Representatives of the World Water Council say that they are looking to provide enough funds for poor countries to serve the needs for water, yet forum representatives who claim to be against privatization also claim they are still looking to private investment. Is the World Water Forum then just another big sham like all the other "globalization" meetings held around the world where the fat cats meet to divvy up the spoils for their rich friends? It's beginning to look that way to me.
And not to sound too alarmist (on second thought forget that because hell yes, it is ALARMING) but people are DYING RIGHT NOW FOR WATER. Children have been raped, beaten, and killed to steal their water! Farmers are either losing it completely, or suffering from flooding due to their land being flooded in order to divert water to rich communities being built right next to their land! Developers, private contractors, corporations, and all embroiled in the make a profit whatever it takes game are KILLING PEOPLE, and all we can do in this world now is have a FORUM? WE HAVE WHAT WE NEED RIGHT NOW. We need to get it to the people NOW.
You know, I at first thought that this World Water Forum was a good idea, but after reading up on it, I'm not sure anymore. Once again, the citizens living this are on the outside, while their fate is being determined by those who will never go without water. MAKE SENSE TO YOU? The World Water Council representative also actually stated that they were looking to institute a "peacekeeping force" to settle disputes about water in the future. My God. We don't need to spend money on another militarization process, we need that money to go DIRECTLY to giving water to people who need it so there is no FUTURE CRISIS. And If you still have any doubts that people will kill for water, read this:
By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer Fri Mar 17, 9:28 PM ET
MEXICO CITY - Water is worth fighting for -- even to the death, activists holding an "alternate" forum outside the world water summit said Friday. That attitude might seem strange in developed countries, where water flows at the touch of a faucet. But it isn't nearly as accessible in the developing world. And water wars aren't an apocalyptic vision of the future. They're already starting to happen, the protesters say.
"We've been beaten, we've been jailed, some of us have even been killed, but we're not going to give up," said Marco Suastegui, who marched alongside about 10,000 protesters Thursday outside a convention center where the international Fourth World Water Forum is being held. Suastegui is leading the battle against a dam being built to supply water for the Pacific coastal resort of Acapulco. Opponents fear the dam will dry up the nearby Papagayo River."We will defend the water of the Papagayo River with our lives, if need be," Suastegui said.
Protesters on Friday organized an alternate forum in Mexico City, miles from the convention site, in which they accused the official summit of serving as cover for companies that want to privatize water services."The Fourth World Water Forum doesn't represent us," said Audora Dominguez of the nongovernmental Mexican Committee for the Defense of Water Rights. "It's a forum where you have to pay to speak. It's a forum where the poor aren't included."
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And then there are the Indian families whose crops are ruined by the diversion of water to feed a nearby city, while their children go without safe drinking water. For farmers and fishermen whose river is about to be dammed, or a rural resident who sees his town overrun by tens of thousands of new housing units in the space of a few years, water is a fighting issue."We will fight for the rest of our lives. For us, fear doesn't exist," said Victoria Martinez Arriaga, a 33-year-old Mazahua Indian woman who led a protest in 2004 to demand safe drinking water for local families. The demonstration temporarily cut off part of Mexico City's water supply.
Martinez stressed, however, that the last thing her community wants is violence. "Our wooden rifles are symbolic," she said, referring to the props the Indians carry in their protests. "They're symbols of the idea that we still can stop the wars for water from breaking out. We still have time to solve things through dialogue and understanding."
Local Mexico City legislator Aleida Alavez Ruiz says the conflicts may intensify, especially in the capital, whose combination of floods and water shortages, urban sprawl, pollution and wasteful practices make it an example of the world's water woes. "It's getting critical, and if we don't recognize the problem now, when the dry season comes, the conflicts will get worse," Alavez Ruiz said of her district, where residents have fought over water trucks that make deliveries when tap water runs out.
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Loic Fauchon, president of the nongovernmental World Water Council, and a co-chair of the official water forum, has proposed the creation of a peacekeeping force to solve water conflicts around the world. The force would be modeled after the U.N.'s "blue helmets."
"We don't want to override national governments," Fauchon said. "We just need a force that will take over in cases of water conflicts." Danielle Mitterrand, the widow of late French President Francois Mitterrand, said French cities have rejected private water management, even though many of the world's largest water companies are French. "We are at an important moment, because everyone agrees that the current system of water management has failed," Mitterrand told the protest forum.
Protesters Say Water Wars Turning Deadly
Link may now be deactivated.
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Yes, the system has failed. It has failed miserably, so now the wolves at the door want to come in and make it all better-for themselves. However, it isn't only water shortages due to climate change, extortion, and greed that we have to be concerned and outraged about... Our rivers not just in this country but worldwide are polluted. The Nile, the Ganges, the Yellow, the Mississippi, the Hudson, (include any number of names here) all major tributaries, DEAD, and WE KILLED THEM.
Members of the group World Wildlife Fund wear signs signifying the deaths of major rivers around the world during the World Water Forum in Mexico City, Mexico, Friday, March 17, 2006. A group of about fifteen members walked through the exhibition hall of the forum wearing the signs to call attention to the destruction of the rivers. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
And how many of us even give it a thought?
What actually would we do if we had no water?
Water will become more scarce under current conditions (which will also breed more disease,) and people will turn to violent means to get what they need as they are already doing if this is not mitigated now. And that will also give the perfect excuse for those who see profit to take advantage of this situation. And while I do not at all condone violence, I can understand it, because water is the right of all mankind. It is also an issue of morality and spirituality for me. Water cleanses my soul, and I will not do without it.
It is not something to be bargained for at forums like some commodity that those with the money think they can control. ALL nations of this world are ENTITLED to clean, safe water to drink, bathe in, use for sanitation, have for crops, and for any other life sustaining and life saving needs they need to use it for. To deny anyone water is a HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE. It seems like a no brainer to me.
I then submit that any private company, group, or government from here on out that uses its influence to privatize a water supply at exhorbitant rates as to be unaffordable to the occupants in any given area, or to then pollute or destroy that source for their own gain should be sued.
It is time for people to organize and take this fight to the courts. The corporations sure have their legal teams ready to fight for their greed, and I think it is time we had a worldwide peoples' network organized and at the ready to stand up for the rights of those less fortunate when our right to clean safe water is abused. It must be against international law to deny water to anyone. PERIOD. The same urgency these people in Mexico feel is now being felt in Kenya, Brazil, China, etc. and will most assuredly be felt right here in our own country. You NEED to be concerned about this.
Water rights is then an issue we also MUST face in this country in our discussions of global warming, states rights, economy, and human rights issues. It is then an issue we need to bring forward to our Congress (and yes, I laughed typing that, but we still have to do it) and to our local and state authorities. Many times our local water supplies are privatized and we don't even know it has happened, but they do. We need for people to become more aware of this issue. One way that can happen is for all who read this to write to their representatives in their states and ask questions. Write to the local newspapers. Tell people you know about these "water wars" and the tactics being used to take our basic right to clean safe water away from us, and that you aren't going to stand for it.
And then, pledge that you will do all you can do to conserve water, and to hold those who pollute it accountable. I am a member of a good organization that has been working for years in this country to hold such corporations accountable. Waterkeeper Alliance is a wonderful effective organization that holds polluters accountable and seeks to preserve our waterways. Robert Kennedy Jr. is the President, and it is an organization I highly recommend if you are now looking for a way to become involved in doing something regarding this issue.
Make no mistake about it, WATER is the center of our existence. 70% of our Earth is water. Without it we die. That's enough to motivate me to do something. We all can, and we must.
NO WATER PRIVATIZATION.
WATER IS OUR RIGHT.
And I implore you to read this book by Dr. Vandana Shiva. You will be glad you did.
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