Sea of Irish Protesters: 'Water Is a Human Right!'

[Judi Lynn]

Published on Monday, October 13, 2014
by Common Dreams

Sea of Irish Protesters: 'Water Is a Human Right!'

Massive demonstration admonishes new water tax as further austerity

by Andrea Germanos, staff writer


[font size=1]
A sea of protesters in Dublin on Saturday denouncing new water charges. (Photo: Dara Robinson/flickr/cc)[/font]

As many as 100,000 people took to the streets of Dublin on Saturday to denounce a new water tax and declare, "Water is a human right."

Protesters say the water charges, to begin next year, are yet more austerity measures that have pushed people towards a "tipping point."

Fifty-year-old Martin Kelly held a sign reading "Stop the great water heist" and told Reuters, "There is absolute fury against what the government has imposed on the people."

"This day will go down in history as the day that the people decided to roar," said Independent TD Clare Daly. "We are here in our tens of thousands to say water is a human right, based on need, not an ability to pay."

Other protesters chanted, "“From the rivers to the sea, Irish water will be free."

Independent councillor Declan Bree said that people have already been paying €1.2 billion for water through their taxes, and said the new plan is a step towards privatizing the country's water.

More:
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/10/13/sea-irish-protesters-water-human-right

[RiverLover]

1. We should be doing that here in the US too

"...A situation similar to Kansas is now playing out with WIFIA and the lobbying to provide tax-free private activity bonds (PABs) to pay for water infrastructure. At the same time, European water companies are buying US water companies and are interested in using international trade deals to privatize water infrastructure under the Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA).

Even in the absence of TAFTA, major European water companies, such as Veolia, Thames, and Suez, are buying distressed US water systems. They are aided by major US water industry groups who are lobbying Congress for legislation to amend WIFIA to allow tax-free Private Activity Bonds for water projects and potentially use WIFIA to provide a path to privatization."
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/25308-big-players-promoting-water-privatization
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"...Although water privatizers promise that they will help balance municipal budgets, that’s not the way it happened that way in Stockton, California. The city with its private water system ended up declaring bankruptcy anyhow—and after the bankruptcy returned the water system to public ownership.

That hasn’t stopped water corporations from the drumbeat of privatization. The National Association of Water Companies and other private water lobbying groups have been trumpeting President Obama’s signing of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014, an otherwise important program of modernization of critical urban infrastructure, as an important step toward water privatization.

A campaign of NAWC in association with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce uses the slogan, “Water is Your Business.”

In an odd version of privatization, Nestlé Waters North America joined with AmeriCares earlier this month to send 30,000 bottles of water to the Gleaners Community Food Bank in Southeastern Michigan to be distributed to people in need. According to the Stamford Daily Voice, last year, AmeriCares and Nestlé distributed one million bottles of water to families in the U.S.”
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/policysocial-context/24507-stalking-horse-detroit-water-crisis-as-possible-precursor-of-privatization.html

[marym625]

2. I would k&r this too if I could

Nice! Thanks for all the information

[marym625]

3. K&R!!

Cut to California but just to HAVE water