Yes, It’s Worth It:
Anil Naidoo reflects on a year in the life of the water justice movement
The fight for water justice
is often difficult. I have
been with the Council of
Canadians’ Blue Planet Project
for the past five years, and I
can tell you that it helps to be
an optimist.
There is no denying that a global water
crisis is underway. Around the world,
over 1.2 billion people do not have
access to clean drinking water, and this
number is rising. Another 4 billion lack
adequate sanitation services. In some
parts of the global south, children die at
the rate of one every 15 seconds due to
easily preventable water-related diseases.
It is easy to wonder if our actions only
represent insignificant victories that will
be inevitably washed away by the flood
of greed and misery that water privatization
and commodification brings.
Then you live through a year like 2007
and anything seems possible. This past
year was a fantastic one for the Blue
Planet Project, for the water justice
movement as a whole, and for me personally
as an activist. We are reaching
higher, striking further and having an
impact we could never have dreamed of
before. Could 2008 be the year when
the balance finally tips in favour of the
right to water?
Multiple victories
Much of the momentum we see began
in earnest during the 4th World Water
Forum in Mexico City in March 2006.
It was there that we worked with dozens
of local and international groups to get
almost 40,000 people into the streets to
march for the right to water and against
the privatization agenda of the World
Water Forum.
This helped propel us into 2007, an
extraordinary year filled with victories.
We began in January, witnessing the
launch of the African Water Network in
Nairobi during the World Social Forum,
representing 37 countries.
As always, NationaMarch 13, 2008her advocacy for
water rights, launching her book Blue
Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and
the Coming Battle for the Right to Water.
Maude toured more than 20 Canadian
cities to spread the word about the need
for a binding UN treaty on the right
to water, as well as national policies
that ban privatization and bulk exports.
She also took her message to Australia,
where she criticized former prime
minister John Howard on his terrible
water policy, as well as the European
Parliament.
In 2007, the Council of Canadians was
asked to advise Madame Louise Arbour,
the UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights, about the issue of water
as a human right. Her final report,
which was presented to the Human
Rights Council in September, demanded
that national governments ensure
effective monitoring of water rights
violations through a system of penalties.
In 2008, the Blue Planet Project will
continue to call for an immediate halt
to new water privatization initiatives,
and a review of all existing forms of
privatization.
Activists in 36 countries around the
world spent the month of October
fighting for the right to water. Once
again, the Blue Planet Project was one
of the key organizers of Blue October,
which saw community activists organizing
a variety of events to raise the
profile of water as a public good. In
Ghana, activists organized community
meetings to fight water tariff increases.
In Norway, Members of Parliament carried
15 litres of water on their heads,
to demonstrate the appalling lack of
access to water in the global south. In
Colombia, civil society groups collected
signatures calling for a national referendum
that could enshrine the right to
water in the country’s constitution.
Working with dedicated partners from
Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America,
the Blue Planet Project strives to support
the energy of social movements and
civil society organizations around the
world.
In 2008, we will continue to agitate
when it is needed, and we will not let
down the truly brave water warriors who
struggle in communities where opposition
to corporate control puts citizens in
grave danger. We will continue to work
with progressive governments, the UN
and grassroots water activists, to put
forth sustainable solutions to the world
water crisis.
Anil Naidoo is the Project Organizer for the
Council of Canadians’ Blue Planet Project.
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Photo credit: Christina Riley
