Today (December 1) is World AIDS Day. It would be difficult to think of a clearer example of the way different systems of oppression interact to the detriment of the victims. Poverty, racism, homophobia, misogyny, religious bigotry, corporate greed and trade laws have all conspired to inflict this disease on more than 40 million people and to scupper attempts to tackle it. Popular pressure has forced the government to make the right noises. Whether they mean it or not, it behooves us to hold them to their word.