Selling water

Globalization is exacerbating a growing worldwide water crisis, according to Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians (Resist Newsletter, 6-7/00).

"Forces are already established that would see water become a private commodity to be sold and traded on the open market, controlled by transnational corporations and guaranteed for the use of private capital through global trade and investment agreements through the World Trade Organization (WTO)," Barlow says.

"In industries ranging from municipal water and wastewater services to an explosion in bottled water to massive bulk water exports by tanker, corporations are lining up to exploit the increasingly desperate global demand for water. 'Water is the last infrastructure frontier for private investors,' says Johan Bastin of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

"The world of privatized water is overwhelmingly dominated by two French transnationals, Vivendi and Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux. They are joined by mega-energy companies like Enron, that has just set up a water division headed by Rebecca Mark (who swears she will not rest until the entire world's water is privatized) and by global shipping companies eager to begin the global trade in commercial bulk water. ...

"Water must be exempted from both NAFTA and the World Trade Organization, as must the trade in genes, seeds, air, health, education, social services, natural resources and culture. That is not to say that those of us living in water-rich areas of the world don't have obligations to water-scarce regions, especially given the fact that it is the corporations of the First World that have caused such devastation in the Third. But there is a world of difference between water-sharing and water-trading. You can be sure that under the WTO, it would not be the world's poor who would gain access to water; rather, countries, water-intensive corporations, free trade zones and wealthy communities able to pay top dollar would win the prize."

Klan adopts a highway

"A stretch of highway sponsored by the Ku Klux Klan was recently named after civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks," according to the SPLC Report (6/00). "Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan signed legislation in late May that created the Rosa Parks Highway, a portion of Interstate 55 near downtown St. Louis. The Klan won the right to join the state's Adopt-A-Highway cleanup program in November and was assigned the I-55 stretch.

"'I think the governor appreciated the irony of the KKK picking up trash along the Rosa Parks Highway,' a spokesman said."

'Interculturation'

Asked in an interview about "inculturating" the Gospel (The Christian Century, 8/00), world religions scholar and Roman Catholic priest Raimon Panikkar replied that "it is of interculturation that we need to speak -- that is, of a meeting between traditions and cultures, and not the implantation of one culture in another. It would only be a proof of colonialism to pretend that one religious message, like the New Testament, has the right and the duty to inculturate itself everywhere, as if it were something supracultural. The church ought to take existing traditional cultures more seriously, and work for their mutual fecundation. ... The Christian truth is not the monopoly of a sect, a treatise imposed by a kind of colonization, but an eruption that has existed since the dawn of time, which St. Paul defined very well as 'a mystery that has existed since the beginning,' and of which we Christians know only a very small part."

Why not give them Mercedes?

"The U.S. is on the verge of undermining an international missile control regime with the potential sale of 25 ballistic missiles to the tiny Persian Gulf State of Bahrain," according to the Council for a Livable World (Arms Trade Insider #36). "The U.S. intends to squeeze the missile under the limits of the Missile Technology Control Regime by making modifications to its range and payload. The U.S. has repeatedly berated other countries for potential violations of the missile regime, and will surely set a precedent that the regime's limits on the sale of ballistic missiles can be ignored or bent to suit one's needs.

"It is ironic the U.S. would modify the missile, considering the U.S. chastised the French-British consortium Matra Bae Dynamics for a proposed sale of the Black Shahine cruise missile to the United Arab Emirates in November 1998. The consortium proposed that it would alter the missile's capabilities to qualify under the regime's guidelines. The regime's voluntary guidelines limit the sale of ballistic missiles with a range over 300 kilometers and over 500 kilograms of payload. In that case, the U.S. argued that the sale undermined the spirit of the regime, but it now appears that the U.S. missile should not be held to the same standard. Given U.S. policy against the spread of ballistic missiles to developing nations, it is hypocritical to sell these modified ballistic missiles to Bahrain.

"Furthermore, introducing the ballistic missiles to the Persian Gulf will exacerbate the existing regional arms race. If the U.S. sells these missiles to Bahrain, the other countries of the region will want similar missiles, further eroding regional security and the missile regime.

"Bahrain has no need for these missiles because it already has missiles in its arsenal capable of defending against any potential invasion. Secondly, Bahrain serves as the host for the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, a massive deterrent force in its own right.

"Bahrain has served as one of the U.S.' closest allies in this region, allowing bombing runs from its soil during times of crisis with Iraq. If this sale is to serve as essentially a reward for past good behavior, there are other, safer methods to achieve this. As one Congressional staffer remarked, 'If we are doing this sale just to make Bahrain happy, why don't we give them some Mercedes instead?'"

Alienating allies

Writing about the convention protests, Juan Gonzalez notes that he saw "disturbing signs of class and racial bias even among some of the most committed protesters in Philadelphia and L.A." (In These Times, 9/18/00).

"There was, for instance, the young activist outside the West Philadelphia puppet-making center that police raided, arresting 70 people inside who had committed no crime. A phalanx of young cops, most of them black, had been posted outside the warehouse while commanders negotiated the surrender of those inside. The raid itself was inexcusable and a clear violation of basic civil rights, but the cops on the detail were courteous and well-behaved. I listened in astonishment as the young white activist began to berate the black cops, calling them traitors to the memory of Martin Luther King, defenders of racism and oppression, and a variety of other names.

"As someone who has spent years chronicling the harrowing experiences of untold numbers of black and Latino cops within urban police departments in this country, I have no doubt that the average black officer encounters and often battles against far more racism than that young radical could ever hope to imagine. Not to recognize that even within the most repressive agencies and institutions of our society there are many men and women of good will battling for justice -- people who could be potential allies -- is an arrogance and immaturity the new movement cannot afford."

Tax resisters' gathering

The 15th annual New England Gathering of War Tax Resisters is set for Nov. 17-19, 2000 at the Woolman Hill Conference Center in Deerfield, Mass. There will be a workshop for those new to war tax refusal as well as opportunities to talk with long-time refusers. For details, contact Melinda Nielsen, 24 Clark Ave., Northampton, MA 01060; 413-584-5608. l