Commie Pervert Geek Girl, April 2005
Originally published in Express

The world AIDS epidemic is far more serious than it should be. We know how AIDS is transmitted, how to detect it, and how to virtually eliminate the risk of infection. So why are there 40 million people and rising living with AIDS? Millions dying every year?

Making free condoms readily available to everyone on the planet would cost only a fraction of the annual US military budget. Similarly, universal education on sexual health, free STD testing, and treatment for everyone with AIDS, is easily affordable for our wealthy civilization. This wouldn't require altruism - even in purely economic terms the return on the investment to humanity would be immense, let alone the reduction in human suffering.

The problem is, the benefit would go to humanity as a whole, rather than directly boosting the profits of private companies. And the very fact that a benefit to humanity as a whole can be seen as a problem shows that there is something drastically wrong with the way we're running the planet.

In theory, the world's governments could take serious action against AIDS. Unfortunately, they're mostly beholden to corporate interests, and are more concerned with funding the military-industrial complex, promoting a culture of consumption, and keeping taxes down. They're locked in to a culture of competing with and exploiting other nations, rather than cooperating. Only crumbs are thrown out in the name of compassion.

The capitalist system isn't just disinterested in helping the less fortunate; it's actively opposed to the idea. Free state-supplied healthcare would gravely reduce the potential for making money out of the medical industry, and health companies are currently earning enough to buy a lot of influence.

The free market certainly can't be relied upon to come up with a cure for AIDS. It might happen, but only if the people involved are generous enough to act against their own financial interests. Why develop a cure for a disease when there is far more profit to be made in merely prolonging life and alleviating symptoms?

New Zealand is only a small player on the world scene, but we have the potential to set an example, and we're not pulling our weight. The United Nations recommends 0.7% of national GDP should be used for foreign aid, including anti-AIDS programs, yet our current aid budget is well under half even this minimal recommendation. Surely we can do better than that?

This is just one example of how the capitalist system works against the interests of humanity as a whole; there are countless others.

On a totally unrelated note, the first episode of the new Doctor Who series was very good indeed - worth the years of waiting.