(YellowTimes.org) Well, maybenot rocket fuel but perhaps the juice that powers your SUV and thoseobnoxious jet-skis.
Environmental, social justice,anti-globalization groups around the world have been active in tryingto prevent the privatization ofwater. Perhaps (to usea word coined by President G.W. Bush) I am misunderestimating them,but I think they are missing one of the crucial driving forces thatis moving the privatized water crowd so eagerlyforward.
Those folks who protest at World TradeOrganization meetings or who think the International Monetary Fund(IMF) minions should be turned into compost are largely right.Governments all round the planet have managed to sell theircollective souls to international businesses which are almostinevitably beyond their control, or anyone else's control. And wehave developed treaty after treaty giving the corporations the legalright to empty our pockets while filling their own.
Control of water is rapidly becoming the latestattack upon humanity and a time is very nearly approaching when onlythose with sufficient cash in their pockets will be able to obtainthis most important requirement of life. According to Fortunemagazine, the annual profits of the water industry are about 40% ofthose of the petroleum industry. At this stage, those companies onlycontrol about 5% of the world's potable water.
Wait 'til they get the rest of it.
Fortune also noted that the World Bank and the IMFare increasingly forcing Third World countries to abandon theirpublic water systems and contract with the giant corporations inorder to be eligible for any sort of debt relief. Essentially,international business is buying up the very lifeblood of the worldwith the cooperation of the world's governments.
Now it is surely obvious why corporations want toown all the water … it just isn't acceptable to have people outthere drinking stuff where there is no built-in profit margin. Andsince water is such a basic human, plant, and animal need, it is bestto get it out of the hands of the people and into the clutches ofcorporations who can properly manage it and market it, who can priceit as they see fit or withhold it from whomever they wish. In short,it is the world's most powerful bargaining chip.
But it's more than just drinking water and we maybe overlooking another major motivation behind this global onslaught… it's parked on your driveway.
As we are busy watching yet another war for oilparade its ugly face across our television screens, we keep hearingthese hints and promises of a clean and abundant fuel that comesright out of our taps. There seems little reason to doubt that waterwill provide a substantial amount of future power in the form ofhydrogen energy. The science is already in place; the manufacturingand design is well under way. There are lots of test vehicles provingthat this works and works well.
So, what's the hold-up? What's missing is thecontrol of the fuel source.
At present, we are all slaves to the oil companiesand the oil-producing nations. We know in our hearts the bankerscontrol the governments which control the oil companies which controlthe armies of the world in a Möebius-like configuration. Ourgas-guzzling, Western nations can no longer function without anabundant supply of fuel and that dependence on oil led to a lot ofthe history of the past century and, so far, this one aswell.
So what happens if hydrogen power replaces oildependence? Well, suddenly the oil companies lose relevance, thesource of fuel shifts away from desert sands and into the oceans andlakes and rivers. The sky might get cleaner because hydrogen issupposed to be significantly more environment-friendly. The need forwars fought over oil would end (as if there ever really was a need);instead, we can fight over water.
But without major changes in the corporate sphere,the economy tanks. Hence, the rush to buy up and privatize all theworld's water. It isn't just that we need to drink it or use it inmanufacturing or growing stuff or flushing our toilets; we are goingto need it to power our vans and trucks and snowmobiles.
Picture this, however: against all odds, thenations of the world come to their senses and realize that there aresome basic human needs that they need to provide to their citizens.Water would seem to me to be the second most basic after air and, sofar, they haven't figured out how to tax my respiration (if they everdo, hopefully there will be no difference in pricing for variousqualities, like leaded or unleaded air). So government realizes thatit needs water for its people to drink and, as science progresses, toallow the wheels of industry and the wheels of vehicles to keep onturning. And in a leap of clear thinking, those governments realizethat it had better be they that control this stuff rather than someforeign corporation which is really indifferent about whether thisgovernment's citizens even stay alive.
I have been advocating for some time, along withmany far more knowledgeable and far more intelligent people, thatwater should be universally recognized as a basic human right. Thatdoesn't mean it comes without cost, but it should mean that citizensdetermine those costs and how the resource is used; not Coca Cola orsome other conglomerate.
But let's be very clear here: control of water isfar beyond just the issue of drinking water. As it stands right now,in many jurisdictions control of water has already passed intoprivate hands and our basic human right is now being sold back to us.It should have been the other way around; if industry wants to usewater, for whatever purpose, it should be buying it from the people.As the replacement of oil in our transportation sector moves ahead,you can expect to see the onslaught on the world's water suppliesgrow ever stronger. And we already know that the nation most eager tofight wars over oil has epidemic water shortages in someareas.
It is of paramount importance that citizens forcetheir governments to hold water as a public resource; in places whereit has already been sold off, take it back … steal it if youhave to, but do not let it remain in the clutches of corporations.This may be the most critical decision citizens will ever have tomake.
I guess the one positive we can consider here isthat when those big ocean-going tankers spill their cargo of water,at least it shouldn't leave slicks on the surface.
[Paul Harris is self-employed as a consultant providingbusinesses with the tools and expertise to reintegrate their sick orinjured employees into the workplace. He has traveled extensively inwhat is usually known as "the Third World" and has an abidinginterest in history, social justice, morality and, well, just abouteverything. He lives in Canada.]
Paul Harris encourages your comments: pharris@YellowTimes.org
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Copyright 2004 West-Art, Prometheus 92/2004