Water: Life before profit!
Development and Peace delegation joins thousands in Mexico to challenge the priorities of the 4th World Water Forum
By Danny Gillis
Summer 2006
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On World Water Day, March 22, the Development and Peace delegation joined with 25,000 demonstrators in a march through the streets of Mexico City. They carried banners in English, French and Spanish proclaiming the four principles of a water declaration signed by more than 236,000 Canadians. The declaration states that water is a sacred gift that connects all life; access to clean water is a basic human right; the value of the Earth's freshwater to the common good takes priority over any possible commercial value; and fresh water is a shared legacy, a public trust and a collective responsibility.
Even before launching the Water: Life before profit program three years ago, the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace had its sights set on an important future date: March 2006. This was to be the date of the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico City.
Anne-Marie Jackson, English Sector Director of DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE, coordinated a 13-member delegation which was in Mexico from March 14-24. Ms. Jackson explained, "We felt it was important to take our place alongside the global movement that advocates for universal access to clean water and that has been building in strength for the last 10 years. We wanted to challenge the priorities of the World Water Forum, to publicize our stand across Canada and to meet with Canadian government representatives attending the Forum."
The World Water Forum is one of the dominant bodies that promote the concept that water is an economic good rather than a human right. It is sponsored by governments, international financial institutions and large water corporations.
According to a 2003 investigation by the CBC, "three giant global corporations have quietly assumed control over the water supplied to almost 300 million people in every continent of the world."
Ms. Jackson says, "If water is seen only as an economic good, we can expect this trend to continue."
"Such a basic human right as access to water cannot be left to the whims of market forces to deliver."
(Pastoral Letter on the Christian Ecological Imperative,
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops October 2003)
For more than a year prior to the Forum, social movements throughout Latin America planned a response to the event. They decided to hold a "People's Forum" in the heart of Mexico City that would counter the "official" forum being held on the outskirts. It was at this People's Forum that the DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE delegates spent the bulk of their time.
The DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE delegation to Mexico. L-R: Jean-François Langlais, Cheryl Spotswood, Pierre Leclerc, Kaylee Sapoznik, Lorraine Dumont, Isabelle Lavoie, Mary Boyd, David Peacock, Marilou Villeneuve and Anne-Marie Jackson. Francisco Angulo is missing from the photo.
The Mexico trip provided many unprecedented experiences. Kaylee Sapoznik, a DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE youth member from Winnipeg, wrote: "I can only describe the alternative activities surrounding the 4th World Water Forum as one of the most moving and incredible experiences of my life. Since our arrival here we have been busy gaining valuable information on the water campaigns in and beyond Mexico. We've met with people who are heroes in their local communities for standing up to corporate efforts to privatize their water."
One highlight was an afternoon march against the privatization of water that drew 25,000 demonstrators. The DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE contingent carried colourful banners proclaiming the four principles of a water declaration that had been signed by more than 236,000 Canadians.
Ms. Sapoznik said, "With our trilingual banners and strong spirit we shared our campaign with the city and with all peoples. Mexicans gathered in the streets to read our banners and joined us in shouting, 'Water: Life before profit!'"
The group also attended a Water Tribunal which examined some high-profile cases involving water mismanagement. Mary Boyd, a DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE member from Charlottetown made an interesting parallel. "On my way to Mexico," she said, "I read Shake Hands With the Devil by Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire. In his description of that massive tragedy he said, 'I know that God exists because I met the Devil in Rwanda.' Sitting through a day of the Water Tribunal gave me a similar feeling as DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE partners and others from Latin America made passionate pleas for an end to the current crisis in water caused by the takeover of public systems by private corporations."
One in six people in the world does not have access to clean water; 95% of them live in Asia, Africa and Latin America... Together we have the responsibility to protect water sources, ensure that water remains a common good rather than a commodity, and guarantee that the community controls access to water. Since water is a common good, our government's water policies and our own actions must protect water sources and public access to clean water both locally and globally.
(Development and Peace: www.devp.org)
A focal point for the group was a meeting with a Canadian government delegation attending the "official" Forum. Six of these delegates traveled downtown to meet representatives of DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE, the Council of Canadians, the Canadian Union of Public Employees and KAIROS Canada. KAIROS joined in the third year of the water program and will continue to campaign on water issues in the coming year.
PHOTO CREDIT: Photo reproduced courtesy of Metro Ottawa Daily Newspaper
DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE spokesperson Isabelle Lavoie from Rimouski told the government representatives: "We are asking for total public, democratic and participatory management of water utilities, not partial management such as Public-Private Partnerships. We are reiterating that Canada must be much more critical of the role the World Bank is playing (in promoting the privatization of water)."
Nicole Ladouceur, head of the government delegation, responded to concerns that Canada has consistently resisted recognizing the human right to water at the United Nations. She said, "Water is a very fundamental right. I assure you we will give full consideration to the issue and all its angles."
DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE took centre stage on World Water Day, March 22, when their group organized a beautiful ceremony in the Zocalo, the main square in the city centre. The many people gathered in the Zocalo were invited to pour bottled water – representing the sale of water – into a single bowl, demonstrating the hope that water can be brought back into common ownership. As participants spiraled toward the centre to pour their water, the delegation chanted, "Water is a sacred gift" to the tune of Ubi Caritas. Afterwards they paraded their banners and the bowl of common water around the square.
"It was an incredible and very visual event," Ms. Jackson said. "And people were very impressed to find out that the ceremony we did was being mirrored by World Water Day events in 50 different communities across Canada. These events received a lot of media coverage and certainly provided a fitting finale to our three year program."
Danny Gillis is a former Scarboro lay missioner who served in the Philippines and in Canada. He is now a freelance writer living in Nova Scotia.
On World Water Day, March 22, people in Ottawa, as in other towns and cities across Canada, took part in "water walks" to bring attention to water as a human right and essential for life, and the need for clean, safe, public water. These actions coincided with demonstrations on the same day in Mexico City at the time of the World Water Forum.
Year two of the KAIROS water campaign will focus on corporate accountability, water pollution, overuse and depletion of water resources. To find out more about this campaign, visit their website at www.kairoscanada.org/e/action/campaign.asp Or contact Sara Stratton at sstratton@kairoscanada.org
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