Page 28 - Act Up News Today

Actup, using fake i.d. badges, tries to sneak into a number of news organizations. planning to disrupt their live broadcasts. they succeed at cbs. >> good evening. were going to take a break for a commercial just now. >> we knew that cameras were going to cut off as soon as they could. so we didnt know whether we were going to get one word out, two words out, or a whole sentence. so we came up with "fight aids, not arabs, act up, act back, fight aids." >> the next day, actups planned demonstrati...

Everything. city government was also absent. ed cotchs administration was not talking about aids publicly. >> actup is born in 1987, emerging from the powerlessness that many affected by the disease are feeling. >> actups original photo was also its formula. anger into action. our grief, after a while, became anger. we took that anger and frustration and we focused it. >> a key part of actups strategy is to use the media to spread its message. >> actup was very, very savvy. we had people like an...

>> actups success at not only defying authority, but creating revolutionary results, was the fact that we didnt simply get angry and shout in the streets. >> we did change the way the media talked about aids. we demanded the right to be able to live. and we fought like hell for action to happen to save our lives. coming up, a journalist puts his life in jeopardy to report from one of the most dangerous places on earth. when "caught on camera: defiance" continues. lily...she pretty much lives i...

Have died, actup believes that a stronger message needs to be delivered. >> we wanted to bring the remains of our loved ones who had died of aids to the white house. we decided that we would get drums and march in a funeral procession then try to urge people to leave the quilt and join us. >> tony arena is there with his videocamera. >> i just made sure that when they started to march, i started to march. >> 150,000 dead! >> and whatever they were doing, i was going to keep that camera on them. ...

Of people. people you knew. >> we are gathered here today to pay our last respects to the bush administration. >> i think the ashes action was kind of drawing a line in the sand and saying, we arent going to take it anymore. you know, we are bringing our dead to your door, and you had better start doing something to stop the dying, or, you know, you literally are going to be walking on bodies. >> shame, shame, shame, shame. >> it was the most emotionally charged thing ive ever participated in. w...

By 1 991, the number of people infected with hiv reaches 1 million. and theres still no effective drug treatment in sight. >> almost in step with the way the epidemic was exploding, the turnout to act up exploded. first it was a few dozen people planning, and then a thousand people or more showing up at a meeting. >> in january, 1991, around the 10-year anniversary of the epidemic, actup mounts a major coordinated protest, hoping to attract maximum media coverage. they call it day of desperation...

Reporting live from grand central terminal -- >> tony arena is a former videographer for actup. >> what i remember the most was the noise. i mean, we were so loud. >> so its hundreds and hundreds if not a thousand people inside grand central. it was an incredible thing to see. >> seeing the banners hanging over the train schedule and the banners floating on the ceiling gave me a sense of pride, you know, like, we really did it. >> day of desperation attracts attention to the cause, but the urgen...

Actup dying was just escalating and we were really getting tired of metaphors. and a lot of people were using rhetoric, when i die, throw my body over the white house fence. >> in 1992, with the presidential election looming, actups activists seized the opportunity to put aids research on the national agenda. >> actup began a year-long campaign called campaign 9 2: aids, vote if your life depended on it. >> on october 11th, three weeks before the election, thousands of actup members come to wash...

>> as we got into the 90s, the number of our friends within actup dying was just escalating and we were really getting tired of metaphors. and a lot of people were using rhetoric, when i die, throw my body over the white house fence. >> in 1992, with the presidential election looming, actups activists seized the opportunity to put aids research on the national agenda. >> actup began a year-long campaign called campaign 92: aids, vote if your life depended on it. >> on october 11th, three weeks b...

The tip and then he looks out for you with some food. see, thats how jail works. if youre good to people, people are good to you. if you act like an [ bleep ] -- >> over the last several days, were starting to see the behavior change because weve been giving him less attention, having one or two people dealing with him. weve started to kind of trim the numbers down so when he does act up, we just have the necessary people around to deal with him, and up to this point, we have seen some improveme...