METUP is an activist group for people committed to improving the lives of women and men living with metastatic breast cancer. We will vigorously campaign to bring about change. Change the status quo. Despite what the public may think, pink campaigns don’t work. Early detection does not save lives. The death rate has not improved in decades. We are not just angry about it – we are outraged. We are committed to channeling our anger into action.
Our first activism event was the big Die-In in Washington DC on October 13, 2015. The deepest pocket in breast cancer research, by far, is the federal government, and we want to get their attention and get them to shift priorities so that more of that money goes to metastatic disease. We are likely to plan more in-your-face events involving much smaller numbers but more civil disobedience. That means non-violent non-cooperation in the tradition of Gandhi and MLK, and it means arrests.
What is a Die-In?
A Die-In is just what it sounds like – a group of people lying down in protest, pretending to be dead. Die-ins are meant to trigger feelings of grief and shock, emotions that people—and, most often, those on social media—tend to want to experience alongside others when it comes to disturbing national news. They have been used by many activist organizations to protest things such as: wars, health issues (e.g. AIDS). While hard to trace the origins, it is believed that die-ins go back at least as far as the civil rights movements and maybe much further.
Courtesy of ACT UP, the AIDS Activist Group, we have provided information here for you to review to help plan your participation in our events.