Déjà Vu: A Fictional take on the Repeated History of Pandemics and IP Law

• Author: Rafia Akram De Gama
• DOI: 10.25159/2522-6800/10347
• Published date: 01 June 2022
• Date: 01 June 2022
• Pages: 1-5

Short Story

Southern African Public Law

https://doi.org/10.25159/2522-6800/10347

https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/SAPL

ISSN 2522-6800 (Online)

#10347 | 5 pages

© Unisa Press 2022

Déjà Vu: A Fictional take on the Repeated History

of Pandemics and IP Law

Rafia Akram de Gama

University of South Africa

dgamar@unisa.ac.za

It all seemed like déjà vu as he had heard the same words, spoken exactly as he heard

them now. The strange feeling persisted as the small crowd, masked and spread out

surged forward to wave placards at the building; the empty building. The futility of the

moment, flowed through his body, like a poison, constricting his breath as it dawned on

him that he had been here before.

*

She was energised, despite the heat, the crowd and the mask making it all hard to

breathe. She remembered how she had marched when the HIV AIDS pandemic was

taking a heavy toll around the world. She remembered how, then too, it had felt like a

climbing a mountain. Then she had just started to study at university and had joined

some friends, who insisted she be there; she carried her belief that caring for others was

a form of worship.

Twenty years ago, he had been only 23, full of energy and hope. Walking to the

pharmaceutical headquarters, was an easy walk, the chats were invigorating, and the

feeling of power hung in the air. As he had looked around at the main road filled with

people, he and they knew that this walk would make a difference for those in need of

the Antiretrovirals. He could buy for himself as he had a well-paying job, but he knew

so many who could not. He had felt powerless most days, but that day he was powerful.

*

Twenty years ago, she had been a student, young enough to not know enough of the

world to naively think, everyone would rally, companies would change their ways and

people’s lives would be saved, immediately. Now she knew through experience, that it

was a fight every single day, being an activist meant that there were too many fires and

too little water to douse them, yet she persisted. So many friends had perished before

the change had occurred. With every cause, she had to keenly feel failure and fight the

urge to give up.