Bay Windows - National News September 21, 2000
Beth Berlo, Bay Windows staff

ôBe Very Afraidö contains the text of a speech he read during a memorial service July 27 for AIDS activist/columnist Stephen Gendin. Kramer challenges HIV-positive men to form cells ù the kind he parallels with underground groups such as the French Resistance.

Fed up with what he sees as widespread apathy around gay men and AIDS activism, Kramer said during a phone interview from his home in Manhattan Aug. 18: ôWhat angers me most about gay men is that theyÆre so fucking apolitical. Most of them are so unwilling to fight for a better life for us. IÆm very down on gays, period.ö

Questioned about his suggesting violence as a means of activism, Kramer toned down his rhetoric, saying that readers can get what they want from it, and then asked to change the subject.

In the article, Kramer writes: ôIf we no longer have enough rage left in us, we have something else. We have learned, have we not, how to be clever and crafty. With this, we can forge a quiet activism that could be much more sinister. Speaking softly without smiling can be scarier than chants and screams.ö

Kramer asked people who attended the memorial service if they knew what a cell was. He explained it is a group of people who know each other secretly and decide their activities secretly and tell nothing to anyone else. ôThey swear secrecy and pledge complete trust to their cellmates,ö he said. ôThe French Resistance and the Israeli Irgun were made of cells. The use of cells is the next phase of any movement when progress has stopped, when a dead end has been reached, when death stares you in the face.ö

Carisa Cunningham, director of communications at BostonÆs AIDS Action Committee said: ôYou have to admire LarryÆs bottomless energy for the fight. I have to say, I knew Stephen Gendin too, and he would have loved that idea. I think that a variety of methods are needed. I donÆt think that model of activity has ever worked well in this country for a variety of reasons. But I would agree with him that I would like to see people with HIV become recommitted to the fight against AIDS. I think there is a wariness and not only among gay men.ö

Kramer, who turned 65 this year and has been HIV-positive since 1987, said heÆs been so sick with side effects from medicines and lost so much weight, he wears overalls many days. ôPants fall off of me when I wear them,ö he wrote. ôI have to walk down the street with my hands in my pockets holding them up. Unless I have my hands in my pockets hiking up my underpants. Or my Pampers. Stephen and I had an inimitable conversation not so long ago exchanging stories about shitting in your pants before you could get to a john. Yeah, I feel dirty and shitty in a lot of ways.ö

As one of the founders of ACT UP in the early 1980s, Kramer, after years of in-your-face activism with the group, stepped down to allow for what he called the ônew rebelsö to take over.

One of the most aggressive groups to ever go after drug manufacturers, policy makers and the Catholic Church, ACT UP also left a sour taste in many peopleÆs mouths, including many gay men with HIV and AIDS. Yet others argue that advances made in AIDS research wouldnÆt be where it is today without its efforts.

From throwing condoms during a Mass at St. PatrickÆs Cathedral to staging open-casket funerals in front of the White House, ACT UP did shine a light on a disease most politicians and policy makers wanted to wish away.

ItÆs important to Kramer, he said, for anyone with any illness who wants to survive, to be pro-active and knowledgeable about every aspect of their sickness that they can: ôMore and more, the information thatÆs coming out about these new drugs that weÆre taking, is that weÆre not going to be able to take them much longer. Too many side-effects for any human body to live through and weÆve got to realize that the honeymoon is shortly to be over.ö

Because of the often-unbearable side effects of drugs such as Sustiva, KramerÆs watched several people stop taking the drugs. TheyÆd rather nature take its role. Early on, he said, ôThere was so much demand for them and they were put out quickly. But quite frankly, the drug companies have been irresponsible in staying on top of following them and improving them. This is really dumb, not just humanitarian-wise but marketing-wise,ö Kramer lamented. ôSoap companies put out new and improved detergents every few years, why canÆt we have a new and improved protease? TheyÆre making a fortune off these drugs. The minute a drug goes out, they should start looking for a side effect and try to get rid of it. If the drugs make you nauseous, and give you mental anxiety and make you fall out of bed, then you should try to get rid of everything in the drug that causes that.ö

Sean Strub, founder of Poz magazine, said he doesnÆt believe Kramer is advocating violence. Rather, he calls KramerÆs rhetoric ômotivational.ö The way the system is now he says, drug companies are rewarded for developing incremental improvements in the anti-HIV effect, but not necessarily for developing lessened toxicities.

However, Strub said he supports the concept of cells. Mass activism in the streets such as against the Food and Drugs Administration and the National Institutes of Health a few years ago he said ôare not only probably not feasible, but they probably would not be as effective today. Similar strategic actions and campaigns could be, both in drawing attention to specific issues and in increasing pressure on regulators, service providers and drug companies.ö

AIDS activism has been in transition for several years. What is different right now, Strub said, is the increasing realization that combination therapies are not a long-term solution. In addition, there is less activism today around AIDS he feels, because people arenÆt as afraid as they once were. ôMore of the people affected are both segments of society which are less empowered and which are already accustomed to various burdens; AIDS is just one of a list of challenges they face in their lives.ö

Currently, Kramer is helping form a new AIDS activist group called WAKE UP, which he said stands for Will AIDS Kill Everyone? Undeniably Possible. As part of an awareness campaign, Kramer said theyÆve made posters and stickers with the help of people who created the ACT UP artwork and they hope to have them shipped around the country over the next month.

If Kramer sounds bitter, itÆs because he feels heÆs done his share, and heÆs too sick and too tired to rouse people he feels shouldnÆt need to be roused. ôIÆve given you a blueprint,ö he says warily. ôPlan your own route. I donÆt want to tell people what to do. People are always asking me what they can do to fight, and I want to say, æDonÆt you have a brain? DidnÆt you go to school? Figure it out yourself.Æö

Kramer says his worst fear is that his efforts to encourage a renewed activism wonÆt be heard. While challenging people to take ACT UPÆs staged zaps and actions a step further by plastering cities to tell others to stop taking their drugs so to ôscare the shit out of [drug companies]ö and to make every appearance of Al Gore and George Bush (who he refers to as ôdangerous, simpleton turdsö) a nightmare, Kramer worries, ôIÆm afraid the idea wonÆt catch fire. IÆm afraid I must live through another patch of being called crazy.ö t
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