Patient-Worker Solidarity HIV, Straight Outta Capitalism

LOS ANGELES, June 14—HIV treatment has become a multi-billion dollar industry that includes medication options as simple as one pill a day with very few side effects. Treatment and cure is limited to what is profitable for the bosses, not what is necessary for working-class health. Due to the inherent nature of capitalism, the benefits of any medical advances are countries where these drugs can be purchased at a profit. The bulk of the world’s workers most afflicted have no access to these medications.
Today, there are drugs that can prevent HIV infections. Yet in the U.S., the world’s most vicious imperialist empire, mini-epidemics occur which disproportionately affect the Black and Latin communities. Because of capitalist problems — unemployment, underemployment, homelessness, drug use, mental illness and the sexist oppression against homosexual workers combined with the destructive force of racist mass incarceration of the Black and Latin communities — HIV/AIDS makes caring for those newly infected with HIV or already in care particularly more difficult.
This is why co-workers and a communist from an HIV clinic organized a patient-staff dinner and showed a movie “Straight Outta Compton” where we raised anti-racist politics.
Our organizing has been ongoing modestly at our clinic. Throughout nearly two years, our clinic raised money for the family of Ezell Ford, a 25-year-old Black man murdered by the LAPD the same time as Mike Brown in Ferguson. His mother visited our clinic and brought us sandwiches. Since then, conversations around racism, police murder, the elections and capitalism are commonplace. Two co-workers came to Progressive Labor Party’s recent May Day dinner.
Another co-worker who attended a pre-May Day cookout helped organize a recent patient- staff dinner and movie night. Twenty patients and four staff came. More had originally signed on to come but unfortunately it coincided with an award ceremony for our medical director. Nonetheless, it was a great first start for an ongoing series cementing patient-worker unity!
Build Multiracial Patient-Worker Unity
Research has shown that when patients are active in their social networks providing more positive interactions (no drug use, no oppression against homosexual people or HIV-related stigma), patients tend to solidify their HIV care. The empirical evidence has caught up to what communists have been building from the get-go: multiracial patient-worker solidarity.
Despite its reformist politics, we chose the movie “Straight Outta Compton” (see CHALLENGE 9/30/15), it’s pertinent to many of our patients who were raised, and still live in the same area, grew up on the music, and have been dealing with the same racist police terror. The communist in the clinic made a short introductory speech, drawing connections between the Ferguson rebellion and the 1992 Los Angeles rebellion following the racist acquittal of the cops who brutally beat Rodney King, a Black taxi worker.
Many patients related what they were doing during the rebellions. All related to the plight in the movie of Eazy E who dies of HIV/AIDS (HIV is the immunodeficiency virus that can lead to the AIDS syndrome and interfere with the body’s ability to fight infections.) After a brief discussion we enjoyed each other’s company and everyone was thankful for the event. Patients were asked to write down activities we could do together. We all bonded a little bit more, beginning to break the divide of “staff” and “patient.”  
Racist, Sexist Politics Breeds HIV
There should be a huge difference between those infected with HIV today and those who were infected decades ago. Prior to antiretroviral therapy, a cocktail of drugs used to prevent the growth of the virus, HIV infection meant death from some obscure infection or cancer as their immune system inevitably declined. Even with the first generation of antiretroviral drugs, saving lives came with multiple drug toxicities that caused organ damage and included taking up to 25 pills a day, which now have netted billions for the pharmaceutical bosses.
Cure the Working Class of Capitalism
At our clinic in South Los Angeles (between Watts and Compton counties) there are hundreds of mostly Black and Latin men, women, young and old, infected and newly infected individuals. Like many HIV clinics, in addition to clinicians, we have a medical staff of social workers, case workers, therapists and psychiatrists who address numerous social issues. Most can be handled on a case-by-case basis. However, this rarely leads to any long-term changes never has societal effects.
Social work helps save lives, but the blame for HIV/AIDS is always heaped on the individual. The focus of attacking HIV/AIDS should be geared towards attacking capitalism. Its constant exploitation and racist, sexist oppression leaves working-class bodies vulnerable to disease.
No matter how hard we work for our patients, as long as capitalism exists our individual efforts will always fall short. Best-case scenario for our patients: we retain a patient in care; they stay on HIV medications and thus improve their immune function so that they don’t die of AIDS.
However, we’re finding that while some don’t develop AIDS, as our patients live longer, they will not only be victimized by other preventable medical ailments — from heart disease to cancer — they tend to get these illnesses at younger ages. Less than 25 percent of those we know to be HIV positive remains in care, and even less controlled on HIV medications.
Ultimately the disease of capitalism wins out if we don’t organize to overthrow it. Our movie showing and dinner was a step towards building the kind of working-class relationships necessary to eradicate HIV/AIDS and capitalism. It’s one and the same fight!