List members: Any comments on the following?
Macdonald
*********
An update on the historic victory of people over privatization in
Cochabamba, Bolivia
"Aguas del Tunari/Bechtel ... are currently suing the
Government of Bolivia for close to US $40 million. They want
Bolivians to pay for their bad investment! ... Transnationals
such as Bechtel are using bilateral trade agreements to bypass
the legal sovereignty of countries."
"Here, in this city which has been an inspiration to the world
for its retaking of that right through civil action, courage
and sacrifice standing as heroes and heroines against
corporate, institutional and governmental abuse, and trade
agreements which destroy that right, in use of our freedom and
dignity, we declare the following:
"For the right to life, for the respect of nature and the uses
and traditions of our ancestors and our peoples, for all time
the following shall be declared as inviolable rights with
regard to the uses of water given us by the earth:
1) Water belongs to the earth and all species and is sacred
to life, therefore, the world's water must be conserved,
reclaimed and protected for all future generations and its
natural patterns respected.
2) Water is a fundamental human right and a public trust to
be guarded by all levels of government, therefore, it should
not be commodified, privatized or traded for commercial
purposes. These rights must be enshrined at all levels of
government. In particular, an international treaty must
ensure these principles are noncontrovertable.
3) Water is best protected by local communities and
citizens who must be respected as equal partners with
governments in the protection and regulation of water.
Peoples of the earth are the only vehicle to promote earth
democracy and save water."
January 13, 2001
Dear Friends,
Warm greetings from the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia. My name is
Sarah, and I was present last April when Cochabamba struggled through
a week of blockades, general strikes and violent protests, which came
to be known as the "War for Water". I am currently collaborating
with a group of Bolivian and foreign activists, to support local
efforts to maintain control over the region's water system. Essential
to this struggle is the cooperation of individuals such as
yourselves, who have demonstrated an interest in battling worldwide
trends in privatizing water and commodifying natural resources.
The participation of the international community in support of
Bolivian efforts has had an important history. During the April "War
for Water"/ "Guerra por el Agua", foreigners living in Bolivia and
abroad contributed articles, campaigns, and their activism in the
streets. Sharing information has allowed citizens of all countries to
resist privatization more effectively. Articles sent via Internet
inspired many concerned people to write letters of protest to the San
Francisco based Bechtel Corporation, influencing them to abandon
their investments in the privatization of the Cochabamba water
system. More recently, we have witnessed international solidarity
efforts bringing purpose and resolution to the local struggle for
water rights. Therefore, thank you for your participation, concern,
and solidarity efforts. It is our pleasure to inform you of recent
events in Cochabamba.
The Challenges after Winning Back Our Water
In April a broad-based movement of labor, peasants, and
university students stood behind the Coordinadora de Defensa del Agua
y la Vida (Coalition for the Defense of Water and Life) and to take
back their water. Their efforts led to the de-privatization of the
local water system--ousting Aguas del Tunari (AdT), Bechtel
affiliate-- and substantive changes in water legislation. Once the
international corporation left, the challenge for citizens was to
monitor the actions of the Government of Bolivia to protect new
contracts.
A key element is the reconstruction of the local water company,
SEMAPA. When the directors of Aguas del Tunari, the Bechtel
affiliate, abandoned Cochabamba, they left SEMAPA with substantial
debts. In addition, the political and business elite launched a
campaign against the Coordinadora, boycotting and neglecting to pay
tariffs imposed by SEMAPA. Although the greater public remains very
much in favor of the Coordinadora, the campaign in part has wounded
the credibility of SEMAPA.
Just as the Coordinadora motivated protest, now it seeks to channel
the energies and creativity necessary to find real alternative
solutions to both corrupt public management and impoverishing
privatization of public services. The Coordinadora is committed to
finding solutions to the water problem that gives lie to the notion
that only the private for-profit sector can provide services, and
that treats water not as a simple commodity, but as a public good.
The challenges of creating a "social SEMAPA", an efficient company
committed to serving the needs of its neediest customers first, are
many.
The assurance of SEMAPA's future will depend on obtaining legal
and financial stability. SEMAPA is currently undergoing this process
with the collaboration of a support team designed to articulate a
collective vision of SEMAPA's future, through a process of popular
consultation. In order for SEMAPA to work, we must be successful at
improving operations administratively and technically. The support
team faces many challenges because people are thirsty for a more
immediate solution. My household on the edge of the city of
Cochabamba receives water twice a week, mostly in the mornings when
water pressure rises enough to get a good shower.
With regard to the legal situation, Aguas del Tunari/Bechtel stated
in May of 2000 that they intended to take the conflict to
international arbitration through the International Court for the
Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) of the World Bank. They
are currently suing the Government of Bolivia for close to US $40
million. They want Bolivians to pay for their bad investment!
The process for going through ICSID is a 1992 Bilateral
Investment Treaty (BIT) between Holland and Bolivia. It turns out
that in late November of 2000, just as Aguas del Tunari was starting
to operate in Cochabamba, Bechtel created new holding companies in
Holland. Transnationals such as Bechtel are using bilateral trade
agreements to bypass the legal sovereignty of countries. However,
the government of Bolivia is not recognizing the transfer of shares
as legitimate and insisting that the dispute be settled in Bolivian
courts.
Nine months later the city that impressed the world with its
humanity and its resistance to water privatization may have to march
once more against international trade agreements.
International Delegation Visits Bolivia:
As a result of visits made by Oscar Olivera to the United States,
as well as US/Canadian solidarity efforts, the Coordinadora hosted
a conference the eighth of December entitled Water:
Globalization, Privatization, and the Search for Alternatives. A
dynamic group of individuals journeyed to Bolivia to witness
resistance to globalization on a local scale and to commit their
skills and knowledge towards an international plan of action. In
attendance were: Maude Barlow, Director, Council of Canadians; Jaime
Dunn, Director Blue Planet Project, Council; Chief Gary John, Leader,
Seton Lake First Nation and Interior Alliance of First Nations of
British Columbia; Antonia Juhasz, International Forum on
Globalization; Cameron Duncan, Regional Secretary for Interamèrica,
Public Service International.
The conference presented before an audience of Bolivian and
foreign professionals, students, workers, and activists, a criticism
of globalization and water privatization. The Bolivian model
exemplifies the successes and challenges of alternatives.
The privatization of natural resources on a global scale undermines
the authority of our governments. It states that economic freedom is
more important than democracy and accepts water, a human "right", as
an exploitable "need" for the global market. Bolivia is at a
critical moment: if the government decides to join NAFTA, water will
become a tradable commodity, and the "right" to water will pass over
completely to the hands of corporations like Bechtel. It will prove
extremely difficult for Cochabamba to win another battle like the one
in April.
On a local scale, privatization of natural resources
undermines indigenous leadership, and the community initiative to
make those resources available to all people. What does
privatization mean in small Bolivian communities? It assures more
inequality as the gap between the poor and the business elite grows,
and less access to resources necessary for nutrition, farming and
sanitation.
How will we take on privatization and the global economy?
The answer--reverse the process of globalization, using our access to
this system for international good. Instead of selling water as a
human need, open to be exploited economically, we will promote it as
a basic human right. Working from our community roots, and building
on our international networks, Internet connections we will share
our struggle. However, this does not mean exploiting or selling
the Cochabamba example, but working from our bases to create together
an international agreement that protects water.
In order to witness local alternatives to privatization, the
delegation, with members of the Coordinadora, visited rural and
urban neighborhoods. To the west of Cochabamba, the community of El
Paso supports an irrigation system created by members of the
community after they won the right over the government-run,
privatized model. In thirty days, a team of workers constructed the
above ground canal that supplies the community with water.
In Altocochabamba, the highest and poorest urbanized neighborhood
in Cochabamba, women used to travel to the bottom of the hill to draw
water for their families. In an effort to lug enormous amounts of
water back up, often they would hemorrhage and die. While Aguas del
Tunari imposed its high tariffs and cried privatized water, the
people of Altocochabamba were paying for water they were not
receiving because of failed promises. Working with SEMAPA the
community has made 800 new connections--a social victory for the
city's poorer residents.
The tour led us to the neighborhood "10th of December", a
mining community that was celebrating the date its workers were
relocated from the mines of Potosi to that site in Cochabamba. As
many who have worked the dark tunnels of mine labor will tell you,
the struggle against poverty runs hand in hand with the fight against
lung diseases. Winning access to water was one triumph for this
community.
The importance of civil action in the struggle for water rights is
alive in the histories of these neighborhoods. The alternatives
suggest resistance to privatization and effective management of
natural resources force people to work as a community. The goal to
unite our energies in the global struggle for alternatives is
critical.
Plan for the Future, Caramba!
Opposition to international trade agreements that destroy legitimacy
for alternatives like SEMAPA is urgent! With the delegation we will
be sharing information on trade agreements and corporations to
better prepare ourselves. In addition, we will build a network to
prevent a future crisis in Bolivia when it becomes necessary to move
the masses. In Bolivia we have already established an informal
"Bechtel watch", to monitor their activities in the water crisis. We
know they are not the only ones with a stake in Bolivian water,
however they are monsters that can be monitored effectively from the
States. Therefore, coordinating to campaign against Bechtel is
important.
In addition, various representatives will be gearing up for
the conference in Vancouver, Canada July 5-8, 2001. The title of
the conference is Water for People and Nature: A Forum on
Conservation and Human Rights, and promises to be the next tool for
international collaboration to protect our waters. For more
information and registration, please see the Council of Canadians
website: http://www.canadians.org/blueplanet/index2.html In addition,
a representation of the delegation, foreigners living in Cochabamba
and Bolivians drafted a document for future solidarity work. You can
sign on to support this commitment on the same website. A copy is
enclosed below.
I will continue to share relevant information for the
international community to pass on. Thank you.
In solidarity,
Sarah Harden Cochabamba, Bolivia
¡¡EL AGUA ES NUESTRA Y LAS DECISIONES TAMBIEN!! Water is ours, and
the decisions too!!
"No we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until
justice pours down like water, and righteousness like a mighty
stream."
Martin Luther King Jr.
The Cochabamba Declaration December 8, 2000
We, citizens of Bolivia, Canada, United States, India, Brazil:
Farmers, workers, indigenous people, students,
professionals, environmentalists, educators, nongovernmental
organizations, retired people, gather together today in solidarity to
combine forces in the defense of the vital right to water.
Here, in this city which has been an inspiration to the world for
its retaking of that right through civil action, courage and
sacrifice standing as heroes and heroines against corporate,
institutional and governmental abuse, and trade agreements which
destroy that right, in use of our freedom and dignity, we declare the
following:
For the right to life, for the respect of nature and the uses
and traditions of our ancestors and our peoples, for all time the
following shall be declared as inviolable rights with regard to the
uses of water given us by the earth:
1) Water belongs to the earth and all species and is sacred to
life, therefore, the world's water must be conserved, reclaimed and
protected for all future generations and its natural patterns
respected.
2) Water is a fundamental human right and a public trust to
be guarded by all levels of government, therefore, it should not
be commodified, privatized or traded for commercial purposes. These
rights must be enshrined at all levels of government. In particular,
an international treaty must ensure these principles are
noncontrovertable.
3) Water is best protected by local communities and citizens who
must be respected as equal partners with governments in the
protection and regulation of water.Peoples of the earth are the only
vehicle to promote earth democracy and save water. "
-------------------------------------------
Macdonald Stainsby
Rad-Green List: Radical anti-capitalist environmental discussion.
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