Ativismo, ajuda mútua e assistencia: a atuacao das Organizacoes Nao-Governamentais na luta contra a aids

Abstract

By establishing the general goal of reflecting upon cooperation forms generated by the AIDS pandemic, I have tried to: 1) Rebuild the configuration of the groups organized in the struggle against AIDS in Brazil and Canada, focusing on the cases of Rio de Janeiro and Quebec; 2) Observe how prejudices interfere in the social relations and how it can manifest in different ways; 3) Identify how activism, mutual-help, and care are connected with each other among the groups that organize the scenario of the struggle against the pandemic and 4) Characterize the social movement of the fight against AIDS in Brazil, contrasting it with the Canadian scenario. The reference to Quebec highlights relevant issues that contribute substantially to provide an outsider's perspective of the Rio de Janeiro case, since the AIDS pandemic, understood as a social issue, characterizes an international context, crosses frontiers, and becomes real, in each setting, as a conjunction between the local and the global. Two questions are present throughout the research: What are the diverse conceptions about AIDS that orient the creation of organized groups in response to the pandemic? By creating forms of political action and providing direct care to seropositive people or people with AIDS, can these groups altogether enrich the concept of social citizenship? I assume that these groups innovate by shifting between the models of social movements, NGOs, and mutual-help groups.