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There is no more basic need than survival, and no substance on earth more crucial to survival than water. This makes it attractive to privatize and commodity, and one worth fighting and dying for. It is a capitalist’s dream, and a warrior’s cause.
But water cannot simply be commodity to be exchanged and bartered by a few corporations, owned and controlled by big business. It is a human need and a right.
Physics dictates the water takes the path of least resistance, but for most people on this planet, the path to water is a bloody hard road. One billion people worldwide do not have any water within a 15-minute walk of their homes.
People say that there will be wars over water. Will be? There always have been. Wealth follows power, and power follows water. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently told me, “We are witnessing something unprecedented: water no longer flows downhill. It flows toward money.”
That fact is hardly lost on the multinationals. “Water is one of the great business opportunities,” notes Fortune magazine. “It promises to be for the 21st Century what oil was for 20th.” Coca-Cola’s 1993 annual report said. “All of us in the Coca-Cola family wake up each morning knowing that every single one of the world’s 5.6 billion people will get thirsty that day. If we make it impossible for these 5.6 billion people to escape Coca-Cola. Then we assure our future success for many years to come. Doing anything else is not an option.” (Coca-Cola owns dozens of bottled water brands, including Dasani and Evian in the United States, Pump in Australia, and Malvern in the UK. Pepsi is a close competitor, but Nestle beats both with global brands.) |
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| Fortunately, fighting back is the new politics of the 21st century. Everywhere power is being dissolved down to the level of the community. In this grassroots global revolution, we find people are quietly getting on with changing the lives of their communities positively. And where people are finding creative technological solutions undreamed of by the Microsofts, Bayers and Exxon of this world. |
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These people know that freedom isn‘t just about the right to vote dozen times during one’s life, but the right to decide one’s economic as well as political destiny. And that is precisely what economic globalization is stealing from people all over the world.
This book is a small effort to explore not just the problems of water world wide, but to identify and celebrate some possible solutions. Thirsty?
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