Stephen Lewis - The week in review 18 - January 17, 2014

Well, there has been so much going on in the last few days, I don't know where to start. Please help me crush this into three or four minutes. First and most obvious is the unforgiving and brutal antigay legislation which was passed into law by the president of Nigeria. Legislation so constraining of gays and lesbians that they would end up in prison for ten years-- not to mention being denied the adequate prevention treatment and care for *** that so many require. It's so difficult to know what to do about the response when a government does that. How do you bring them into focus around international human rights law? I think the main way of doing it is naming and shaming them in the international community. For example, the Secretary General of the United Nations issued a very brief statement. He didn't even do it personally. He did it through a spokesperson. And it's not gonna have very much impact. What he could have done was say to Nigeria, "Look, you're a member of the Security Council. I'm going to ask another member of the Security Council to raise your legislation and shame you before the world." Then you had a statement issued by the head of UNAIDS and the head of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS Tuberculosis and Malaria. And they said they were, "deeply concerned." Well, saying you re deeply concerned is the kind of rhetorical, tepid, flimflam which is a signal to Nigeria not to pay attention. They're not gonna be worried if they're deeply concerned. But if they had said, "We're gonna take Nigeria before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva and shame the country in the eyes of the world," it might have had some impact. I mean, look at what's just happened in Uganda. President Museveni has vetoed the most draconian piece of legislation against gay men and women that was intended on the continent. And he was under tremendous pressure. He was threatened with cutting off foreign aid, but he was also threatened with the violation of International Human rights Law. Now, he left the door open. If they moderate the legislation, they might then reintroduce it. And he wrote a letter which was really bizarre. He said that, "Random breeding," I'm quoting exactly, "leads to homosexuality." And that lesbians emerge because women are sex-starved because they are not married. I mean, if I can revert to the language of adolescents, it's really wacko. But that's what we're dealing with these political leaders. I can't leave this particular commentary without mentioning the volcanic eruption by the minister of health in South Africa who accused the pharmaceutical industry-- Now, listen to this language. Of satanic conspiracy, his words, leading to mass *** and genocide. His words. Apparently, the government of South Africa is thinking of drafting of new patent legislation which would not be as protective of the main pharmaceutical industry but allowed generics into the country, particularly the generics, to deal with antiretroviral drugs for AIDS at low cost. And the pharmaceutical industry, behind the scenes, is gonna fight that to the death. And so the minister of health responded. May I make a personal comment which is just a kind of ironic, historical touch? Thirteen years ago this month, I wrote a column for the "The Globe and Mail" accusing the pharmaceutical industry of mass ***. Exactly the same phrase as the minister of health is using today in South Africa. You see, nothing ever changes. When it comes to the pharmaceutical industry, they are inevitably driven by profit and greed. And no one should think otherwise. That was last week. I'm Stephen Lewis.