UNITED IN ANGER: A HISTORY OF ACT UP STUDY GUIDE

UNIT 2: DISCUSSION GUIDE

Discussion Section 1: Organizational Structure
ACT UP relied on the simultaneity of activity to move its goals forward. That means that different people were encouraged to take different actions at the same time. In this way each person could do what was comfortable for them, and what they thought would be effective in the realm that concerned them most. Members were not asked to all do the same thing or to all follow the same path.  This section asks you to think about the organizational structure of ACT UP, including its meetings, procedures, and practices.  You will then be asked to make connections between ACT UP and other social justice movements. 

1.  ACT UP favored a “non-hierarchical” organizational structure.  What is meant by this term?  You might begin your answer simply by describing ACT UP meetings from the film.  Who were the leaders?  Who participated?  How was business conducted?
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2.  How else would you characterize ACT UP meetings?

3.  Where were ACT UP meetings held? How did that space become important to the group’s identity? What was the Floor of ACT UP?
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4.  What is an “affinity group,” and why were affinity groups important to the organizational structure of ACT UP?
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5.  One member of ACT UP suggests in the film that irreverence was privileged over consensus in ACT UP meetings.  What did she mean by this, and why was irreverence privileged over consensus?
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6.  ACT UP drew in large part on the skills of its individual members for its strength.  With media-savvy organizers, for example, ACT UP was able to reshape the narrative of the epidemic and control AIDS messaging.
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How did they do this?  What were the messages ACT UP wanted to send about AIDS and the response to it?
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Discussion Section 2: ACT UP in the Context of Other Social Justice Movements
While many members of ACT UP had no activist experience, the group successfully drew on the expertise of some members who had been in the anti-war, black power, civil rights, gay liberation, feminist and anti-imperialist movements, as well as a rich history of social protest in New York City.  Meetings often focused on political praxis (turning theory into practice), coalition building, and self-education through “teach-ins”(including scientific updates on the latest treatment options, AIDS treatment glossary reviews, civil disobedience training, and “how-to-organize-your-own-demo” workshops).

1.  What models of social activism from the twentieth century informed ACT UP?  How?
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2.  What is a “zap”?

3.  What is a “teach-in”?  Where did ACT UP learn this method of self-education?

4.  What was a “die-in”?  Does this tactic remind you of a similar form of non-violent resistance used in other social justice efforts?

5.  In addition to the personal experience of ACT UP members, how did ACT UP tactically overlap or intersect with other activist movements such as the Women’s Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, Black Power, the Anti-war Movement, and Gay Liberation?
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6.  In July of 1988, ACT UP explicitly rejected a proposal to endorse non-violent direct action principles and declined to add “non-violence” to the group’s credo.  Yet the group never committed an act of violence. Even when there was police violence against ACT UP members, they never retaliated. Having watched United in Anger, hypothesize about why the membership might have refused to rule out violence as an activist tool, even though they never used it.

7.  ACT UP insisted that health care is a right, a position that incorporated to a broad vision of social change.  What other human rights did ACT UP fight for?
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8.  What human rights do you see other activist organizations fighting for today?  Are their strategies similar to those of ACT UP? Are there any activists groups today who say that health care is a right?

Discussion Section 3: The Diversity of ACT UP
ACT UP became a meeting place for many different kinds of people, from experienced activists to first-time social agitators, from those infected with HIV to those who were not, from old to young, rich to homeless.  The group was thus an example of the convergence of different social and cultural positions.  Gender, race, and sexual dynamics also influenced the organization, though we see many different and sometimes competing recollections about these factors in the film.

1.  Who were the members of ACT UP?  You might browse through the ACT UP Oral History Project to get a sense of the surviving members of the group. What are the difference between those in the film who died of AIDS, and those who were HIV infected but survived?

2.  Who do you not see interviewed as part of the ACT UP Oral History Project?
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3.  What differences do you notice among ACT UP members?  How were those differences sometimes important and sometimes unimportant?

4.  ACT UP was not a group just for people with AIDS.  Why does activism not require you to be in a targeted population in order to be involved? 

5.  What relationships did you notice between men and women in ACT UP?
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6.  List several examples in which race is discussed in the film.  What racial dynamics occur in these examples?  Why was it necessary for ACT UP to have explicit awareness about race within the organization?  How was attention to race structurally built into the group?  In what ways was race nevertheless a challenge for ACT UP?
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8.  What are the the benefits and challenges of diversity within an organization such as ACT UP?
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9.  Members of ACT UP were often serious and deeply committed, but at the same ACT UP meetings were described in the film as fun, lively, and even sexy.  What contributed to this mix?  Why was this combination of attitudes and approaches a productive one?
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Discussion Section 4: Thinking about Activism
ACT UP not only changed the world but also changed the lives of its individual members.  In this section, we reflect on the impact of activism on the wider culture, on activist subculture, and on individual activists.

1.  Why did various members of ACT UP join the group?  Pick four different ACT UP members and explain why they joined the group.
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2.  How did ACT UP benefit its members?
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3.  What shared characteristics do you see among ACT UP members that made them become activists, despite their differences in sexuality, gender, class, race and health status? What makes someone an activist, or not?  Would you ever join an activist organization?  Why or why not?

4.  ACT UP largely dismissed the idea that they needed to be liked to effect social change and achieve their goals.  Why did many members of the group believe that?  Do you agree with that position?  Why or why not?
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