Detroit Water Crisis - a Prelude to the Privatization of Water

[unhappycamper]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Detroit-Water-Crisis--a-P-by-Dennis-Trainor-Jr-Activism_Activism_Detroit-Bankruptcy_Detroit-Bankruptsy-140820-754.html

Atpeace Makita, a single mother of five children who turned to activism after her water was shut off by the Detroit Water and Sewage Department, talks with Dennis Trainor, Jr. about the Detroit Water Brigade and what it is like to living during the current push for the privatization of the water supply.

Detroit Water Crisis - a Prelude to the Privatization of Water
By Dennis Trainor, Jr.
OpEdNews Op Eds 8/20/2014 at 09:15:57

~snip~

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, The Great Lakes are the largest surface fresh water system on the Earth, providing 84% of North America's surface fresh water and 21% of the world's supply.

AtPeace Makita is at the center of a growing wave of activism fighting what the UN has called a clear violation of human rights: "Disconnection of water services because of failure to pay due to lack of means constitutes a violation of the human right to water and other international human rights," U.N. officials said in a news release. "Because of a high poverty rate and a high unemployment rate, relatively expensive water bills in Detroit are unaffordable for a significant portion of the population."

"If Detroit can be used as a prototype," asks Makita "why can't it happen in LA, Chicago, or New York? On top of the bankruptcy, on top of the foreclosures, on top of the mayoral issues and emergency manager, on top of all of it -- now you want to take our life source?"

Under the "stewardship" of emergency management, shutting off the life source of many Detroiters is exactly what is happening.

[Demeter]

1. Excellent news reporting

I hope somebody in authority gets slapped with criminal and civil suits. Then they won't try this elsewhere.