Hong International Hall Blue Gold symposium at Pacific Lutheran University May4, 2008, 3:00 p.m.

Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke,

Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the CorporateTheft of the World’s Water

(New York & London: New Press, 2002;paperback 2004 [with new preface]).

[

Note:

Blue Gold

was initially the title of abooklet by Maude Barlow published by theInternational Forum on Globalization in 2000(255).]

Preface.

[June 2004] Upbeat assessmentof the global movement against privatecontrol of water (v-viii).

Acknowledgments.

Associates working onthe Blue Planet Project of the Council of Canadians (seewww.canadians.org);families.

Introduction.

“[T]he world is runningout of fresh water”

(xi). “[U]nless wedramatically change our ways, between one-half and two-thirds of humanity will be livingwith severe fresh water shortages within thenext quarter-century” (xii).

The neoliberalWashington Consensus,

with the WorldBank and the IMF as its enforcers,

advocates privatization as a response

tothis problem,

but this is unacceptablefrom the perspective both of humanrights and of natural ecology

(xii-xv).

Treaty Initiative.

Declares “the Earth’sfresh water supply to be a global commons”;written by Barlow and Jeremy Rifkin andunanimously passed on Jul. 8, 2001, at theWater for People and Nature summit inVancouver, British Columbia (xvii-xviii).

PART I: THE CRISISCh. 1: Red Alert.

Treating water as acommodity for commercial exploitationbreaks with a millennial tradition (3-5).While there are 1.4bn cubic km (330m cu.miles) of water on earth; 2.6% is fresh water,only 0.77% “circulates relatively quickly” aspart of the water cycle; annual rainfall is only34,000 cu. km (8,000 cu. miles) (5). Rain isa crucial part of the hydrological cycle, but

most fresh water is groundwater

(6).Population, urbanization, technology, andsanitation are taxing the water system to thelimit (6-7). Industrial demands are 20-25%and increasing (7-9). Slovak hydrologicalengineer Michal Kravčík argues thesetendencies are depleting fresh waterresources (10-12). A frantic search forgroundwater is underway (12-15). U.S.aquifers are also being depleted (15-18).Mexico (18-19). Middle East (19-22). China(22-23). Africa (23-24). Dimensions andurgency of the problem (24-25).

Ch. 2: Endangered Planet.

Environmental destruction tends to occur atan exponential rate (26-27). Peril to species(27).

Sewage and chemicals the “singlebiggest threat”

(28-29). Survey of watersystem problems (30-35). The Great Lakesare at risk (35-37). Wetlands are beingdestroyed ( 37-38). Deforestation isaccelerating (38-40). Global warming hasspecial impacts on fresh water supplies (40-43). Invasive species in fresh water (43-44).Overirrigation and nonsustainable farmingdamages water systems; the Aral Sea is themost spectacular example (44-48). Damsdamage water systems and ecosystems (48-50).

Ch. 3: Dying of Thirst.

“The 3,400-kilometer

maquiladora

. . . on the borderbetween Mexico and the United States aretoxic cesspools” (51).

Half the planet’spopulation drinks from unsafe watersupplies

(52-55). Rich/poor water divide(55-58). Water inequities within richcountries (58-60). Global food supply isrunning up “the hydrological equivalent of deficit financing” (60). Dams cause an arrayof evils (61-64). Scarcity breeds conflict (64-69). Borders lead to water disputes (69-72). The development of trade in water rights forprofit is creating a new commercial watersystem (72-76).

PART II: THE POLITICSCh. 4: Everything for Sale.

The WorldWater Forum in The Hague in March2000, convened by big business,declared water a “need,” not a “right”

(79-81). Background on globalization,transnational corporations, and thecommodification of nature (81-88). Watercommodification schemes: 1) governmentsell-off; 2) concessions or leases bygovernments; 3) management contracts (88-92).

The groundwork is being laid forfinancial speculation with water, of which agreements like NAFTA are a part

(92-97). States are increasingly dominatedby corporate interests (97-100). “As UrsulaFranklin [the 86-year-old German-bornphysicist, winner of the 2001 Pearson Medalof Peace], Canadian scholar,environmentalist, and long-time peaceactivist puts it: What we have now is an‘economic war’ in which the new ‘enemy’ ispeople and Nature, and the new territories of occupation are ‘the commons’ (those not-for-profit spaces we ‘hold in common’ in ademocratic society). Says Franklin, we areliving under a military-style occupation with‘puppet governments’ running the countryon behalf of the corporations and their‘armies of marketeers.’ This is

the

corporate security state

that now shapes

the political life of nations and peoples in anera of global capitalism” (100, emphasesadded).

Ch. 5: Global Water Lords.

The 1993privatization of Buenos Aires’s water systemby Suez (101-04). Water as new market forcorporate exploitation (104-06). Structure of the industry: ten corporate players in threetiers: 1) Vivendi Universal; Suez (both basedin France, as

France pioneeredprivatizing water supplies underNapoléon III

); 2) Bouygues-SAUR, RWE- Thames Water, Bechtel-United Utilities, andEnron-Azurix; 3) smaller British and Americancompanies (106-09). Suez’s worldwideexpansion involved consolidating waterenterprises under the brand name ONDEO(109-12). Vivendi Universal (112-17).Enron’s acquisition of Azurix, which laterwent to American Water Works (117-22).E.ON’s bid for SAUR (123). Unsavory aspectsof privatization: health and safety,corruption, lack of transparency (124-28).

Ch. 6: Emergent Water Cartel.

Asystem of bulk water transport isemerging

, though it would be ecologicallydangerous (129-32). It involves pipelines(132-34), supertankers (134-36), grandcanals (137-39), water bag schemes (139-41), bottled water (142-45) under brandnames (145-50). A cartel, though presentlyunlikely, would be possible, involving (indescending order of importance) Brazil,former USSR countries, China, Canada, theU.S., Norway, and Austria (150-53).

Ch. 7: Global Nexus.

The Bolivianstruggle over the Cochabamba water utility(154-56). The current system is based in anetwork of international agencies founded inthe early 1990s (156-60). The World Bankand the IMF are key to main financingsystem (160-65). The role of the World Trade Organization and why GATT Article XXfails to protect water resources (165-67).Water is a “service” under the WTO’sGeneral Agreement on Trade and Services(GATS) (167-70).

Regional trade blocslike NAFTA are intended as thefoundation of the future Free TradeArea of the Americas (FTAA) andestablish investment rules that requirethat foreign-based water corporationsbe given “national treatment” and“most-favored nation” status, enablinga “continental energy and watercorridor”

(170-76). Proliferating but little-known “bilateral investment treaties” (BITs)can give water corporations additional clout(176-80).

PART III: THE WAY FORWARDCh. 8: Fightback.

An anti-dam struggle inIndia’s Narmada Valley that becamesymbolic (183-85). Struggles to regain localcontrol: Cochabamba, Bolivia, and Grenoble,France (185-88). Coalitions fightingprivatization (188-91). Fighting theexportation of water (191-93). Challengesbased on water quality (193-96). Watershedrestoration movements (196-99). Stoppingdams (199-202).

The internationalizationof water-issue struggles

(202-04).

Ch. 9: The Standpoint.

Principles can bethe global water justice movement’s“standpoint” (the basis of important socialmovements, bringing “a sense of priority, asense of proportion, and a sense of obligation”―a concept developed by UrsulaFranklin) (205-06). Malefic intent is generallylacking, but the embrace of economicglobalization has produced the same result;