Shakespeare once wrote that "if music be the food of love, play on." In more recent times, Bob Dylan created the modern-day equivalent when he said "play it fuckin' loud." It's an expression that captures the very essence of World AIDS Day 2013, when myself and many other DJs will be doing everything we can to turn up the heat on the AIDS fight through our support of (RED).
There's something really powerful about seeing tens of thousands of dance fans come together not only for a festival, but to loudly and proudly show their support for the battle to end this terrible disease. It's support like this which helps move the dial; it shows governments and businesses that young people care. And it shows that those same people want to make the goal of ending AIDS a reality.
Figures show that everyday 700 babies are being born with HIV. Without a doubt that's 700 babies too many. Let's face it, what baby should start life with a potentially deadly disease? One of the many things I've learned through my collaboration with (RED) is that medicine costing as little as 40 cents a day can help a mother prevent passing the HIV virus on to her baby. When medicine can cost so little, truly there's never been a more important time for the world to step on the gas and concentrate on helping to end this disease.
As I get ready for an awesome day of dance music at Stereosonic Sydney, I ask everyone to tune in to our live stream across the World AIDS Day weekend, or go and buy the DANCE (RED) SAVE LIVES2 album which drives money directly to The Global Fund. Actions speak louder than words, so let's be sure we all "play it fuckin' loud" and help begin the end of AIDS.
This blog post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post, The Global Fund and (RED), in recognition of both World AIDS Day (Dec. 1) and the Global Fund's replenishment launch (taking place in Washington, D.C., December 2-3, where global leaders will determine how much money to allocate to the Global Fund over the next three years). The Global Fund is the Geneva-based financing organization that leads the fight against AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. (RED) has to date raised $215 million, with 100 percent of that money going to the Global Fund to fund AIDS programs in Africa. To see all the other posts in this series, visit here. To help fight AIDS, check out the "DANCE (RED) SAVE LIVES 2" album here and watch the DANCE (RED) SAVE LIVES 2 livestream on World AIDS Day from Australia here on the Huffington Post.