diseases among young people. Even the new generation of protease-inhibiting pharmaceutical "cocktails," which are credited with helping thousands of HIV-infected people to live longer, Zingale says, "don't work for everyone, and are not a cure for anyone."
Zingale says that some of the most pressing issues facing Congress - such as controversies over the legality of needle-exchange programs and Medicaid reform - will be addressed by policy papers on the site. The Virtual Mall, designed by artist Ruben Bolling, will allow "marchers" to carry "e-signs" to lawmakers like majority leaders Trent Lott and Newt Gingrich in the form of email messages. Boilerplate messages will be provided for those who do not wish to compose their own.
Though Zingale declares that previous marches on the nation's capital have "changed history," he acknowledges that an "e-march" on the Web may not have as profound an impact on participants as, say, the Million Man March, or the mass gatherings against the Vietnam War in the '60s.
"We don't think of the site as a replacement for those marches, but as a complement to them," Zingale says. "This will allow many people who couldn't otherwise participate to lend their voice and support. It will also be an interesting test of how seriously members of Congress take online messages."
