Dear Friends, Just because they are universal, they do not belong to anybody and yet to everybody. So while one cannot be forced to accept it, a person or a group for that matter, cannot force everyone else to reject it either. That in a nutshell is the essence of a symbol.
But a symbol means more than just that. It becomes an anchor around which a whole set of action grows, activism develops, emotions are created, resources mobilized, sometimes even lives sacrificed. All of these add to the value; call it brand-equity if you wish, of symbols. Much work has happened, which has added much of that value, at the cost of much effort of millions, to the universal red ribbon symbol of HIV activism. The unsubstantiated, if not illogical sentiment of one that it wants her to commit suicide at seeing it [without any explanation as to why] is not reason enough to reject that much work and efforts. Nor is it reason to reject for that matter, the resources that have been mobilized and committed around that symbol, which in turn provides succor and life support to many suffering millions, or help save lives. Therefore, no matter what the Bangalore convention adopts and feels, the red ribbon is going to stay here for some time. We can choose to contribute positively to it, or we can choose to engage it in an insane fight. The choice is ours individually to make. I have a small suggestion to make to the Bangalore convention wallas. The major world conferences will continue to be organized around the symbol, and major donors will continue to subscribe to it, so here is a dare. Please put your money where your mouth is, and go out there and reject or refuse all funding from those who subscribe to the symbol. More importantly don't apply to major conferences for scholarships and support, nor attend them. If you can do this you are people of conviction and my sincere respects are with you, even if I disagree with you. If you cannot, then please know that by opening your mouth on this non-issue you have actually successfully placed your foot in it. Best regards Aditya Bondyopadhyay ============= You wrote: AIDS activists see red over universal symbol By Kestur G Vasuki, Bangalore: An AIDS convention in Bangalore has decided to abandon the red-ribbon symbol, saying it is discriminatory. Over a HIV-positive people across the country attended the two-day convention. The organisers of the convention claimed that the red ribbon the, symbol of AIDS and HIV, has created a negative impact about victims. "We have decided in the convention to abandon the AIDS symbol, the red ribbon, which acts as a negative in our minds. If a HIV person sees the AIDS symbol red ribbon we feel like committing suicide," Veena Dhari, an organiser at the convention said. Veena Dhari, the first woman in the country to declare her self as a HIV Positive person, also said that the convention has decided to give impetus to the HIV/AIDS networking across the country. "The second thing is the convention has passed a resolution to increase the HIV networking people across the country," she added. India accounts for about 5.1 million HIV-positive people, next only to South Africa. The northeast has been declared as one of India's high-risk zones with close to 100,000 people infected with HIV. In a recent report the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency said if the misinformation and stigma about the disease continues at the scale it is now, the number of Indians with HIV could quadruple by 2010 http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=30054 ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Help save the life of a child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. http://us.click.yahoo.com/ons1pC/lbOLAA/E2hLAA/WfTolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Group Site: http://www.gaybombay.info ========================== This message was posted to the gay_bombay Yahoo! Group. Responses to messages (by clicking "Reply") will also be posted on the eGroup and sent to all members. If you'd like to respond privately to the author of any message then please compose and send a new email message to the author's email address. Post:- gay_bombay@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Digest Mode:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] No Mail Mode:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Individual Mail Mode:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Contact Us:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives are at http://www.mail-archive.com/gay_bombay%40yahoogroups.com/maillist.html Classifieds for personal advertisements are back on www.gaybombay.info site. Please exercise restraint in the language of your personal advertisement. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gay_bombay/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
