PHA-Exchange> N. Mandela's closing address

[Claudio Schuftan]

CLOSING ADDRESS BY FORMER PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA
AT THE 13TH INTERNATIONAL AIDS CONFERENCE, 14 JULY 2000, DURBAN
> 
> To have been asked to deliver the closing address at this conference,
> which in a very literal sense concerns itself with matters of life and
> death, weighs heavily upon me for the gravity of the responsibility
> placed on one.
> 
> No disrespect is intended towards the many other occasions where one has
> been privileged to speak, if I say that this is the one event where
> every word uttered, every gesture made, had to be measured against the
> effect it can and will have on the lives of millions of concrete, real
> human beings all over this continent and planet. This is not an academic
> conference. This is, as I understand it, a gathering of human beings
> concerned about turning around one of the greatest threats humankind has
> faced, and certainly the greatest after the end of the great wars of the
> previous century.
> 
> It is never my custom to use words lightly. If twenty-seven years in
> prison have done anything to us, it was to use the silence of solitude
> to make us understand how precious words are and how real speech is in
> its impact upon the way people live and die.
> 
> If by way of introduction I stress the importance of the way we speak,
> it is also because so much unnecessary attention around this conference
> had been directed towards a dispute that is unintentionally distracting
> from the real life and death issues we are confronted with as a country,
> a region, a continent and a world.
> 
> I do not know nearly enough about science and its methodologies or about
> the politics of science and scientific practice to even wish to start
> contributing to the debate that has been raging on the perimeters of
> this conference.
> 
> I am, however, old enough and have gone through sufficient conflicts and
> disputes in my life-time to know that in all disputes a point is arrived
> at where no party, no matter how right or wrong it might have been at
> the start of that dispute, will any longer be totally in the right or
> totally in the wrong. Such a point, I believe, has been reached in this
> debate.
> 
> The President of this country is a man of great intellect who takes
> scientific thinking very seriously and he leads a government that I know
> to be committed to those principles of science and reason.
> 
> The scientific community of this country, I also know, holds dearly to
> the principle of freedom of scientific enquiry, unencumbered by undue
> political interference in and direction of science.
> 
> Now, however, the ordinary people of the continent and the world - and
> particularly the poor who on our continent will again carry a
> disproportionate burden of this scourge - would, if anybody cared to ask
> their opinion, wish that the dispute about the primacy of politics or
> science be put on the backburner and that we proceed to address the
> needs and concerns of those suffering and dying. And this can only be
> done in partnership.
> 
> I come from a long tradition of collective leadership, consultative
> decision-making and joint action towards the common good. We have to
> overcome much that many thought insurmountable through an adherence to
> those practices. In the face of the grave threat posed by HIV/AIDS, we
> have to rise above our differences and combine our efforts to save our
> people. History will judge us harshly if we fail to do so now, and right
> now.
> 
> Let us not equivocate: a tragedy of unprecedented proportions is
> unfolding in Africa. AIDS today in Africa is claiming more lives than
> the sum total of all wars, famines and floods, and the ravages of such
> deadly diseases as malaria. It is devastating families and communities,
> overwhelming and depleting health care services; and robbing schools of
> both students and teachers.
> 
> Business has suffered, or will suffer, losses of personnel, productivity
> and profits; economic growth is being undermined and scarce development
> resources have to be diverted to deal with the consequences of the
> pandemic.
> 
> HIV/AIDS is having a devastating impact on families, communities,
> societies and economies. Decades have been chopped from life expectancy
> and young child mortality is expected to more than double in the most
> severely affected countries of Africa. AIDS is clearly a disaster,
> effectively wiping out the development gains of the past decades and
> sabotaging the future.
> 
> Earlier this week we were shocked to learn that within South Africa 1 in
> 2, that is half, of our young people will die of AIDS. The most
> frightening thing is that all of these infections, which statistics tell
> us about, and the attendant human suffering, could have been, can be,
> prevented.
> 
> Something must be done as a matter of the greatest urgency. And with
> nearly two decades of dealing with the epidemic, we now do have some
> experience of what works.
> 
> The experience in a number of countries has taught that HIV infection
> can be prevented through investing in information and life skills
> development for young people. Promoting abstinence, safe sex and the use
> of condoms and ensuring the early treatment of sexually transmitted
> diseases are some of the steps needed and about which there can be no
> dispute. Ensuring that people, especially the young, have access to
> voluntary and confidential HIV counselling and testing services and
> introducing measures to reduce mother-to-child transmission have been
> proven to be essential in the fight against AIDS. We have recognised the
> importance of addressing the stigmatisation and discrimination, and of
> providing safe and supportive environments for people affected by
> HIV/AIDS.
> 
> The experiences of Uganda, Senegal and Thailand have shown that serious
> investments in and mobilisation around these actions make a real
> difference. Stigma and discrimination can be stopped; new infections can
> be prevented; and the capacity of families and communities to care for
> people living with HIV and AIDS can be enhanced.
> 
> It is not, I must add, as if the South African government has not moved
> significantly on many of these areas. It was the first deputy president
> in my government that oversaw and drove the initiatives in this regard,
> and as President continues to place this issue on top of the national
> and continental agenda. He will with me be the first to concede that
> much more remains to be done. I do not doubt for one moment that he will
> proceed to tackle this task with the resolve and dedication he is known
> for.
> 
> The challenge is to move from rhetoric to action, and action at an
> unprecedented intensity and scale. There is a need for us to focus on
> what we know works.
> 
> We need to break the silence, banish stigma and discrimination, and
> ensure total inclusiveness within the struggle against AIDS; those who
> are infected with this terrible disease do not want stigma, they want
> love.
> 
> We need bold initiatives to prevent new infections among young people,
> and large-scale actions to prevent mother-to-child transmission, and at
> the same time we need to continue the international effort of searching
> for appropriate vaccines; and
> 
> We need to aggressively treat opportunistic infection; and
> 
> We need to work with families and communities to care for children and
> young people to protect them from violence and abuse, and to ensure that
> they grow up in a safe and supportive environment.
> 
> For this there is need for us to be focussed, to be strategic, and to
> mobilise all of our resources and alliances, and to sustain the effort
> until this war is won. About two years ago I invited one of the stars
> who opened this conference, Nkosi Johnson and as I spoke to him, I asked
> him a question: "what do you want to be when you are old?" and he said
> "well, I don't know." And I said "well you have enough time to consider
> that question", and I said "don't you want to be a president?" and he
> said "it looks like hard work." But the point is that all of us have a
> duty to give support and love to all those who, on many occasions, have
> become HIV positive not because of any bad behaviour on their part,
> especially children.
> 
> I invited to my house a young fellow who is sixteen but he is about this
> size, and he asked me a question I dreaded because in the course of the
> conversation with other children, some suffering from cancer, other from
> HIV, others from tuberculosis and he said to me: what do you think of
> men like myself. It was very difficult to answer because he suffers from
> a type of cancer which affects the bone, which has made his bones
> brittle and every time somebody touches him roughly there is a breakage
> somewhere in his body and he asked me this question: "what do think of
> people like myselves? The difficulty was that I did not want to give him
> a false hope, at the same time I could not refrain from answering the
> question, I then said to him "the important thing is that you are alive,
> you have the security of having two parents who love you, you are a very
> bright, intelligent youngster, don't thing you will leave your family,
> your beloveds, your people, your country under a cloud of shame. You
> must be determined that you will disappear under a cloud of glory and I
> quoted to him a verse which I often repeat, especially when I am faced
> with the situation of having to say good bye to somebody "cowards die
> many times before their death, the valiant never taste of death but
> once, of all the wonders I yet have seen it seems most strange that men
> should fear seeing that death, a necessary act will death when it will
> come" that was Shakespeare and everyone who listens to those words
> disappears under a cloud of glory, becomes a worthy candidate for
> immortality. We want to move away from rhetoric to practical action and
> as I said earlier this morning we want men and women who can penetrate
> the exterior and appreciate the beauty inside every human being.
> 
> We need, and there is increasing evidence of, African resolve to fight
> this war. Others will not save us if we do not primarily commit
> ourselves. Let us, however, not underestimate the resources required to
> conduct this battle. Partnership with the international community is
> vital. A constant theme in all our messages has been that in this
> inter-dependent and globalised world, we have indeed again become the
> keepers of our brother and sister. That cannot be more graphically the
> case than in the common fight against HIV/AIDS.
> 
> As one small contribution to the great combined effort that is required,
> I have instructed my Foundation to explore in consultation with others
> the best way in which we can be involved in the battle against this
> terrible scourge ravaging our continent and world. It is, I think, not
> something that can be achieved by a single individual. No matter how
> important, how influential, it is essentially a package in each country
> between governments, because no government anywhere in the world has
> sufficient resources on its own to be able to fight and win this battle.
> Therefore, there must be a partnership between business and the
> community without that this battle will not be won and also to use the
> skills, the experience, the research that have been conducted all over
> the world in order to enlighten our people as how to approach this
> tragedy.
> 
> With these words, I thank all of you most sincerely for your involvement
> in that struggle. Let us combine our efforts to ensure a future for our
> children. The challenge is no less.
> 
> I have been asked on countless occasions, which of the heads of states
> of the world has impressed me most. Well I have to be careful because
> that answer to that question could lead to a diplomatic row any many
> countries I do not mention could withdraw their ambassadors from South
> Africa but I often say that my heroes are not necessarily men and women
> who have titles, it is the humble men and women that you find in all
> communities but who have chosen the world as the theatre of their
> operations, who feel the greatest challenges are the socio-economic
> issues that face the world like poverty, illiteracy, disease, lack of
> housing, inability to send your children to school - those are my
> heroes. If any head of state qualifies in this, he is my hero.
> 
> I thank you.