Fight Back, Fight AIDS

James Wentzy's in-your-face Fight Back, Fight AIDS is a compilation of footage documenting the first ACT UP meeting in 1987 on New York City’s Wall Street and continues to 2002. Amateur video recording—at the demonstration level and from the private, behind-the-scenes meetings and training—reveals the astonishing camaraderie that united a politically enraged community, regardless of age, race, ethnicity or gender.

Recognizable faces among the hundreds of ACT UP activists, timelessly captured over the 15 years of footage, are likely to be moving. Particularly noteworthy is seeing activist and author Vito Russo issue a speech equating AIDS to war then demanding to know how the two landscapes differ.

Whether or not your own political views are aligned with ACT UP’s today, this infinitely relevant political group taught us to fight back against government complacency, to protest the high cost of pharmaceutical drugs, and to simply ask others, “Where is your rage?”