[MGSA-L] 40 χρόνια HIV/AIDS: The Politics of Public Memory (7 June 2021)

Greek Studies Now greekstudiesnow at gmail.com
Fri Jun 4 05:51:27 PDT 2021


The cultural analysis network *Greek Studies Now*, in collaboration with
*Θετική* *Φωνή* (Positive Voice - Union of People Living with HIV in
Greece), invites you to its upcoming webinar:



*40 χρόνια **HIV**/**AIDS**: Διεκδικώντας τη δημόσια μνήμη*

*The politics of public memory: HIV/AIDS activism in Greece*



*Monday 07 June 2021, 5pm UK / 7pm GR / 12pm ET*


[The live event will be in Greek and the registration of the event with
English subtitles will be circulated later]



On 5 June 1981, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the American
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported for the first
time a rare case of pneumonia in 5 young gay men in Los Angeles. That
moment signalled the official beginning of one of the most dramatic public
health crises at the end of the 20th century, the HIV/AIDS epidemic.



What does this date mean to us today? How does it invite us to reconsider
the HIV/AIDS epidemic, its history, but also its individual stories? In a
country like Greece, this has always been a difficult debate and, to a
large extent, a debate that has never quite happened.



How timely is the public memory of the first period of the epidemic at a
global as much as at a local level? What does it mean to commemorate the
victims of HIV/AIDS and to rebuild the cultural archive of trauma? How can
we continue to be inspired by the activist fights against, as well as the
continuing battle for equity of provision and against social exclusion? How
does the conversation about AIDS connect to the contemporary moment, during
another (different but also similar) pandemic? How much do global social
inequalities, fear, stigma, still determine the history of HIV as a major
medical and social issue?


The aim for this open discussion is to talk about the transnational, but
also the local experience of HIV/AIDS, an experience that has arguably
remained disavowed, especially when it comes to the public memory of people
and communities targeted by HIV/AIDS. Our aim is to recollect, but also to
demand, public memory: looking back at these last four decades while being
propelled into the future.



Participants in this open discussion include activists and members of the
communities that became active early on in the fight against HIV/AIDS in
Greece, and include: *Gregory Vallianatos*, *Daisy Galiatsatou*, *Panagiotis
Damaskos*, *Panagiotis Evangelidis*, *Maria Katsikadakou* (Cyber), *Andreas
Mazarakis*.



This event is part of a larger initiative to reignite the public debate on
HIV/AIDS in Greece and its memory, supported by the TORCH Knowledge
Exchange Fellowship, HIV/AIDS in Greece: A Political Archive.


*The event will be streamed live on YouTube and the audience will have the
chance to ask their questions to the speakers in the chat box. In order to
receive the YouTube link, please register here
<https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/greek-language-live-event-hivaids-activism-in-greece-tickets-157930726053?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=escb>.
You are also very welcome to share the FB event
<https://fb.me/e/LxLxNu9K> widely on all your platforms.*


If you would like to keep updated with the activities of the Greek Studies
Now network, you can subscribe here
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSds-9lVAfWL3XJQmXUVwsZRASpyBG2cq7VmyUvYQgnx5tFqAA/viewform>
.



*Greek Studies Now*

Cultural analysis network
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