David . . . Amandla!

March 14th: Amandla!

Today was the morning of the big TAC march to Parliament. Lauren and Emily and I got up early to travel into the city, and Sarah and Manuela tagged along to witness the event. Once in Cape Town, we headed for Kaisergracht, the staging area where the march would begin.

This march was a part of TAC’s “Fix the Patent Laws” campaign, which was directed towards modifying South Africa’s patent granting process to halt patent abuses my pharmaceutical companies and to change legislation to make generic drugs more widely available. South Africa’s patent system for pharmaceutical drugs allows companies a year 20 protection on their intellectual property; after this time, other companies can produce and sell generic versions of this drug, spurring competition that substantially lowers drug prices. However, pharmaceutical companies have been taking advantage of SA’s lax patent laws to extend their patents beyond the 20-year limit by patenting certain minor changes to drug dosage and combinations. Therefore, a 20-year patent can be expanded for years more and the drug remains unaffordable.

The drugs in focus for this march are those used to treat certain rare cancers and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, an extremely serious and deadly condition that is growing in the townships. Successful TB treatment requires daily administration of drugs for periods ranging from 6 months to several years; interruption or cessation of treatment before completion will result in a resurgence of the disease and increases the chance of medications becoming ineffective. Currently, one day’s treatment for XDR TB costs R676, or around $65.00. XDR TB most often afflicts persons living in poverty and without resources, and cannot afford to pay this amount for treatment; even Medicines Sans Frontieres can only afford to treat 10-20% of XDR cases. This can be compared to India, where patent laws favoring consumers and generic drugs are much stronger, and daily treatment for XDR TB costs R25, or $2.50. Until these drugs are available to all South Africans, people will continue to die of these diseases.

The march was massive and well planned. Kaisergracht was swarming with minibus taxis unloading community members and activists from all over Cape Town and its surrounds. Hundreds of women, men, and young people were gathered there, all in white HIV Positive t-shirts, TAC’s trademark image. Women were there with their children, either tied tightly to their backs with a blanket or towels, or held on laps and in arms. Women sat in the minibus taxis and fed their children, and then passed out signs reading “GOVERNMENT DELAYS = DEATH”.

The march to parliament soon began, with over 1,500 activists walking through the streets, singing protest songs and holding signs aloft. Our march took up entire city blocks, and at one point subsumed a MyCiti bus between our segments. We chanted “VIVA TAC VIVA!” and “Down with pharmaceutical companies, down! Up with generic drugs, up!” I also distinctly remember one or two off-message chants slipping into there, including “Down with Capitalism, down! Up with Socialism, up!” Who can resist chanting? I cannot. Within forty minutes, we arrived at the gates of parliament, where activists assembled to listen to speakers and present the memorandum to a representative of parliament. The presentation went well, and the memorandum was received. Within minutes of the conclusion of the event, the crowd was on foot back to the staging area, we gathered up the discarded flyers and bits of trash, and then were gone. On the minibus ride home, I heard a news story about the march on the radio. With any luck, this demonstration will have put pressure on lawmakers to advance these practical and lifesaving changes. I know it was an incredible experience to be a part of such a movement, and will take these lessons back with me when I return to UConn and the states.