This is one of Many Reasons for the Second Amendment to the U.S.Constitution . An ounce of Prevention is worth a Pound of Cure . Sometimes ....Two pounds . There was a great Negro Senator from the sovereign State of Maryland who said something similar about guns , and getting things done ; deterring mischief and its makers . His name escapes me at the moment ; a former slave , and very fine Man & , American . ______________________________________________________________________: I have been hearing of companies taking over or trying to take
: over local water supplies for profit, but this is one of
: the first really concrete articles exposing the
: Transnational Corporations. The Multinational/Transnational
: Corporations have all but taken control over recources from
: food to oil to transportation to manufacturing thus
: controling our lives at every turn.
: What will be next, sunlight?
: The Dark Forces of the New World Order want to control every
: aspect of our lives from birth to death and are rapidly
: acheiving their goals. If they should gain control of the
: worlds water recources it could be the final blow to what
: freedom and liberty left world wide.
: If they control the water, then they control what is put in
: it.
: It would be far too easy to eleminate people in an entire area
: with such control.
: A big thanks to Pops for this one.
: Ghostwolfemoon
:
: ---------------------------------------------------------------
: Just saw this item while looking for local news about the
: Peruvian 7.5 earthquake. If the transnational globalists
: get their way with water it could be another nail in our
: coffin.
: Regards
: Pops
: http://www.ipsnews.net/new_nota.asp?idnews=30402
: Blocking the Wave of Privatisation of Water
: Raúl Pierri
: MONTEVIDEO, Sep 23 (IPS) - The nations of South America must
: urgently take steps to guarantee that water is legally
: considered a social, not an economic resource, and to block
: the advance of transnational corporations, which are
: increasingly gaining control over public utilities in the
: developing South, warned the French foundation France
: Libertés.
: Danielle Mitterrand, the founder of France Libertés and the
: widow of former French President François Mitterrand
: (1981-1995), headed up a delegation of the foundation that
: ended a tour to South America Friday.
: The aim of the tour was to promote the concept of water as a
: public good, and to speak out against the privatisation of
: water and sanitation companies.
: "The foundation was initially involved only in the
: defence of human rights, including legal, economic and
: social rights, but we gradually came to realise that the
: right to water is essential, and that water was going to
: become one of the most pressing problems in the
: world," said Catherine Legna, projects director in
: France Libertés.
: "In our view, the commodification of water is simply
: unacceptable," she told IPS. "Products can be
: bought and sold, but the buying and selling of resources
: that are indispensable to life itself, like water, is
: intolerable."
: The delegation's first stop was Brazil, where the foundation's
: representatives signed agreements with the leftist
: government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in which
: Brazilian authorities committed themselves to blocking any
: attempt at privatising the management of that country's
: water.
: France Libertés will also serve as a link between municipal
: governments in Brazil and the French public enterprises
: Eaux de Paris and Ville de Grenoble, to share experiences
: in the "social management" of water.
: The foundation also promised legal advice to municipal
: authorities in Brazil in cases in which multinational
: companies running water utilities have failed to live up to
: the terms of their contracts.
: The activists later headed to Bolivia, on the invitation of
: social movements in the western city of El Alto, a
: sprawling working class suburb located next to La Paz.
: Through massive street protests, the civil society groups
: forced the government to cancel its contract last January
: with the French corporation Suez-Lyonnaise des Eaux, which
: was running the water company.
: The social movements in El Alto, which has a largely
: indigenous population of 800,000, accused the French firm
: of infringing the contract and of charging unjustifiably
: high rates.
: The company was also accused of failing to keep its promise to
: invest 800 million dollars in the construction of a water
: treatment plant, of dumping waste into Lake Titicaca, and
: of leaving many people with no access to water.
: "Bolivia is one of the countries in the most dire
: situations, but it is also the country that has the
: strongest social movement, because it is based on the deep
: indigenous roots of the Bolivian people," said Legna.
: "They have a strong sense of solidarity and awareness of
: the concept of using the water for the public good,"
: she added.
: France Libertés will play the role of intermediary in order
: for the public water company in the central city of
: Cochabamba to receive advice from the French cities of
: Paris and Grenoble.
: "We believe it makes the most sense for the city
: governments, which know what it means to administer these
: resources, to directly contact each other," said
: Legna.
: Activists point out that in the past few years, a large part
: of the planet's clean water has fallen under the control of
: transnational corporations.
: They also warn that in just a few years time, a handful of
: corporations will control almost 75 percent of all water
: for human consumption in the world, as an increasing number
: of governments privatise water and sewage services.
: The main concessionaires are the French Vivendi-Générale des
: Eaux and Suez-Lyonnaise des Eaux, which control 40 percent
: of the market and provide services to some 110 million
: people in more than 100 countries.
: Suez reported net earnings of 2.42 billion dollars in 2004,
: 2.8 percent up from the previous year.
: Governments argue that their main motivation in handing over
: drinking water distribution and treatment and sanitation
: services to the private sector is to improve public
: services.
: But instead of alleviating the problem of limited public
: access to clean water, the private corporations have
: inflated rates, and corrupt corporate practices have led to
: severe crises in cities and entire countries in some cases,
: say the activists.
: One-fourth of the world's population has no access to clean
: water, which leads to the deaths of at least 34,000 people
: a year.
: The U.N. has warned that unless drastic measures are taken,
: within the next 20 years, 1.8 billion people will live in
: countries or regions that suffer severe water shortages.
: Mitterrand visited Buenos Aires shortly after Suez decided to
: pull out of Aguas Argentinas, a company that was privatised
: in the 1990s and which serves 10 million people in Greater
: Buenos Aires.
: The French company decided to leave Argentina due to
: resistance by the administration of Néstor Kirchner to
: allow an increase in rates, which were frozen during the
: South American country's economic meltdown in late 2001.
: Mitterrand said in Buenos Aires that in her view, Suez
: "failed to live up to its agreement" with the
: Argentine government. She also said public services should
: always be provided by the State, and not by mixed or
: private systems, "which do not work."
: The delegation decided to end its South American tour in
: Uruguay "as a symbol, to tell the world that an
: example was set here," said Legna.
: "The case of Uruguay is unique in the world, and that's
: why we came. Not to give advice, but to exchange
: experiences," she stressed.
: In a referendum last year, 64.7 percent of Uruguayan voters
: came out in favour of introducing a constitutional
: amendment which states that "water is a natural
: resource essential to life" and that access to piped
: water and sanitation services are "fundamental human
: rights".
: The constitutional reform also defined water as a public good
: and guaranteed civil society participation at every level
: of management of the country's water resources.
: In addition, the new clause established that piped water will
: be supplied "exclusively and directly by state-owned
: legal entities", and that concessions to private firms
: would be cancelled.
: That raised questions regarding the contracts that had been
: granted to the Spanish companies Uragua and Aguas de la
: Costa, which were already operating in the southeastern
: province of Maldonado.
: However, the leftist government of Tabaré Vázquez, which
: took office last year, issued a decree allowing the
: companies to continue operating in Maldonado on the
: understanding that the constitutional reform was not
: retroactive.
: But in the end, the government cancelled Uragua's concession
: for breach of contract and for failing to invest in the
: promised sanitation works.
: In Uruguay, Mitterrand met Vice President Rodolfo Nin Novoa
: and Montevideo Mayor Ricardo Ehrlich to express her concern
: about the government decree. "We said all of the
: private companies providing water services should
: leave," she said in a press conference held after the
: meeting. (END/2005)
Serving Freedom
and Liberty
