Antivirals Now: Compelling The NIH To Use Science, Not Symptoms, For Long Covid / Long Covid Action Project
Long Covid Action Project (LCAP) activists Corsi Rosenthal (CR) and Clean Air (CA), along with journalist and LCAP founder Joshua Pribanic, discuss the recent direct action CR and CA participated in to disrupt the National Institute of Health's (NIH) first meeting for the RECOVER Initiative, ostensibly created to "understand, treat, and prevent Long COVID" in the United States.
CR and CA vocally disrupted NIH Director Monica M. Bertagnolli during the RECOVER conference, and as they were escorted from the meeting room, chanted: "LCAP fights back; Long Covid AIDS; Long Covid kids; antivirals now; biomarkers now.; blood tests now; test viral loads." Director Bertagnolli responded: "You know what? I don't think anyone disagrees with what we've just heard! We're with you! Totally."
CR and CA both describe their individual experiences with Long Covid, and how it has compelled them to join LCAP and participate in this direct action. Joshua, along CR and CA, describe the progress LCAP has made into the research of this disease, and what is needed to adequately address this pandemic in its widespread severity and enormity.
In discussing the efforts to organize around this issue, Joshua ends our discussion by addressing how, historically, the FBI has engaged in counterinsurgency to disrupt activist organizing, planning, and solidarity, and how these tactics have been deployed against LCAP and Long Covid advocacy in various ways.
This episode is part of an ongoing series of interviews done in collaboration with journalist and LCAP founder and activist Joshua Pribanic to address the realities of what Long Covid is, and the action needed to address this issue comprehensively.
The volume of Long Covid just keeps growing. We're at 33 million plus right now, which means that we're at 10 percent or more of people who have been infected are developing this disease in the United States. Over six million children have this right now, and globally, they're talking about over 400 million.
So the numbers are tremendous, and the impact on the economy is also tremendous—$3.7 trillion over the next five years. And yet, they're approaching this with a Band-Aid-like attitude and hospice-like attitude. “Well, we'll just give you a couple of things to numb your symptoms here or there.” Like, no, that's not going to work. It didn't work for HIV/AIDS. It sure as hell isn't going to work for us. This is a lethal disease. We've already got thousands upon thousands of deaths for Long Covid, and the ability for it to become mutagenic in the body, become carcinogenic in the body, is all very real for each of us.
So, as the activists know, the urgency needs to be much more at the top of the table for the NIH. And we just don't have that right now at a policy level.”
- Joshua Pribanic
Episode Notes:
Learn more about LCAP and how to get involved
Send a letter to NIH to use science, not symptoms, for Long Covid
Several examples of law enforcement counterinsurgency tactics are listed here and written about more extensively in the Truthout article, Infiltration of Political Movements Is the Norm, Not the Exception in the United States, by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers
The music featured is by Nick Vander, used with permission by the artist
