Water, the foundation of all life, should be democratically controlled by all people locally. Historically, water has been seen as a "common". In other words, something that was owned by all the people but yet, not owned by anyone. It was understood that all the people and all the animals needed water to live and, therefore, it belongs to all to share.
Yet, increasingly giant multi-national corporations around the world have attempted to gain control in order to gain enormous profits. They have used provisions in free trade and bilateral investment agreements, written in part by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, to force privatization of publicly owned water systems with sometimes disastrous results.
The problem in...
the developing world
Updated 8-14-07
