TAC civil disobedience

Please volunteer for TAC civil disobedience 
 
"Zackie Achmat" zackie@pixie.co.za> 

4 March 2003

Please circulate widely

Dear All

Every day more than 600 people in South Africa die of HIV/AIDS-
related illnesses.  Many lives could have been saved had our 
government shown urgency and commitment.  We still have a chance 
to save millions of lives. Regrettably, the Minister of Health 
continues to equivocate. After four years of negotiations, 
petitions, marches, litigation and appeals, the Treatment Action 
Campaign (TAC) has decided to begin a peaceful campaign of civil 
disobedience on 21 March 2003.  TAC requests your support in this 
campaign. We are mobilising 600 people across the country who will 
volunteer to get arrested in our civil disobedience campaign. To 
volunteer, please fill out the form below and fax it to 021 788 3507. 
Please state if we can use your name in adverts of people who will 
volunteer to be arrested.

We require volunteers with easy access to Cape Town, Johannesburg, 
Pretoria, Durban, Pietermaritzburg, East London, Port Elizabeth and 
Nelspruit. If you volunteer, please be prepared to be asked to 
participate in an action some time between the 18th and 25th of March. 
If you can only make it at certain times or dates, please note these 
on your reply form. We aim to sustain our campaign until government 
makes an unequivocal and irreversible commitment to anti-retroviral 
therapy for all people who need it in the public sector. We also 
demand that government returns to NEDLAC to negotiate the national 
treatment and prevention plan.

All civil disobedience actions will be peaceful and dignified, but 
those participating are almost certain to be arrested. We will try 
to arrange immediate release after arrest, but there is a possibility 
of spending between one and three nights in police cells. TAC will 
provide full legal support, bail and other resources related to civil 
disobedience actions. We will not provide legal support or bail for 
anyone who commits an act of violence.  Our aim is to change 
government policy and to unite people to condemn government 
culpability in the deaths of more than 600 people every day. We will 
not be provoked into acts of violence. We aim to expose the violence 
of allowing 600 children, men and women to die because they are poor 
and cannot afford medicines.

We urge government to act immediately to prevent the civil 
disobedience campaign. We appeal to every person in South Africa to 
call on government to act with speed, commitment and humility to 
fulfill its constitutional obligations. 

Show your solidarity. Join the TAC civil disobedience campaign.  
Sign on with the form below.

Forward to a national treatment and prevention plan.


Zackie Achmat on behalf of the TAC National Executive Committee

 
Reply by fax only to: 021 788 3726 or hand in to your provincial TAC 
office.

I Volunteer for TAC Civil Disobedience
I volunteer to participate in the TAC Civil Disobedience campaign.  
I am participating in civil disobedience because millions of people 
with HIV/AIDS in our country are dying unnecessary, premature and 
avoidable deaths. They die because they do not have access to anti-
retroviral medicines and proper care. My conscience is guided by 
our Constitution that guarantees the right to life, dignity, 
equality and access to health care. I want government to sign the 
NEDLAC framework agreement for a national HIV/AIDS treatment and 
prevention plan. I also want government to commit to rolling out 
antiretroviral therapy for people with HIV/AIDS.

I volunteer to (scratch out "Be arrested" if you do not wish to 
be arrested):

  a.. Be arrested 
  b.. Organise activities in support of the civil disobedience 
      campaign including support for people who may be arrested.

If I have chosen to be arrested:

  a.. I am over 18 years of age. 
  b.. I understand that this might mean spending a short time in 
      prison and ultimately getting a criminal record. However, I 
      understand that TAC will try to defend me from getting a 
      criminal record and do all it can to ensure that I spend as 
      little time in prison as possible. 
  c.. So long as any act I commit is non-violent and within the 
      instructions of the TAC National Executive Committee, TAC 
      must provide me with legal support for any charges I face 
      resulting from my civil disobedience actions.
 
Full Name:         ____________________________________________

Signature:         ____________________________________________

ID Number:        _____________________________________________

Date:            ___________________________

Address:         ______________________________________________

Work Tel:         ___________________    Home Tel:    _________

Cell:             ___________________    Email:        ________

Person to Contact if I am arrested: ___________________________

Telephone number of person to contact: ________________________

Dates and times that I cannot participate: ____________________

Below is my suggestion for a civil disobedience action (optional):

---------------

www.nu.ac.za/ccs