Graca packs a 'punch' in Barcelona

"You worked together to end apartheid. Do the same to conquer AIDS." That is the message from Mozambican activist Graca Machel to world leaders at the 14th International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain.

Barcelona came to its feet on Thursday as she urged world leaders to stop "planning and more planning" and to fight the battle against AIDS with much more aggression. In an inspired and emotionally charged address, Machel, who is also the wife of Nelson Mandela, touched the hearts and souls of those who listened to her pleas for "aggressive, urgent and visionary" ways to stem the tide of death.

"HIV and AIDS has no respect for geographic borders," she told a packed audience, "and yet our response has been riven by shortsightedness to act locally or nationally."

She said in Southern Africa, nations worked together to overcome apartheid. Yet, when it came to HIV, people often worked individually and pulled in different directions. "How many times will we come to these conferences and watch people make promises that they go home and forget about?" she asked, amid cheers and clapping.

"My point is that when HIV and AIDS attacks, nothing is left as it was before - for individuals, families, communities and nations. Yet our response has been appallingly weak. Unlike the virus, we have not been aggressive enough; unlike the virus, we have not been integrated and comprehensive in our strategies; unlike the virus, we have not been unrelenting in our commitment."

She said this lack of effective action applied to everyone - individuals, governments, civil society (including NGOs), religious groups, the private sector as well as the international community.

"How can governments promise financial aid only in five years? How do you tell your dying child that help will arrive five years from now? How can we go to sleep at night knowing that thousands are dying?" Machel added: "If we do not act urgently now, we will only compound our mistakes."

As she sat down, delegates in the hall stood up as one to give her an ovation louder than any heard this week. In the media room where her address was being relayed to about 100 international journalists, there was also a standing ovation. "Why isn't she the president?" an Agence France Presse journalist asked. "Viva, Graca!", came a voice from the back. Next to me, an Ethiopian journalist wept. "She is the voice of everyone who suffers," he said. "You must be very proud of her."

At a press conference afterwards, Machel said the South African government was now responding to the pandemic, but it was up to civil society to ensure promises were kept.