Larry Kramer, gay rights and AIDS activist, dies at 84

Larry Kramer, a prominent gay rights activist whose vociferous writings and actions took on a lagging government response to the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, has died. He was 84 years old.

"Rest in power to our fighter Larry Kramer. Your rage helped inspire a movement. We will keep honoring your name and spirit with action," tweeted Act Up -- the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power -- one of several groups he founded as the HIV virus ravaged the gay community in the late 20th century.

Citing Kramer's husband, The New York Times attributed his death to pneumonia. The octogenarian had suffered a number of afflictions in his storied life, including HIV and liver disease, for which he underwent a transplant in 2001.

In 1981 Kramer founded the Gay Men's Health Crisis, the first organization supporting HIV-positive people, leaving a year later following disputes with his fellow organizers.

He went on to found Act Up in 1987, leading protest marches and disruptions of government offices, Wall Street and Catholic leadership to shock US leaders into combatting AIDS.

Born on June 25, 1935 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Kramer graduated from Yale in 1957 before doing a stint in the Army.

He then made a foray into film, working in London on "Dr. Strangelove" and "Lawrence of Arabia."

He was known as a provocative screenwriter, nabbing a 1971 Academy Award nomination for his adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's "Women in Love."

He later turned to themes of homesexuality, publishing in 1978 a lightning rod of a first novel -- "Faggots" -- which through its piercing satire explored promiscuity, drug use and sadomasochism in the gay community.

In the early 1980s Kramer was among the first activists to recognize AIDS as a fatal infection likely to spread and kill globally across lines of gender.

"Our continued existence depends on just how angry you can get.... Unless we fight for our lives we shall die," he wrote in a 1983 essay published in a gay-focused outlet, the New York Native.

Though his harsh rhetoric and often combative style alienated some, he channeled his furor over the government's perceived apathy on AIDS into urgent work that ultimately transformed American health care.

"In American medicine, there are two eras -- before Larry and after Larry," Anthony Fauci, an infectious disease expert now leading the US fight against the coronavirus pandemic, told The New Yorker in 2002.

Fauci, who became one of the nation's most prominent voices on federal AIDS research, developed a friendship with Kramer after the activist grabbed his attention after dubbing the doctor an "incompetent idiot" and killer in 1988.

Kramer's singular voice played a key role in pushing the federal government to improve testing and approval of drug regimes for HIV patients.

"Once you got past the rhetoric," Fauci told the NYT upon learning of the activist's death, "you found that Larry Kramer made a lot of sense, and that he had a heart of gold."

"Larry Kramer's death hits our community hard," tweeted GLAAD, a nonprofit centered on LGBTQ acceptance.

"He was a fighter who never stood down from what he believed was right, and he contributed so much to the fight against HIV/AIDS."

Agence France-Presse

Saudi court jails rights activist over tweets

DUBAI - A Saudi court sentenced human rights activist Issa al-Nukheifi to six years in prison on Wednesday over tweets critical of the government, a rights group said, confirming a Saudi newspaper report.

Saudi newspaper Okaz said the defendant, who it did not identify, was accused of criticising Saudi Arabia's intervention in neighbouring Yemen, insulting the government and objecting to its decisions, criminal proceedings and security procedures.


ALQST, a London-based Saudi rights group, identified the defendant as Issa al-Nukheifi, an activist who was detained in December 2016. It condemned the conviction and sentencing.

Amnesty International called for his immediate release.

"Instead of engaging with activists on reforms, the authorities are going after them one by one, with almost all of the country’s human rights activists now silenced or imprisoned," Dana Ahmed, the group's campaigner on Saudi Arabia, said.

The Saudi Ministry of Interior declined to comment on Nukheifi's case.

Okaz reported that his sentence was also for re-tweeting anti-government accounts and simultaneously receiving money transfers from a prisoner still serving a sentence.

Nukheifi was sentenced to six years of prison and, following his release, a six year ban on social media as well as a six year travel ban outside of the country.

Nukheifi was previously arrested, tried and sentenced to prison for similar offences, an Amnesty report said. He was detained in 2012 and released in April 2016, only to be arrested eight months later.

On Tuesday, ALQST published a letter by Nukheifi from custody addressed to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"I was very happy listening to your speeches and interviews where you call for freedom of expression and respecting human rights, which is what we call for and work with you to achieve," he wrote. "I am writing to you from inside my imprisonment, having been detained for asking for these (steps)."

In September, the arrest by Saudi authorities of some 30 clerics, intellectuals and activists was condemned by another group, Human Rights Watch.

Its Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson said at the time that the arrests were a sign that "Mohammed bin Salman has no real interest in improving his country’s record on free speech and the rule of law".

Crown Prince Mohammed has rocketed to the pinnacle of power in Saudi Arabia, pushing a reform agenda called Vision 2030 aimed at weaning the country off oil and introducing social reforms. Critics say he is not doing enough to liberalise politics in a country where the king enjoys absolute authority.

In a Washington Post article published on Wednesday, when the crown prince was asked whether he might release human rights activists before his visit to the United States next month, the paper reported him as saying that Saudi standards were different to American ones and "if it works, don’t fix it".

The paper said he added later through an aide that he would consider reforms in this area, as in others.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Fil-Ams mark Martial Law anniversary with protests

LOS ANGELES - Forty-one years ago, martial law was implemented in the Philippines. The human rights violations eventually sparked a revolution.

But while it had since been abolished, Filipinos are still fighting to end corruption, holding a vigil to call for an end to the pork barrel system.

While the numbers have dwindled since the last anti-pork protest, even non-Filipinos are joining the fight against corruption.

"This issue itself very much relates to issues we face here in the United States -- the example of public funds money that should be going to the people, being stolen and summed up to these very corrupt politicians," Mike Prysner of the Answer Coalition said.

Last week, 38 people including 3 senators were charged with plunder, the misuse of public funds.

Activists are expecting more lawmakers to also face raps.

"We are making progress because the plunder charges has been filed. But we are following (the issue) and our demand is still President Aquino should finish this job within 100 days because if not it will just be like Maguindanao massacre case," said Arturo Garcia
US Action Against Pork Barrel

In the meantime, Fil-Am activists commemorated martial law with recently returned missionaries.

They said they got a first hand look at the effects of the pork barrel scam, as they visited impoverished communities in Mindanao.

"It was obvious when the money was not getting to the people who need it especially the indigenous tribes," Pastor Frank Wulf of Panaghiusa said.

"To know that if the funding was going to social services to the people instead of to these scams being wasted through the pork barrel, they would have what they need," Theresa Jaranilla of Bayan USA said.

The annual Panaghiusa International Solidarity Mission brought over 30 people from around the world to the Philippines, focusing on educational, livelihood and medical needs.

Basic necessities that they believe the government should be funding.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

'Beastie Boys' MCA Dead at 47

11:30 AM PT -- MCA's publicist just released a statement, writing, "It is with great sadness that we confirm that musician, rapper, activist and director Adam 'MCA' Yauch ... passed away in his native New York City this morning after a near-three-year battle with cancer. He was 47 years old."

1:00 PM PT -- A rep for the Dalai Lama -- of whom MCA was a huge supporter -- tells TMZ, "Adam had helped us raise awareness on the plight of the Tibetan people by organizing various freedom Tibet concerts and he will be remembered by his holiness and the Tibetan people."

Adam met several times with the Dalai Lama while he was sick -- most recently last July, when the Dalai Lama blessed him.

article source: TMZ