Louis 1 Jkasnd- FN Julienne Louis AP World History Mr.

Gonzalez 17 November 2011 The Black Death and HIV/AIDS The Black Death and HIV/AIDS pandemics have tested the people of their times. Societies of both times responded in the same way: dividing the community, weeding out the carriers, and migrating away from home. The economies of both times received a major hit as their work force dramatically decreased and so did their resulting productivity. Many governments during the 14th century took the same approach as governments of the early 1980s: ignoring the problems and hoping they will alleviate themselves. However, as the pandemics wore on some governments have took action to fight the problems. Governments then and now created and funded programs to lessen the pandemics effects. When governments got involved, there were and are still major holes in policies and plans. Just like the 14th century, there still remain people ignorant about the pandemics that shake their society. Literature, songs, and pictures are still on record that has captured life amidst the panic and pain. The Black Death and HIV/AIDS have rocked the social, political, and economic worlds for decades, forever leaving their mark on history. Both pandemics, revealed the already conflicting divisions within the respective societies. In Central Europe during the years the plague on, it was clear that there would be two divisions: Christians and pagans. Christians consisted the majority of the population. These people believed that the plague had come as a sort of punishment, Gods way of reprimanding his people for

Louis 2 their carnal sins. However, even within this large sub-group there were more levels. Some followers of the Church believed that neither their religious leaders nor government officials were taking decent measures to reconnect and restore ties with the Father. This caused another subgroup to form; they were called the Flagellants and publicly beat themselves in order to attract Gods attention, and ask for forgiveness (Ziegler 66). In todays societies, the general public has responded to AIDS in a much broader sense. Two major divisions simply include believers and nonbelievers, but this time, not in terms of faith. There are two groups of people, one, which wholly accepts and believes in the existence of AIDS. The other group believes that the disease was conjure up by the rich used to exterminate the poor. (Franklin 72). Members of the larter group are often at the lowest economic standing in society, tend to be undereducated and informed, and are of the minority race. Discuss why When communities are broken apart and thrown into disarray, like the societies of AfroEurasia in the 14th century and most contemporary ones, citizens tend to look for scapegoats (Ziegler 73). In both situations the majority, focused on already segregated and marginalized people. In AIDS case, male homosexuals targeted. Early media reports defined, stereotyped, and sometimes labeled AIDS as The Gay Disease, (Mallon 235). In the early 1990s many movies were made in which HIV appeared to have only been contracted from males and given to other males (Franklin 78). This gay disease was now contributing to widespread homophobia. In 14th century central Europe, specifically in the center, Jews were the prey of choice. Europeans thought that the Jews had contaminated the air and water (Zapotoczny 1). Already seen as the persecutors of Jesus Christ, Jews were targeted because they had lower death rates than Christians. Hundreds were burned alive, used as a sacrifice to God.

Louis 3 The minorities began to migrate away from their persecutors. The Jews of Central Europe moved east to seek refuge in Poland and Germany (Zapotoczny 1). The extensive fear and hatred of homosexuals made migration improbable because they would probably face the same resistance in other countries. Instead of emigration, homosexuals set up neighborhoods within their present countries. New York and San Francisco, in the United States is a prime example of this. Gay villages (Mallon 238) such as the one surrounding Stonewall Inn, began springing up around the late 1960s. In both situations the migrations that had nothing to do with the prevalent social divisions, but preference. Did this happen in other countries During the Black Death, most people migrated after the plague burned out. Palestinians and Syrians fled their homes and crops leaving entire rural areas depopulated (Yeloff and Bas 578). Some historians have noted the migration of Africas economically elite to the southern tip of Africa. As people emigrated out of infested areas, a citys population dropped negatively affecting the governmental structure during the 14th in a way that AIDS never could. During the 14th century, two dynasties ruled Asia and the Middle East, the Mongols and the Malmuks (spelling), controlling more than half of the worlds terrain at the time (Borsch 30). With such power and wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, it was easy for the Black Death to conquer and weaken the imperial bureaucracies (Borsch 156). Europe? AIDS is a largely diffused virus located all across the globe. Even though AIDS killed high percentages of people, especially throughout central and sub-Saharan Africa, governments havent been substantially weakened or broken down. Why? The Mongol empire took a huge hit, comparable to no other empire in history, past or present. Historians and scientists theorize that the Black Death began in Mongol China and traveled along reaching Arabia and Europe through the Mongols massive trade routes and

Louis 4 patterns (Morgan 434). The Mongol empire was structured so that each part depended on one another. That is to say that if catastrophe or great wealth struck one area of the empire then each other part would be affected. The very structure of the empire, which contributed to its amazing wealth and prosperity, ultimately weakened and destroyed its people. With high mortality rates the local bureaucrats could not collect taxes and enforce laws. That accompanies with the small military forces allowed local rulers, like Ivan IIIs of Moscow to overthrow imperial rule. Ivan III success in Russia reflected the fall of the Yuran dynasty in China, where the government was overthrown (Zapotoczny 4). check! While modern day cities, states, and government have not experienced political devastation to the degree that its predecessors did, economies, now and then have suffered because of the high mortality rates that correspond with the pandemics. Africa has the highest percentages of AIDS related death across the world, the majority being young adults. The same young adults that would have been entering the labor force to work and increasing Africas overall GDP are unable to work. Stover and Bollinger have indicated that since 1999, Tanzanias overall GDP will have dropped 20% in 2011 due to AIDS related deaths, decreasing the money allocated to other government projects like education or roads. With more than 60% of all SubSaharan Africans infected with HIV countries, such as Ethiopia, countries will have to put away at least 30% (Stover and Bollinger, 5) of their public health budget to the management of AIDS/HIV in the future. In 1348, the Black Death reached Egypt and devastated its economy. While it killed off large percentages of people, as in the case of HIV in Africa, the plague also shattered the value of the dinar, Egypts standard coinage, which reduced the value of rural land across Egypt. Ibn al-Jian, a member of the sultans bureaucracy, reported that conditions are more oppressive and rural decay has become more widespreadthere is no way

Louis 5 to calculate the worth of a village (qtd. in Borsch 69). The Egyptian economy and government were not able to recover from such economic setbacks until the 19th century, almost 400 years later. Loses like those in Cairo were reflected all across Europe where the lack of people elevated the social status of serfs, hindered industrial progress, and crippled the market (Renouard 10). With the economic, social, and political world crumbling around them during both pandemics some governments remained unresponsive and indifferent to the suffering of its people. In countries where AIDS infection was low, governments remained been fairly unresponsive, creating a lasting impact on its people. When the first cases HIV positive people emerged in the 1980s and 1990s, the Chinese government secretly called it the loving capitalism disease and refused to educate its people about it (HIV and AIDS in China). The lack of teachers, awareness material in minority languages, and the stigma still surrounding the disease makes implementing AIDS education difficult. In 2008, 48% of Chinese citizens believe that mosquitos gave them AIDS and 32% percent of interviewees thought infected people deserved their condition (HIV and AIDS in China). Many historians argue that during the time, governments couldnt do anything about their current situations. Governments, crippled by lack of military enforcement and money, were threatened and confronted with civil uprising and unrest, like the Bedouin in Egypt, serfs in Europe, and Russians in Moscow. Unable to neither subdue nor control their people, many leaders, like Egypts sultan and royal company fled to neighboring countries where they believed the plague had not yet reached (Borsch, 52). Many governments, however, at least attempted to control and respond aggressively to the pandemics that killed their people and destroyed their economies. The best 14th century example is of the Ordinances of Pistoia Italy. The city had a group of men over public health which prohibited the entry of people or goods from infected areas. The public health committee

Louis 6 also regulated butchers and their goods banning, them from inside city walls during summer months (Wray 149). Similar restrictions were used in Tuscany and Florence. Florentine legislators also closely watched and appropriated funds to hospitals and doctors during major outbreaks. Most efforts made by governments, doctor, and medical advisors were undermined by inadequate hygiene (Renouard 25). However, the legislative acts that were passed are believed to have lessened or prolonged the Black Deaths impact on society. The creation and establishment of nongovernment organizations, NGOs, have played a major part in the War on AIDS by forcing governments to develop policies that focus on the education, prevention, and treatment of AIDS. While there are specific HIV NGOs such as the AIDS Support Organization in Uganda, other more general organizations like Bombay Dost in India and the Rio de Janeiro Prostitutes Association in Brazil are also taking measure to support the fight on AIDS (Sethna 22). Since the NGOs are often made up of members of the community, their messages and information reach more people that then government can. Their primary goals are to be advocates for persons with HIV/AIDS, target education to specific groups and improve experimental drug tests and health care (Sethna 19). The NGO as work in Germany, German Foundation for World Population f, has kept the virus from spreading and infecting larger percentages of the German and Kenyan population. Through specific public policies and figures the DSW has demanded the attention of the German government. Since their establishment, the German government, Germanys numbers of policies directly and indirectly addressing the pandemic has increased (Sethna 1). Through government and NGO sponsored education, resources, the media, and revolutionary technology, AIDS is now being combatted in a ways that the Black Plague never could have. A significant hindrance during the 14th century was poor hygiene. Technology

Louis 7 during the time was primitive. While people Afro Eruasians had created paper and the mill, the media had little influence of life during the time. Peoples awareness of how the plague was contracted and spread was minimal. Knowledge depended on word of mouth, which meant that the truth about the Black Death was known by a marginal percent of the population; rumors were spread and accepted as fact (Lerner 209). This parallels the beginning of HIV/AIDS. Doctors and scientists knew very little about the virus itself so information and often misconceptions about the disease spread. The mass media, responding to social pressures, often published what appeared to be profitable, which tended to be scare tactics and fallacies (Franklin 70). However, as scientists took advantage of the technology available, the media had to alter its way of communicating. Beginning in the early 2000s, there has been a notable difference in the way the media portrays AIDS. From a highly glamorized gay disease, AIDS, though while still infamous, is now being shown as a dangerous virus which can be treated. The media motivated the government to take action and since then technological advances have been made that have created antibiotics that aid the bodys fight and prevents maternal infection. As a result people in third world countries have decreased the spread of AIDS by 33% (AIDS: The 30 years war). The cultural works that came towards the end of the plague and during AIDS reign have been parts of movements to express grief and the actual reality of life. In Europe, the plague became part of the Renaissance to express times during the plague and the people were obsessed with this Culture of Death. Accounts of the time describe the terror and horror that people experienced. Daniel Defoe recorded that while going outside was a totally terrifying ordeal that staying inside created a terrible internal struggle as well: It pierced ones soul to hear the groans of one that was tormented (86). The childs song Ring around the Rosy describes the life of plague stricken 14th century Afro Eurasia. Artisans that survived also created a great number of

Louis 8 paintings, like Burying the Dead painted in 1352, depicting grieving people carrying caskets. Since Nicholas Nixons largely unpo pular depiction of AIDS victim as emaciated and desolate, todays people have used pictures as a way to spread the word about AIDS, using words and statistics. In 1988 John Corigilano composed his AIDS Symphony in response to the large numbers of people, particularly his friends, dying from the disease.

Louis 9 Works Cited A Culture of Death. 1463. Niguliste Museum, Talinn. Strayer, Robert W. Ways of the World: A Global History with Sources. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 563 Print. AIDS: The 30 years war. The Economist. The Economist. 2 June 2011. Web. 12 November 2011. Bollinger, Lori and Stover, John. The Economic Impact of AIDS. PolicyProject.com. Policy Project, March 1999. Web. 15 October 2011. Borsch, Stuart. The Black Death in Egypt and England. Austin: University of Texas, 2005. Print. Burying the Dead. 1352. Bibliotheque Royale de Belgique, Brussles. Strayer, Robert W. Ways of the World: A Global History with Sources. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 563 Print. Byrne, Joseph Patrick. The Black Death. Westport: Greenwood, 2004. Print. Defoe, Daniel. "A Journey of the Plague Year." New York: Signet, 1960. Print. HIV and AIDS in China. Avert.org. AVERTing HIV and AIDS, n.d. Web. 12 November 2011. Lerner, Robert E. "Fleas: Some Scratchy Issues Concerning the Black Death." Journal of the Historical Society 8.2 (2008): 205-228. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 4 Sept. 2011. MORGAN, David. "The Decline and Fall of the Mongol Empire." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 19.4 (2009): 427-437. Print. Renouard, Yves. The Black Death as a Major Event in World History. The Black Death. Ed. Bowsky, William. San Francisco: Holt, Rhinehart and Winston, 1971. 25-34. Print.

Louis 10 Schoub, Barry D. "A perspective on HIV/AIDS: What could the future hold?." Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa 63.1 (2008): 91-96. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 4 Sept. 2011.

Sethna, Hormazd. The role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in HIV/ AIDS

prevention and care. cwru.edu, Case Western Reserve University, 2003. Web. 15 November 2011. Wray, Shona Kelly. Communities and Crisis: Bologna during the Black Death. Boston: Brill, 2009. Print. Yeloff, Dan, and Bas, van Geel. "Abandonment of farmland and vegetation succession following the Eurasian plague pandemic 134752." Journal of Biogeography 34.4 (2007): 575-582. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 4 Sept. 2011. Zapotoczny, Walter. The Political and Social Consequences of the Black Death, 1348 1351. wzaponline.com. Zapotoczny, n.d. Web. 10 November 2011. Ziegler, Philip. Germany: The Flagellants and the Persecution of the Jews. The Black Death. Ed. Bowsky, William. San Francisco: Holt, Rhinehart and Winston, 1971. 65-79. Print.