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A half-dozen voices respond, one over another:
"No one's in charge."
"We're a consensus organization."
"Right now we're in the middle of a meeting."
"Right now we're fighting AIDS."
"If you're looking for someone to cite, you can fucking cite me, honey," says Bellefountaine finally, shooing an invisible fly with one hand. Then he adds an aside: "It's like the fucking Nazis."
The DPW man blinks helplessly at Bellefountaine and leaves without writing the citation.
Ends and Mean
Like all good zealots, Bellefountaine and Pasquarelli believe history will remember them fondly.
"People will soon start reflecting on this whole colossal blunder," Pasquarelli predicts. "People will no longer believe the hype of the pharmaceutical industry. People will see that AIDS was not what it was made out to be.
"They know we're right. I think that is scaring the hell out of so many people."
He and Bellefountaine see the community's loathing of ACT UP S.F. as a natural result of the group's good work -- part of the dialectic of history, if you will. They say the question of whether their tactics are violent is one for philosophers and theorists, not activists, to answer. He and Pasquarelli show no remorse for their actions because, Bellefountaine says, in this matter the ends really do justify the means. With the lives of tens of thousands on the line, not one of ACT UP S.F.'s actions has been too extreme. Not one.
"We are part of the dissenters' movement, honey," Bellefountaine says, waving away further questions with a dismissive flick of a hand. "We embrace it like it's a fucking royal title.
