Water belongs to the People

Latest

Protest to stop the city’s water shut-offs to thousands of Detroit homes. PHOTO/ DAYMONJHARTLEY.COM
Protest to stop the city’s water shut-offs to thousands of Detroit homes.
PHOTO/ DAYMONJHARTLEY.COM

Water, that precious life giving force.  Without it, life on earth would be impossible.  Two-thirds of the planet is covered by it.  Our bodies are mostly made up of it.  Beyond three days without water we humans die.
In spite of these facts, corporations are privatizing water and denying it to whoever can’t pay for it.  In the year 2000, the Bechtel Corporation did just that in Cochabamba, Bolivia.  They even claimed ownership of rain water and the right to charge people for it.  This caused an uprising that ended in Bechtel being run out of town and losing their water ownership rights.
Earlier this year, 27,000 of the poorest households in Detroit had their water services cut off.  Forty percent of the workers in Detroit live in utter poverty.  The United Nations condemned it as a violation of human rights and international law as well as a public health crisis.  A bankruptcy judge, however, ruled that the people of Detroit have no such enforceable right to water.
Detroit, as well as dozens of other cities around the country, is preparing to privatize its water by first doubling and tripling its citizen’s water bills.  Cold blooded?  You bet it is.  Profits hold no sentimental feelings about life.  Private ownership of water in the hands of the few is contrary to social well being.  Do we really want corporations to own and control our water?
Battle lines are drawn all over the country in what people are calling ‘water wars.’ Fracking, polluting, drought, for sale signs on lakes, rivers, aquifiers, and public water filtration systems—the forms are many, but the content is ‘class war’ with privatized water at once both the prize and the weapon used.
The editorial board of the Washington Post reminds us that in any war, the first casualty is the truth.  “Dead beats and their advocates are marching as if to war to make Detroit safe for freeloaders,” they declared.  Omitted is the fact that the corporations of Detroit collectively owe more than $30 million in unpaid water bills.  No one is cutting off their water.
Contrast this with children, the elderly, people in wheel chairs, the bedridden, and the ill all going without water in mass.  On one side is the cruelty of growing human suffering. It is matched on the other side with growing private ownership of everything, including the means of life.
During the American Revolution, Thomas Paine inspired revolutionaries to action when he asked the question, “Who needs a king?”  The outright theft from the people of all things public by a few usurpers requires us to revisit that moment in history and ask ourselves, “Who needs corporate rule?”

PT Logo collage
+ Articles by this author

Free to republish but please credit the People's Tribune. Visit us at www.peoplestribune.org, email peoplestribune@gmail.com, or call 773-486-3551.

The People’s Tribune brings you articles written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Unsigned articles reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: ©2024 peoplestribune.org. Please donate to help us keep bringing you voices of the movement. Click here. We’re all volunteer, no paid staff.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Featured

Another Big Beautiful Betrayal for Rural America

You slash Medicaid, you’re swinging an axe at the heart of our rural hospitals, community clinics, doctors and nurses — and every family that depends on a job for a living. It’s not too late to raise hell.

ICE Terror Campaign Threatens Us All

Several recent Facebook reels show how ICE is ramping up its campaign of terror against immigrants, citizens and protestors alike as the effort to create a police state continues and resistance grows. One creator speaks to the significance of Haitians now being targeted.

Medicaid Defenders in Wheelchairs Arrested Ahead of Senate Budget Vote

Over 60 people, including grandmas in wheelchairs, were arrested in the U.S. Senate Rotunda in a nonviolent protest against cuts like Medicaid and the SNAP food program in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Budget Bill.”

Zohran Mamdani Delivers Stunning Blow to ‘Billionaire-Backed Status Quo’ in NYC

New York City proved that a movement powered by hope, courage, and working class people can beat the money of billionaires.

The American People Want Peace, Not War!

The US's immoral and illegal attack on Iran threatens the whole world with war. The American people have a special responsibility to come out into the streets and rein in the US government, which has become a rogue state.

More from the People's Tribune