Fighting
For Our Lives, a history of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Australia,
focuses on the role played by affected communities in addressing the crisis, a
side of the story that is often overlooked.
Marginalised people — mostly gay
men, sex workers and people who inject drugs — came together to form community
organisations that gave them a voice in the corridors of power. They formed an
unprecedented alliance with politicians and medical experts, a three-way
partnership that made Australia’s response to AIDS one of the most successful
in the world. It’s an inspirational story, one which takes place against a
backdrop of harrowing illness and death. With lives and the survival of
communities on the line, Fighting For Our
Lives captures the high-stakes drama of this extraordinary period by
concentrating on the people at the centre of the struggle during the darkest
years of the epidemic. It’s an important story, and one that must never be
forgotten.
‘This book is proof positive that light, hope and courage can grow out of the darkest corners of human experience. ACON emerged in 1980s to give leadership in the Australian struggle against HIV/AIDS. Soon that challenge expanded to a myriad of new controversies: gay rights, drug use, sex work, trans and prisoner experience. Nick Cook chronicles the terrifying early years of the HIV epidemic, identifying heroes and villains. And the story continues to this day to call forth our “better angels”.’ — The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG, Past Justice of the High Court of Australia and Patron of the Kirby Institute
