BPM (Beats per Minute) (120 battements par minute)

Let's go.

BEATS PER MINUTE

Hello and welcome to ACT UP.

As an introduction,

the group was founded in 1989 along the lines of ACT UP New York.

What is ACT UP?

A group founded in the gay community

to defend the rights of people with AIDS.

ACT UP doesn't provide patient support.

It's an activist group.

If you're here this evening,

you've seen our actions on TV or in the press.

Those actions are decided here

during our weekly meeting, the WM,

every Tuesday at 7 pm.

As you'll see later,

ACT UP has rules for speaking.

Two moderators manage debates.

You can speak on any subject,

if you put your hand up,

enrol on a list and wait your turn.

If you speak too long, the moderator will go like this.

Likewise, we don't applaud what others say.

To express approval,

you simply click your fingers.

It won't drown out the speaker or delay debates.

Finally,

one last thing you need to understand:

as soon as you join ACT UP,

whatever your HIV status,

you must accept to be viewed by the media and public

as HIV-positive.

We'll start now.

If you have questions, see me.

I'll be down there.

Don't forget to fill out the forms

if you want to join.

Enjoy the meeting.

Good evening, everyone.

Welcome to ACT UP Paris' weekly meeting.

We have a pretty full agenda.

So it'd be wonderful to avoid endless speeches.

Remember, no smoking here so as not to indispose the sick.

You can smoke in the hallway.

Don't debate there.

Any comments must be made here.

We have four new members.

Stand up when I say your name.

We have Patrice...

And Judith...

Good evening.

Then Jérémie...

Stand up.

Welcome, Jérémie. And Nathan.

Hi, Nathan!

We're sad to announce the death of Alain Isnard,

an activist who joined two months after we were founded.

I'll let Thibault speak.

Just a second.

His photo is in the press round-up.

You may not remember him.

He'd stopped coming to WMs.

But when the group was founded,

Alain was a very important activist.

He got us our first two computers, which was quite a feat.

He gave up coming here,

severing ties after he got cryptosporidiosis.

There.

As usual, you have postcards to send to the French President,

with Alain's name, to inform him of his death.

To remind Mitterrand of the AIDS epidemic.

Let's do the AFLS debrief. There's a lot to say.

Sophie, over to you.

In case you don't know, the AFLS is the French Anti-AIDS Agency.

-Thanks. -Go ahead.

OK, thank you.

I'll try to be objective.

It'll be tough as I'm a bit sickened by how it went down.

Could everyone who took part join the debate?

Guys, please...

- Hurry it up. - It's important.

Thank you.

It all began as planned.

We had no problem sneaking

into the conference hall.

Whoever the guy speaking was, he was fucking boring.

I bet a few poz guys croaked during his speech.

Good morning.

First let me hail

the organization of this symposium

along with the diversity and quality

of its participants.

OK, let's go.

We're ACT UP Paris.

The AFLS was founded over three years ago

and there's still no decent prevention campaign.

France has twice as many cases as the UK or Germany.

You're failing badly.

Nothing for gays,

for drug addicts, women or foreigners...

We've done campaigns for homosexuals.

The prime minister's office censored the campaign.

It has only appeared in publications that no one reads.

I can't let you say that!

I screwed up.

Yes, Marco?

It was my fault.

I couldn't see from the back.

I couldn't hear either and I panicked a bit.

I heard a voice say, "Hey, it's you next."

So once I had a window,

once I saw Bernin, I felt I had to go for it.

We've screwed up before.

He threw the blood too soon. It's no big deal.

No big deal, even if I looked dumb, talking alone.

No worries.

The real problem came after.

Two people pounced on Bernin,

really roughly

and handcuffed him to a post.

I don't know who had the idea or decided to do that...

You know very well who it was!

Let her finish first.

I think it's counter-productive.

It got other groups mad instead of making them

react for once.

That made it impossible.

We never cuffed anyone before.

The cuffs are in case the cops turn up, to cuff ourselves.

Can we answer now?

No one's stopping you.

OK, Max, let off steam.

Thanks.

True, we improvised but we saw it was screwed.

It was like some folk show.

They were thinking, "ACT UP's at it again,

but it'll soon be over."

Marco's fuck-up was a turning point for us.

Suddenly, their compassion turned into indignation.

In ten years, they'd never shown any anger.

We had to seize the opportunity.

We did the first thing we thought of.

Bernin, resign!

Bernin, resign!

And I think we were right.

We wanted to mark minds by throwing fake blood

and we did it!

We just went further than planned.

It wasn't premeditated.

Markus?

No one said it was premeditated.

Sophie's right. It was really violent.

Throwing blood is already a lot,

but we've never handcuffed anyone. It's crazy!

The AIDES rep felt bad.

Even I felt I'd been taken hostage.

Poor baby!

Go ahead, Sean.

Why are we debating this?

The action didn't bomb.

Sorry, it was a big success.

Sophie, there was no physical violence.

Just a bit of restraint...

Not at all. The guy offered no resistance.

I'm glad we've shown up the hypocrisy.

What is the AFLS?

An agency founded by the government to shift accountability.

Since then, nothing.

In meetings, they tell us,

"We agree, but we can't shock the public.

It'd be counter-productive."

And now we have 6,000 new cases a year.

Hold on...

The AFLS campaigns are so abstract,

-You forget HIV is sexually transmitted. -Thank you.

Nothing on gays, junkies or hookers.

Nothing on those hardest hit by the epidemic!

I saw you!

I'm nearly done.

Too bad if the AFLS felt humiliated or if our pals in AIDES were shocked.

We'll keep pissing the state off until there's a real prevention policy.

-Can we move on? -It's important.

-I know. -I understand your panic,

but the world's not about to end.

Have other groups reacted?

Fabien?

I'm checking that right now.

There's something interesting in the AIDES communiqué.

"AIDES condemns ACT UP's action,

in attacking the AFLS chairman, Michel Bernin, etc, etc..."

Hold on, how does it end?

"We condemn ACT UP's brutal and childish methods,

despite understanding its impatience with the AFLS' inertia."

C'mon, the anger's just for show.

Libération's headline tomorrow...

"Historical and hysterical break in the fight against AIDS."

I'll read an extract.

"ACT UP's action highlights the authorities' disregard

for French homosexuals."

Let's move on.