Oct 11, 2013
I am at the Budapest Water Summit this week working with friends from Public Services International, the Transnational Institute, KruHa Indonesia, Food and Water Europe and IBON. The Budapest Water Summit is yet another UN event dominated by the corporate policy agenda. It features an exhibition where UN agencies display their information alongside corporations -- like Veolia and Nestle -- that are peddling the latest profit-making schemes as solutions to the environmental and economic crises. One panelist summed up the general tone of the summit in this morning's plenary session when he said, "water is everybody's business."
Gabriella Zanzanaini of Food & Water Europe and I attended an interactive session targeting youth which was facilitated by the Global Water Partnership -- an international network comprised of both public institutions and private corporations. Young people were asked to deliberate on which factors should be considered when determining water prices, and why it is that water isn't valued within the global economy like gold and silver. We wound up in small discussion groups where Gabriella and I encouraged our fellow participants to see how the very framing of these questions reinforced a pro-corporate ideology, treating water as a commodity that can be bought and sold.
At our own event promoting a water justice perspective on the implementation of the human right to water, we dispelled the myth that the private sector would bring silver bullet solutions to the global water crisis. The real crisis is a political one: corporations are attempting to control water policy to guarantee secure access to scarce water resources. When governments relegate basic services, such as water and sanitation, to profit-driven multinationals that hike up the service fees and exploit scarce resources, we are dealing with a crisis generated by an unsustainable economic model.
Yet that model continues to be promoted around the world at events like the Budapest Water Summit, where governments discuss the future of the world's water with polluters and water profiteers rather than with the communities most impacted by the global water crisis.
No one is coming to save us. Join with us.
The world is a pretty dark place right now. Economic inequality off the charts. The climate emergency. Supreme Court corruption in the U.S. and corporate capture worldwide. Democracy in many nations coming apart at the seams. Fascism threatens. It’s enough to make you wish for some powerful being to come along and save us. But the truth is this: no heroes are coming to save us. The only path to real and progressive change is when well-informed, well-intentioned people—fed up with being kicked around by the rich, the powerful, and the wicked—get organized and fight for the better world we all deserve. That’s why we created Common Dreams. We cover the issues that corporate media never will and lift up voices others would rather keep silent. But this people-powered media model can only survive with the support of readers like you. Can you join with us and donate right now to Common Dreams’ Mid-Year Campaign? |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Meera Karunananthan
Meera Karunananthan is the National Water Campaigner of the Council of Canadians.
I am at the Budapest Water Summit this week working with friends from Public Services International, the Transnational Institute, KruHa Indonesia, Food and Water Europe and IBON. The Budapest Water Summit is yet another UN event dominated by the corporate policy agenda. It features an exhibition where UN agencies display their information alongside corporations -- like Veolia and Nestle -- that are peddling the latest profit-making schemes as solutions to the environmental and economic crises. One panelist summed up the general tone of the summit in this morning's plenary session when he said, "water is everybody's business."
Gabriella Zanzanaini of Food & Water Europe and I attended an interactive session targeting youth which was facilitated by the Global Water Partnership -- an international network comprised of both public institutions and private corporations. Young people were asked to deliberate on which factors should be considered when determining water prices, and why it is that water isn't valued within the global economy like gold and silver. We wound up in small discussion groups where Gabriella and I encouraged our fellow participants to see how the very framing of these questions reinforced a pro-corporate ideology, treating water as a commodity that can be bought and sold.
At our own event promoting a water justice perspective on the implementation of the human right to water, we dispelled the myth that the private sector would bring silver bullet solutions to the global water crisis. The real crisis is a political one: corporations are attempting to control water policy to guarantee secure access to scarce water resources. When governments relegate basic services, such as water and sanitation, to profit-driven multinationals that hike up the service fees and exploit scarce resources, we are dealing with a crisis generated by an unsustainable economic model.
Yet that model continues to be promoted around the world at events like the Budapest Water Summit, where governments discuss the future of the world's water with polluters and water profiteers rather than with the communities most impacted by the global water crisis.
Meera Karunananthan
Meera Karunananthan is the National Water Campaigner of the Council of Canadians.
I am at the Budapest Water Summit this week working with friends from Public Services International, the Transnational Institute, KruHa Indonesia, Food and Water Europe and IBON. The Budapest Water Summit is yet another UN event dominated by the corporate policy agenda. It features an exhibition where UN agencies display their information alongside corporations -- like Veolia and Nestle -- that are peddling the latest profit-making schemes as solutions to the environmental and economic crises. One panelist summed up the general tone of the summit in this morning's plenary session when he said, "water is everybody's business."
Gabriella Zanzanaini of Food & Water Europe and I attended an interactive session targeting youth which was facilitated by the Global Water Partnership -- an international network comprised of both public institutions and private corporations. Young people were asked to deliberate on which factors should be considered when determining water prices, and why it is that water isn't valued within the global economy like gold and silver. We wound up in small discussion groups where Gabriella and I encouraged our fellow participants to see how the very framing of these questions reinforced a pro-corporate ideology, treating water as a commodity that can be bought and sold.
At our own event promoting a water justice perspective on the implementation of the human right to water, we dispelled the myth that the private sector would bring silver bullet solutions to the global water crisis. The real crisis is a political one: corporations are attempting to control water policy to guarantee secure access to scarce water resources. When governments relegate basic services, such as water and sanitation, to profit-driven multinationals that hike up the service fees and exploit scarce resources, we are dealing with a crisis generated by an unsustainable economic model.
Yet that model continues to be promoted around the world at events like the Budapest Water Summit, where governments discuss the future of the world's water with polluters and water profiteers rather than with the communities most impacted by the global water crisis.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.