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Imagine yourself in their shoes
23/04/2003 21:39 - (SA)
Cape Town - Protesters will place 600 pairs of shoes outside the doors of South Africa's High Commission in London on Thursday to symbolise the number of people who die of Aids-related illnesses each day in South Africa.
The demonstration will be part of an international day of solidarity with the Treatment Action Campaign's demand for a public sector antiretroviral (ARV) programme.
According to the TAC, elsewhere in the world marchers will participate in a "die in" at the South African embassy in Amsterdam, while similar shoe protests will be held in Los Angeles, Washington DC and Milan.
In Japan, 600 paper cranes will be delivered to the embassy in Tokyo. The bird is a symbol of hope and longevity in Japan.
In addition, the TAC says, "solidarity actions" are planned in other European countries, Canada, Ivory Coast, Venezuela, the Caribbean region, Namibia, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Uganda.
In South Africa, TAC plans what spokesperson Nathan Geffen described on Wednesday as "actions" at the Department of Labour's offices in Cape Town and the Department of Health in Pretoria.
The TAC has already laid culpable homicide charges against Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and her trade and industry counterpart Alec Erwin, as part of a civil disobedience campaign that began on March 20.
Geffen said he believed the campaign had resulted in a change in the government's rhetoric on the ARV treatment issue.
"But we still need to see and actual change in policy and implementation of policy," he said.
Asked how long the campaign would continue, he said: "Until it comes to a point where we feel there's no further point in doing so - which we believe is a long way away - or government meets our demands."
The TAC wants government to commit to a national public sector ARV programme and return to negotiations at Nedlac on a national HIV/Aids prevention and treatment plan.
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