[DEBATE] : CCS seminar on water politics (19/1, 10am): Whither the World Water Forum? Durban?

[Patrick Bond]

(Would any of you comrades like to join us on skype?)

Join us at the University of KwaZulu-Natal Centre for Civil Society, 
http://www.ukzn.ac.za/ccs

Seminar: Whither the World Water Forum? Durban?
Speakers: Dale McKinley, Orlean Naidoo, Dudu Khumalo, Bryan Ashe
Date: Monday, 19 January 2009
Time (NEW!): 10-11:30am
Venue: CCS/SDS seminar room, Memorial Tower Building Room F208
University of KwaZulu-Natal Howard College Campus

The triannual World Water Forum has evoked intense criticism from the 
water justice community. In The Hague (2000), Osaka (2003) and Mexico 
City (2006), the WWF attracted vibrant protests, including a 10 
000-strong march against the Mexico forum site. Even more protests will 
be launched by those opposed to water commodification at the Istanbul 
WWF in March 2009, with two alternative forums being planned in reaction 
to the World Water Council's elite festival. The water justice movements 
have demanded that the WWF cease operations in Istanbul (see below). In 
the event this demand is not agreed to, the South African government - 
in competition with France - is considering inviting the WWF to Durban 
in 2012. When global governance confabs arrived in Durban in 2001 (World 
Conference Against Racism) and Johannesburg in 2002 (World Summit on 
Sustainable Development), the reaction by civil society was impressive: 
huge protests, sophisticated critiques and unprecedented unity amongst a 
normally fractious left. If the WWF continues, what are the pros and 
cons of a WWF in Durban, a site celebrated by the world's water mafia 
for successful commodification under the guise of 'public-private 
partnerships', pilot 'free basic water' strategies, installation of 
'urinary diversion' sanitation (a.k.a. the 'neoliberal loo'), and mass 
disconnections, even of schools? "Bring 'em on?" "Shoe 'em away?" An 
open debate with varied "insider-outsider" positions is anticipated.

PANEL:

Dale McKinley was born and raised in Zimbabwe, and studied in the United 
States where he received his PhD in Politics/African Studies and was a 
student activist at the University of North Carolina. He is a co-founder 
of the Anti-Privatisation Forum and currently the organisation’s 
treasurer, as well as a leader of the Coalition Against Water 
Privatisation. He has published two books and scores of book chapters, 
journal articles and newspaper articles.

Orlean Naidoo has been a CCS Community Scholar since 2007 and works on 
water/sanitation in Chatsworth and various other sites. She has 
coauthored articles about the water struggle and is a leading community 
activist in Durban.

Dudu Khumalo works as a CCS Community Scholar and in various other water 
research consultancies. She has authored water articles for Agenda and 
The Mercury, and campaigned on behalf of people displaced by the Inanda Dam.

Bryan Ashe coordinates the SA Water Caucus, and has been involved in 
discussions regarding prospects for SA's hosting of the WWF in 2012.


***

An Open Call to the Global Water Justice Movement to Mobilize Against 
the False World Water Forum

Let us join together in Istanbul, Turkey, March 14-22, 2009 to protect 
water as a human right, global commons and public good to expose the 
illegitimate power of the World Water Council!

Following the successes of past resistance against World Water Forums, 
most notably the mass mobilizations and Jornadas en Defensa del Agua in 
Mexico City in 2006,

Using the principles in the Mexico Declaration and previous joint 
declarations of the water justice movement as the basis for this call to 
action,

Respecting the struggles, waged daily by grassroots activists to improve 
water conditions for people and nature,

And standing in solidarity with our brothers and sisters from Turkey who 
are organizing an extensive slate of counter events in Istanbul and 
around the country in a strong show of resistance,

We call upon social movements, networks and individual water activists 
committed to principles of equity, justice and sustainability, to 
mobilize against the upcoming 5th World Water Forum.

This 5th World Water Forum, as with the previous 4 World Water Forums, 
is being organized by the World Water Council—a body created and 
controlled by the global private water industry and which continues to 
promote water privatization, destructive dams, commodification and 
commercialization, projects and policies proven to harm people and 
communities; local food systems, livelihoods and indigenous resource base.

The time is here to end the reign of these Water Barons and launch a 
truly inclusive and accountable forum to deal with the grave situation 
facing humanity and the planet.

Together we will work to counter privatization efforts, – including 
mining of water for industries or for chemical intensive commercial 
agriculture –, and high-risk hydropower around the world and in Turkey 
where the government has dangerously proposed the construction of 
destructive dams and the privatization of lakes and rivers.

We will continue to support local campaigns and social movements in both 
the South and North, working strongly with Red Vida, the Africa Water 
Network, the international movement against destructive dams and the 
European Public Water Network. We commit to augment condemnation of the 
World Water Council with the promotion of viable alternatives such as 
Public-Public Partnerships, community-control models based on principles 
of rights and responsibilities to the commons and water democracy.

This gathering simultaneously provides opportunities for water justice 
activists to learn from and support each other's efforts, as well as to 
lobby government representatives who will be in attendance at the 
official Forum.

As in Mexico in 2006, Kyoto in 2003 and the Hague in 2000, it is 
important to challenge the destructive neo-liberal, pro-privatization 
and pro-large dams agenda of the Forum organizers, but even more 
important, to launch a process and new Water Forum tied to actual State 
obligations, within a United Nations framework and working with local 
community-based efforts and actors to achieve water justice.

Therefore,

We call upon governments to join with the governments of Uruguay, 
Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba, who in 2006 signed the 4th World Water 
Forum Counter Declaration, demanding implementation of a truly open and 
transparent multilateral process.

We call upon the United Nations and its member governments to accept 
your obligation, as the only legitimate global convener of multilateral 
forums, to publicly commit to hosting a Forum on Water, which is linked 
to state obligations and is accountable to the global community.

We call upon all organizations and governments who choose to attend the 
5th World Water Forum, to commit to making this the last and to join in 
the launching of a legitimate Global Forum on Water, emerging from 
within the UN processes and supported by States.

We call upon all who share our commitment to mobilize in their own 
communities during the World Water Forum, in a show of solidarity with 
those struggling for water justice and as a call to the global community 
to mobilize on this critical issue.

We finally call upon all committed activists, elected representatives, 
government representatives and progressive organizations to join in the 
upcoming mobilization standing alongside our allies in Turkey.

Global Week of Actions for Water Justice

March 14-22, 2009

As part of the call to the global water justice movements to mobilize 
against the false World Water Forum, we commit to mobilize for the 
Global Week of Actions for Water Justice. The global week of action 
serves as a common platform for movements, peoples' organizations, 
activists and citizens, elected representatives and governments 
committed to water justice— for all communities to access safe, 
affordable water for drinking, fishing, recreational, and cultural uses 
in an equitable, effective, democratic way.

We invite and urge movements, organizations, and citizens around the 
world to undertake actions in their own countries that reflect their own 
struggles, character, and possibilities. This can either be a seminar or 
forum about your struggles, rally or symbolic action, a concert or press 
conference, etc. All actions related to our common goal of water justice 
are welcome—from more modest actions to larger mobilizations.

We invite you to share information about your plans by sending us a 
short paragraph outlining your planned activities and engagements 
(including date and place), contact details, including Country and 
Organization. Information can be sent to mbmanahan at focusweb.org.

This week includes special dates:

Text Box: Calendar of Actions March 14: The International Day of Action 
for Rivers http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/day-of-action March 22: 
World Water Day

We once again invite you to go to www.peopleswaterforum.org to find out 
more about how you can support these efforts. With you, together we can 
build a truly global week of action for water justice.

Signatories to the Open Call:

Abdelmawlaa Ismail, Coordinator of Egyptian Committee for Right to Water 
and Right to Water Forum in the Arab Region | Africa Water Network | 
Aquattac, European Network of Attac water activists | Amigos de la 
Tierra Argentina | Association pour le Contrat Mondial de l'Eau, France 
| Attac, Finland | Attac, Germany | BanglaPraxis, Bangladesh | Berlin 
Water Table, Germany | Blue Planet Project, Canada | Centre for Law, 
Policy and Human Rights Studies, Chennai, India | CeVI, Italy | Centre 
for Civil Society Environmental Justice Project, Durban, South Africa | 
Coalición de Organizaciones Mexicanas por el Derecho al Agua, COMDA, 
Mexico | Comité de Enlace de la Red VIDA, the Americas | Coordinadora de 
Defensa del Agua y de la Vida, Bolivia | Corporate Accountability 
International, USA | Corporate Europe Observatory | Council of Canadians 
| CUPE, Canada | Enginyeria Sense Frontere- Catalunya| Federación de 
Funcionarios de OSE, Uruguay | Federación de Trabajadores Fabriles de 
Cochabamba, Bolivia | Focus on the Global South | Food & Water Watch, 
USA | Frances Libertes, France | Freedom from Debt Coalition, 
Philippines | Friends of the Earth, Canada | Friends of the Earth, 
Finland | Globalization Monitor, Hong Kong | Hemantha Withanage, Centre 
for Environmental Justice, Sri Lanka | Italian Committee World Water 
Contract | Jubilee South - Asia/Pacific Movement on Debt and Development 
(JS APMDD) | National Commission in Defense of Water and Life, Uruguay | 
Playapart, Italy | Polaris Institute, Canada | Raja Kassab, Association 
pour un Contrat Mondial de l'Eau Maroc, Morocco and Right to Water Forum 
in the Arab Region | Solidarity Workshop, International | SuKo, Germany 
| Transnational Institute, Europe | Umeedenao Citizen Community Board, 
Pakistan | Water Movements Italian Forum | Water Movement, Norway | 
International Rivers, US