Brazilian churches oppose the privatization of water

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Ekklesia, U.K.

Brazilian churches oppose the privatization of water
By Stephen Brown
4 Feb 2009

Churches in Brazil have backed a provision in the newly-passed Bolivian constitution describing water as a "fundamental human right" that may not be controlled by private companies and they say other nations should follow suit.

"We call on all countries in the world to also incorporate in their legislation the right to water as a universal right and a public good," said the National Conference of (Roman Catholic) Bishops of Brazil and the National Council of Christian Churches of Brazil.

The church groupings made their call in a joint statement published during the World Social Forum, a global gathering against exploitative globalization that took place in the northeastern Brazilian city of Belem and that ended on 1 February 2009.

The statement was drawn up at an Ecumenical Forum on Water in Belem on January 26, the day after the Bolivian electorate approved the new constitution in a referendum with about 60 percent support. The new Bolivian constitution aims to give the country's indigenous majority more power and hands the government tighter control over the natural resources, including water.

Read more: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/8534

[meegbear]

1. That's a lot of churches ...

*giggle* *snort*

[Nickster]

5. Dammit! You beat me to it! LoL

[Deep13]

6. beat me too it

:7

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

8. Uh, how many is

a brazillion?

:rofl:

(there are times I miss ol' GWB!)

[bottomtheweaver]

2. WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: "Wake Up, World!" - SOS from the Amazon

(related article on the WSF)
By Mario Osava

BELÉM, Brazil, Feb 2 (IPS) - The immense diversity of peoples was apparent at the World Social Forum (WSF), which ended Sunday in Belém, the capital of the state of Pará in the Brazilian Amazon region.

The presence of 1,900 indigenous people representing 190 ethnic groups as well as 1,400 Quilombolas (people of African origins living in traditional communities) was conspicuous among the 133,000 participants from 142 countries. They had their own tents, discussions and celebrations at the event.

For the first time, there was also a tent for the Collective Rights of Stateless Peoples, initiating a reflection at the WSF about a "radical democracy" that upholds the self-determination of peoples, said Arnau Flores, a Catalonian journalist responsible for communication at the Escarré International Centre for Ethnic Minorities and Nations (CIEMEN).

A map showing 32 of these peoples-without-states was displayed in the tent, but "there are many more," Flores told IPS. Some are well-known - like the Palestinians, Basques, Roma, Kurds, Tibetans and Saharawi. Others are seldom thought of in this context, like the South American Mapuche and the Australian Aborigines.

More than 20 organisations of such peoples took part in the activities organised by CIEMEN, with discussions ranging from strategies for emancipation and building their own institutions, to topical questions linked to the main themes of the WSF - such as the crisis of civilisation and globalisation.

The seeds of a global network of "stateless peoples" claiming their collective rights were sown at this WSF, aiming at a new kind of decolonisation and running counter to the "idea of the imperialist nation-state" as the only institution possible in the world, said Quim Arrufat, a Catalonian political scientist in charge of CIEMEN's international relations.

The Centre is based in Barcelona, the capital of the Spanish region of Catalonia - a nation-without-a-state.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45644

[SpiralHawk]

3. "Commie Pinkos." - Republicons

"What's good for plundering profiteers is, um, good for plundering profiteers. So shut up, sit down, and get your money ready to buy a thimble of corporately fouled drinking water. Smirk."

= Republicons

[dipsydoodle]

4. Hot tip

Don't buy any Bechtel shares. :rofl:

[peacetalksforall]

7. Yep, Bechtel and the Bush regime went too far in trying to own the water

belonging to the Bolivians. A French company nearly succeeded in Bolivia, also.

You see, they are mostly only native indigeneous people, what would they have against paying for the water that they used to get for free just because an American company and a French one before them wanted to own their water? With all due sarcasm.

[ooglymoogly]

9. Whats next....air...

It was rumored way back in an antediluvian period, remnants of which are still rearing their ugly heads today, the Bush admin reigned supreme; Herr * bought a huge piece of land in South America; It was rumored that he acquired it because it sits on a huge aquifer of water and that the * crime family along with Bechtel and others in the New World Order of things, were working toward privatizing water. This and other recent developments are grounds for a new French revolution. Who is going to be our Madam Defarge.

[acmavm]

10. Everyone should be against the privatization water. Didn't I read

a while back where Carlyle Group was trying to get into the water business? OOPS! Look who else in trying to grab all the water rights.

<snip>

Often, the picture painted by mainstream media and water-rights activists is too simple -- that of a single corporation (such as Coca-Cola in India or Bechtel in Bolivia) "corporatizing water;" the real story is not just of flamboyant tycoons (such as U.S.'s billionaire and former oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens, or more recently, Hong Kong's real-estate billionaire Li Kai-shing, or Britain's magnate Vincent Tchenguiz) single-handedly grabbing water rights or individual corporations (e.g., Coca-Cola and Nestlé) sucking dry springs and groundwater to the detriment of poor subsistence farmers or slum-dwellers, but vastly complex global networks and partnerships of investment banks and private-equity firms linking together with other institutions (such as public-sector pension funds in Australia, Canada, and Europe; and sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Asia) and multinational corporations elsewhere to buy up and control water worldwide.

Not only are individual corporations buying up water but a deluge of globalized capital are also rapidly buying up water and consolidating their foothold in the water sector; these capital entities are investment powerhouses such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch (before it was sold to Bank of America), Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Macquarie Bank, Allianz SE, UBS AG, HSBC Bank, Alinda Capital, The Carlyle Group, Barclays Bank, Nomura Holdings, and many others. In fact, Wall Street and their global banking and corporate partners are aggressively buying up water all over the world.

http://chasevectors.blogspot.com/2008/11/fight-water-privatization.html
_______________________________________

[Waiting For Everyman]

11. This should be banned everywhere - on humanitarian grounds.

If this happens there, it will be happening everywhere soon enough. This MUST be publicly owned, to stay as cheap as possible. Privatizing water is an outrage.

[commanche]

12. Do people have to pay to breathe?

Then why should they have to pay to drink? water is just like air.Bout damn time someone stood up to these greed and profit junkies. Privitising water and air should be classed as crimes against humanity.

[The Wielding Truth]

14. Remember Paraguay and it's large fresh water aquifer????

[Acadia Blue]

13. And for a good reason. The peasants will not be able to pay for it.

[Qutzupalotl]

15. K&R