Debunking Denialism

Nathan Geffen has literally given his blood, sweat and tears to the cause. Journalists and those who have followed the battle between the Treatment Action Campaign and our former denialist Government interacted with Geffen on almost a daily basis and his dedication and absolute belief in what he was doing never wavered.

His love for his fellow activists and his engagement with people desperate for lifesaving antiretrovirals drove Geffen’€™s tireless battle for access to the treatment. He was at the forefront of exposing the denialists, charlatans and quacks who sold their snake oils and concoctions to desperately sick people, destroying families and leaving devastation in their wake.

Geffen experienced countless moments of disbelief, exasperation, sadness, exhaustion, frustration, anger, joy and fury, but somehow he always managed to pick himself up to continue the good fight and South Africans owe him a debt of gratitude for being prepared to fight the good fight.    

In his introduction Geffen explains the thinking behind the book: ‘€œIt is not good enough in a book such as this to say that ARVs are effective and other medicines for treating HIV are not. It is also important to explain why this is so, so describe the science of HIV and the medicines used to treat it. The stories I tell here would be incomplete without some scientific explanations as well. At the root of the struggle between the TAC and Mbeki was the contest between science and anti-science. Moreover, AIDS has killed and is killing many of our friends and colleagues. Maybe you too, have HIV, have been confused by the debates of the last decade and want to understand things more clearly. While some of the science of HIV is complex, there is a level of understanding that most people can acquire without too much effort. I have tried to find a balance between explaining concepts simply but not so simply that all meaning is lost.’€

Geffen speaks frankly about their tireless battles with former President Thabo Mbeki, his health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and her Director General Thami Mseleku. He puts forwards a strong argument for massive investment in the Medicines Control Council, critical in the face of thousands of charlatans who are still springing up at taxi ranks, on websites and in our corner pharmacies.

He names and shames many of the quacks as well as those who supported them and worked with them.

One of Geffen’€™s finest moments was undoubtedly in 2008 when the Treatment Action Campaign won its case against German quack doctor Matthias Rath and Tshabalala-Msimang.

The case proved that Rath and his friends had conducted unlawful and unethical experiments on people in Khayelitsha and that his claims to cure AIDS were false. It also found that Tshabalala-Msimang and Mseleku had failed to stop or investigate him.

Treatment Action Campaign founder Zackie Achmat has paid tribute to the rigorous, unemotional scientific work of Geffen, revealing that in the Rath case Geffen’€™s contribution was indispensable to the success of the court challenge.

‘€œHe is one of the most rigorous activists with whom I have worked,’€ says Achmat.

Geffen interweaves his arguments on why rigorous research and evidence is indispensable to principled activism and mass organising with the very moving story of Andile Madondile.

Madondile’€™s story is one of survival against many odds and a tribute to how denialism can be overcome.

Geffen will be interviewed by Alide Desnois, editor of the Cape Times on Tuesday, March 9 from 5.30pm at the Book Lounge, corners of Roeland and Buitenkant streets. Madondile, an HIV educator in Khayelitsha, will also speak at the launch.

‘€˜quack: a pretender to medical skill: an ignorant or dishonest practitioner’€™ ‘€“ Journal of the American Medical Association

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