Twenty years ago today — seven years after the first case of AIDS was reported — activists worldwide, despairing that AIDS had already killed more Americans than the Vietnam War yet global leaders hadn’t yet taken notice, organized the first World AIDS Day. And for twenty years, December 1 became a day of silence, remembrance and programs to raise awareness and spread education about AIDS/HIV. (Lest anyone think the battle is won, consider this report on a new Harvard study that finds South Africa could’ve “prevented the premature deaths of 365,000 people earlier this decade if it had provided antiretroviral drugs to AIDS patients and widely administered drugs to help prevent pregnant women from infecting their babies.”)

This year, an array of local events is planned, including statewide HIV testing, an evening forum with author and AIDS expert Mark Senak at the University of Minnesota Law School and an African World AIDS Day event at Minneapolis’ South High on Saturday (event calendar [pdf]).

In other World AIDS Day news:

• Andy Sturdevant at Secrets of the City gives an excellent rundown of participation by the arts in World AIDS Day. The arts, of course, have been devastated by AIDS/HIV, losing countless creative minds; as a day of mourning and activism, A Day Without Art, founded 19 years ago today, included many arts venues going dark for the day and staffers set free to volunteer at AIDS organizations.

• So, who’s participating this year? My old stomping grounds, the Walker Art Center, still remarkable in its dedication to GLBT artists, audiences and artists living with AIDS/HIV, used to hold annual World AIDS Day film screenings, but today there’s nothing on the calendar. Same with the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (like the Walker, the museum is closed Mondays) and the Weisman Art Museum. It might be a national trend: According to the Visual AIDS blog, major art museums in Los Angeles are skipping the event as well.

• In the political sphere, Saddleback pastor Rick Warren is giving George W. Bush the first ever “International Medal of PEACE” for his work with AIDS. The Bush administration says its AIDS program has treated two million people living with AIDS.

• Meanwhile, The Nation’s John Nichols, calling AIDS “an all-hands-on-deck effort,” calls on Barack Obama to make good on his 2006 promises on AIDS, which included pumping a billion dollars into global AIDS efforts and a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy that’d put forward “$50 billion by 2013 to fight the pandemic.” (For more on Obama’s AIDS plans read Mark Ishaug’s excellent piece at HuffPo.)