RESULTS is Ending a Plague

RESULTS activists were busy this World AIDS Day sharing with their communities how we can end a plague.  40 RESULTS groups from Oakland, California to Tampa, Florida showed the documentary How to Survive a Plague over the past week (with a few more screenings scheduled in January).  The new documentary, How to Survive a Plague, follows the challenges and successes of these AIDS activists in ACT UP and Treatment Action Group (TAG) through the late 1980s and early 1990s.  The film was also just nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary (wouldn’t it be great to see a socially conscious film win?)!

Overall 618 people watched How to Survive a Plague with RESULTS and had discussions about activism and how to end the AIDS pandemic around the world after watching the film.  Some groups were inspired by the film to write letters and make phone calls to their Members of Congress! 

Some highlights from around the country are:   

• 150 people attended the screening at Iowa State University, which is the largest event held around the country.
• Volunteers in Detroit met with several aides for their Members of Congress
• Activists in Boston wrote 9 letters to their Members of Congress. Students at Yale also wrote letters and will be delivering them to their Members of Congress in Washington D.C. next week.
• All of the groups that screened How to Survive a Plague were able to build name recognition and partnerships with other organizations in their communities! For example, in Asheville the RESULTS group worked with the Western North Carolina AIDS project and was able to build their credibility by putting on a successful event and will be able to partner with them in the future.

RESULTS also partnered with Veritas Partnership to host a Google Hangout discussion with the director David France, singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo, and AIDS activist Peter Staley.  One of our activists, Annika Erickson-Pearson was invited to ask Peter a question during the Hangout.  Annika asked: “The film offers a model for social change and how do we use that model to create a movement for ending global poverty, especially when people can’t see the problem right in front of them like they could with the AIDS crisis in New York?”  Check out the Google Hangout to see what Peter told Annika about how to build the movement to end poverty! 

Did you miss seeing How to Survive a Plague and wishing you could see it now?  The good news is you still can!  You can now buy the movie on