16/11/2020 | Writer: Defne Güzel
“AIDS in Syringe” is tool for horrifying, for speaking softly but carrying a big stick. It is the paranoia of the neighborhood and is the most terrifying method of maintaining social order.
The journey of the “AIDS in Syringe” begins in the mid-eighties. It is a legendary journey striking fear into the hearts… Everyone knows the stories about “AIDS in Syringe” of course. Everyone has heard of it somehow. Yet the ones who knew it ignore it, the ones who heard it ignore it.
“AIDS in Syringe” is tool for horrifying, for speaking softly but carrying a big stick. It is the paranoia of the neighborhood and is the most terrifying method of maintaining social order. When we come to the nineties, “AIDS in Syringe” is now in the movie theaters. You can be sure that it is sitting in a chair and enjoying the cinema. You cannot see, you cannot prove it, but fears make lies come true. You believe it; you can swear that it exists. It will hinder you from going to the cinema; it futzes up your going to the cinema. How strange is “AIDS in Syringe” to be in the cinemas at a time when the place for socialization of LGBTI+ persons are cinemas, isn't it? Society has thought so, we have no chance but to accept it.
When night falls, the lights went out. Music starts. “AIDS in Syringe” is at the bars this time. Likes to drink and dance. It does its job in the bar toilets. Really, is the “AIDS in Syringe” actually there? Or is there someone who do not want us to drink alcohol or dance? Which drink does AIDS in Syringe like most? Should not we go to bars anymore just because the AIDS in Syringe is there? Should not we dance? Should not we drink like a fish? Of course, one should not go there, not do these, since both alcohol and its users are bad, just like those going to the cinema. I am not saying so, the society says so.
“AIDS in Syringe” sleeps on benches. As you know “AIDS in Syringe” has no place to sleep, it is always away from its home. It is a traveler who travels all over the world. Nobody should sit on benches without looking carefully. It carries its own bottle with an old coat over it… If you are a good child, you may even see it. Really, who sleeps on benches other than “AIDS in Syringe”? Homeless persons, stew bums, vagabond persons. Does the “AIDS in Syringe” really sleep there? Or is this a fictional lie of class hatred against those who have no place to sleep?
Things change when we come to the millennium. In this period when even the virus is transmitted to computers, the “AIDS in Syringe” naturally takes the control over the social media. It continues its journey between websites and WhatsApp groups. It can travel country by country between banana peels, or it can come out of a bottle of coke. At any moment, a message about the journey of “AIDS in Syringe” can be sent to someone's inbox. It is everywhere now. Who knows, maybe one day it can even share a post with a selfie.
“AIDS in Syringe” is always around the corner. “AIDS in Syringe” is with the person whoever does not behave, who is stigmatized, who is marginalized. It is the mandatory friend of homeless persons, gays, transvestites, whores, alcoholics, addicts and more. Even if you do not want to befriend with it, the society will do on behalf of you, as a matchmaker puts it on your bed. The society harms you by using it since it cannot harm you on account of your existence and AIDS in Syringe has become a cat's paw in the hands of the society in order to harm you in whatever ways it harms you.
AIDS in Syringe has a famous saying, that it wrote on a notepaper and always carries the note with it throughout its journey. It is time to say: “WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD. NOW YOU HAVE AIDS!”
“AIDS in Syringe” is my friend. My friend, whom I feared for a while nowadays I understand, who is thought crazy, who was sacrificed to sacrifice victims. My friend, because of whom I am thought to be the instigator, because I live with HIV. However, we met five years ago. It was romantic. We were together against the sea in a car. We were together for years; we got up together, lived together, thought together. Rather than being a beam in other eyes, we blamed ourselves. They have marbles in their mouths about it and about me. Society has fulfilled its duty. We shut our mouth. After all, persons talked and it spreads like wildfire.
My friend and I contemplated together and decided to go on a trip again. Just like the old days.
This time, “AIDS in Syringe” will enter our lives as the subject of a publication, a booklet. We will recognize it with a click. We will learn the basics and the new adventures of it. “AIDS in Syringe” will reach the lawyers, physicians, non-governmental organizations, your friends, me, and you, the state. It will ask the problems of the persons one by one, it will talk about its own problems. There are things that we are curious about. Do those living with HIV have to disclose their HIV status? What happened in the 80s? Are there really persons living with HIV? What kind of discriminations are persons living with HIV exposed to? What are the claims of persons living with HIV?
We will jot down all these questions and more, answer them, write them down and leave them to be read by all. With this series of articles, my friend “AIDS in Syringe” and I will present you other opinions and a completely different perspective. The millennium journey of the “AIDS in Syringe” will resume, but this time, the things more than meets the eye will be talked about. Lets breathe and contemplate on this journey which we started by talking about the innocence of the “AIDS in Syringe” and about the wicked game of the moralist mentality. Please welcome: “AIDS in Syringe”.
Translation: Özge Gökpınar
Tags: human rights, health
