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The way of the world.
Aug. 11th, 2005 02:57 pmA truly shocking statistic which came my way the other day is the fact that, as I write, more than 20% of the population - that's 9 million people - of South Africa are HIV positive.
We are usually led to believe that the responsibility for this lies in two places:
1) With Western Pharmacutical companies who won't license their retroviral drugs for cheap copies to be used in Africa, and
2) With Pope Benedict who, if the online community is to be believed, spends most of his time running round Africa whipping Rubber Jonnies out of the grasp of Africans whilst laughing like The Hooded Claw.
There's a degree of truth in this. Both the above could be doing rather more to help the situation, but when blame is being apportioned some names we rarely hear are those of the South African Government. President Thabo Mbeki has gone on record as denying a causal link between HIV and AIDS and who (until the High Court over-ruled him in 2002) actively restricted the availability of retroviral drugs in South Africa on the basis that he didn't think they worked. Another name we rarely hear is that of South African Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who actually makes Mbeki look rational in his dealings with HIV. In 1999, she distributed the astoundingly deranged book Behold, a pale horse by William Cooper to regional health bosses in South Africa. This stupendously bonkers document claims, amongst other things, that AIDS was introduced to Africa to annihilate the blacks by the Illuminati, working in cahoots with flying-saucer people.
With a government like this, who needs The Hooded Claw?
We are usually led to believe that the responsibility for this lies in two places:
1) With Western Pharmacutical companies who won't license their retroviral drugs for cheap copies to be used in Africa, and
2) With Pope Benedict who, if the online community is to be believed, spends most of his time running round Africa whipping Rubber Jonnies out of the grasp of Africans whilst laughing like The Hooded Claw.
There's a degree of truth in this. Both the above could be doing rather more to help the situation, but when blame is being apportioned some names we rarely hear are those of the South African Government. President Thabo Mbeki has gone on record as denying a causal link between HIV and AIDS and who (until the High Court over-ruled him in 2002) actively restricted the availability of retroviral drugs in South Africa on the basis that he didn't think they worked. Another name we rarely hear is that of South African Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who actually makes Mbeki look rational in his dealings with HIV. In 1999, she distributed the astoundingly deranged book Behold, a pale horse by William Cooper to regional health bosses in South Africa. This stupendously bonkers document claims, amongst other things, that AIDS was introduced to Africa to annihilate the blacks by the Illuminati, working in cahoots with flying-saucer people.
With a government like this, who needs The Hooded Claw?
