60 years after the UN Convention - Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation

a luta continua! – south african hiv activism, embodiment and state politics 253
In this terrain, no easy moral high ground can be occupied, however.
In the thoroughly political space of embodiment, easy rights and
wrongs cannot be pinpointed, but, rather, diff erent confi gurations
of power. This kind of politics builds on the belief that people can
be convinced that some policies save lives and some lead to unnecessary
loss of life. These conclusions, however, need to be set alongside
questions of how to design health and economic policies that enable
life. In the aftermath of Mbeki’s resignation, one can ask whether activists’
resorting to a rights and facts discourse signals resignation, and
lack of faith in fair political debate. In our analysis of democratic practices
and the role of civil society, such a signal is alarming.
Obviously, South Africa’s apartheid history with its oppressive health
policies, and moreover the struggle over HIV/AIDS policy during the
last 10 years, has created a trauma, a psycho-societal monster of endless
lies, accusations, misunderstandings and betrayals (Fassin 2007).
But during the same process the country has, actually, also managed
to develop the largest publicly funded ARV treatment programme in
the whole world, an achievement with enormous impact on the nation
and internationally, and especially for the African continent, as
an example of what is possible. Currently, the social movements remain
alive and kicking, and the ANC has shown that it is not unable
to undergo change: the South African state is still in its making, and
it has great potential.
Public health, public politics
An analysis of the TAC’s relationship with the state and the government
from a social movement research perspective understandably employs a
militarised language – the campaign is about wins, gains and battles (see,
for example, Friedman and Mottiar 2006: 27), but this perspective may
not describe the whole picture of TAC as a public health social movement.
As it aspires to infl uence government health policy and service
delivery, it cannot ‘win’ a struggle over the government. A public health
campaign is always in a situation of shifting policies and uncertain outcomes,
and cannot but work with the government if it is to succeed.
In comparison to an organisation like ACT UP in the United States,
where activists clearly were not working with the US government, the
TAC ‘has to be so much more sophisticated’ (private discussion with
a former ACT UP activist at Global Treatment Access congress, Cape
Town, 2003). Success means not only winning the support of the constituency
but ensuring a government-funded and orchestrated delivery
of health services and medication. Therefore, political play is more contested
and risky in a case like this, compared to – for example – a situ-