{"value"=>"<p>Day of Desperation [from the ACT UP Capsule History: ]</p> <div class=\"note\"> <p> January 23, 1991 - ACT UP declares a \"Day of Desperation\" in New York City. This action, designed to target every aspect of city life, demands that everyone realize that every day is a day of desperation for those in the AIDS community. The Day of Desperation action begins when activists invade PBS and CBS Evening News broadcasts on the night of the 22nd. On the 23rd a morning demonstration begins on Wall Street and more than 2,000 protesters march with coffins that are delivered to city, state and federal officials responsible for perpetuating the AIDS epidemic. An action at the State Office Building in Harlem demands an end to the city homeless shelter system. The Housing Committee joins Stand Up Harlem, Emmaus House and various Harlem religious leaders in protesting the lack of housing and services for people with HIV. The march goes down Martin Luther King Blvd. to the State Office Bldg, carrying coffins with a demonstration at the plaza. Several people are arrested. The Latino/a Caucus invade the Bronx Borough President's office; the Alternative and Holistic Committee videotapes Dr. Emilio Carrillo as he promises to add immuno-enhancing nutritional programs and acupuncture to city hospitals. At 5:07 pm, Grand Central Station is the setting for a spectacular and massive act of civil disobedience as ACT UP takes over the station. A banner announcing \"One AIDS Death Every Eight Minutes\" is hung over the arrivals-time board. 263 people are later arrested as they march on 42nd Street.</p></div> <p>Text of flyer hand-out:</p> <div class=\"note\"> <p>The AIDS Crisis is Just Beginning. 1,175 people died of AIDS last week and you murdered them.</p> <p>President Bush and Congress murdered them. Within a matter of months the U.S. Government is able to house, feed and provide health care for half a million people in the middle of the desert. But here at home, the Federal Government continues to routinely deny these same basic necessities to people living with AIDS. We wonder--as we fight a war for oil in the Persian Gulf--whether President Bush and Congress are conscious of the desperate state of the AIDS crisis in this country. We are. Through 10 years of this plague and 10 years of Republican administrations, there remains no leadership. After overwhelmingly (and with much fanfare) passing the C.A.R.E. Act (aka the Ryan White Act), Congress and President Bush failed to appropriate the funds necessary to implement this disaster relief. Why is it that when a hurricane or earthquake hits--and causes mostly property damage and relatively few deaths---federal dollars pour in? When a disease devastates whole communities and kills more than 110,000 men, women and children--more than twice the number of Americans killed in the Vietnam War--our leaders remain silent. And you remain silent. Silence = Death.</p> <p>Governor Cuomo murdered them. In order to cope with New York State's fiscal problems, Governor Cuomo is attempting to balance his budget with people's lives. What happened to his five-year AIDS plan? New York's AIDS budget received few cuts, but it is simply not keeping pace with the epidemic. Budgets must be balanced, but not at the cost of thousands of New Yorkers lives. Cuomo has never declared New York State a disaster area. He has never personally gone to Washington to lobby for federal AIDS-relief funding. Mario Cuomo is governor of the AIDS capital of the world. His \"family of New York\" is dying. Where is the leadership New York needs to weather this storm? President Cuomo???</p> <p>Mayor Dinkins murdered them. During his successful campaign for mayor, David Dinkins made many promises concerning people living with AIDS. Dinkins has broken all of these promises, except one: Against the advice of every major authority on I.V. drug use and its connection to AIDS, Dinkins and his inept health commissioner, Woody Myers, scrapped the city's needle-exchange program. They ignore the evidence that needle exchange not only stops the spread of AIDS in the I.V. drug-using communities, but also acts as a bridge into treatment programs. I.V. drug users, their sexual partners and their children have the highest rate of new HIV infection. The cause is clear. The fix is cheap: Clean needles save lives. Dinkins' policy is genocidal.</p> <p>Did you murder them too? As 1 in 25 New Yorkers is infected with HIV...As more than 10,000 people with AIDS are homeless...As our children become infected...As the Catholic Church continues to interfere in public health policy...As promising new treatments remain unavailable...As we continue to die... Will you continue to do nothing? ACT UP</p></div>"}
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{"value"=>"<p>First edited program on ACT UP's Day of Desperation Action. (1/23/91) for public access cable television. Contains the morning march footage; the day's various zaps; Grand Central Station action; a time-lapse background sequence of an ACT UP meeting (at Cooper Union's Great Hall) and a \"Faceless Bureaucrats\" prevue.</p> <div class=\"note\"> <p> This program was programmed as a one-time \"special\" produced BEFORE the weekly series was established. See also the later program #00901 \"Day of Desperation Retrospective\" re-edited for the weekly series.</p></div>"}