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No to Commercialization of Water

FINAL DECLARATION OF THE SECOND PREPARATION MEETING AGAINST WWF 5th IN MARCH 2009

Signed by the Platform “No to Commercialization of Water” /TURKEY

 

 

We, as the organizations which are struggling against commercialisation of water in many countries around the world, have come together on the dates 8-10 November 2008 in İstanbul for the second preparation conference of the Platform “No to commercialisation of water” in order to focus on our works and actions against WWF 5th which will be held in İstanbul in 2009.

 

As an inseperable component of social life, water can not be left to the property of persons or institutions including capitalist states themselves. It must be known that water belongs to the nature that humanity itself is also part of it. It is thefeore we demand that only those who accept water as a basic condition of the survival of all living organisms determine how and under which circumstances water can be used by peoples, animals and plants, but not those, for instance “elected bureaucrats” and/or “owners of private interests” who claim water for capital accumulation.

 

Hence, for us only following groups have the right and word on water:

–         Communities who do not access clean water and demand water only for basic human needs such as fooding, drinking, cleaning in Turkey and all around the world. Just like millions of peoples live in Maden district/İstanbul, Suruc/Urfa or Kucuk Armutlu/İstanbul and so on; but not the those who have money and power;

–         Waged workers and their trade UNIONs, Professional chambers who work in the networks of water distribution services and production of the goods which are needed for distribution of water. 

–         Those who are farming within peace with nature without consuming the soil; but not the those, for instance, who accelarate accumulation of their capital via industrial agriculture that they have been making on the lands of thousands of decar;

–         Peasants;

o       Who produce use values in order to satisfy the needs of societies

     , but not the agribusiness who produces exchange values

–         Peoples

o       Who take waste waters under control after production processes  by taking care of the nature and life

o       Who apply waste minimization strategies as process control, recycling and reusing water, during industrial activities  by taking care of the nature and life

o       The real owners of social production that all stages of it will be run under the supervision, control and democratic governing of the communities concerned since from the beginning;

–         Not the those who attempt to make our rivers full with dams including international rivers under the cloak of production of more and more energy in the face of energy intensified mass production imposed by the model of capitalist production.

o       Peoples first from Munzur, Hasankeyf and Karadeniz Streams but also from all

 communities who were but still are able to live on the lands where have been nourished by our rivers for tens of decades without damaging nature  R11;regardless in which side of political borders they live-;

 

For the same reasons,

–         We strongly reject 17.5 million budget allocated for WWF 5th meetings, particularly in such a time when the deepest economic crisis is shaking our world and declare that we will struggle for cancellation of this legal regulation untill the end. Our words are to the bureaucrats in Turkish Government and Parliement: You very often explain the impacts of crisis with the lack of fiscal disciplin and ask self-sacrifiring from laborers and peoples in missery. You must know that we reject loading costs of your actions such as WWF 5th which is serving the interests of capitalist classes to the peoples.

–         It is not possible for the policies based on the principles such as “polluters pay” or “users pay” which serve to commercialization of water to protect nature. We do not accept policies which limit living organisms’ access to water while they’re protecting the interests of capital.  

–         It is unacceptable to distribute water to peoples via prepaid meters with the prices over real costs of distribution. Because the water which is needed for life is not a commercial good, it is a right. We have also a few words to the WWF which claims that it accepts water as a right, but, the costs including profits of corporations generate from distribution of water must be loaded on the shoulders of peoples:

 

If you don’t know how to distribute the products of social labor including water itself in a proper form that there will not remain any single need which are not met, leave this job to those who know how to do it, namely, the labour itself who produce all wealth. 

  

We announce,

–         We’re against  construction of all dams which were built in the past but also planned for future  with the aim of commercialisation of water and energy. We will continue our struggles that we run together with other water movements around the world to stop projects particularly on Munzur, Hasankeyf and Karadeniz  which are indispensable parts of common heritage of all communities in the world.

–         We will fight to give an end to the inhuman practices that peoples who do not have access to water have been suffering for years, we will therefore struggle for introduction of nature friendly technologies

–         We will not allow small farmers are smashed once more under the huge costs of prepaid meters installed on irrigation canals. We will not pass over water privatizations and delivering rivers and lakes to the corporations which will cause that only farmers who have money will have access to water.

–         We will not allow peoples are deceived with the rhetoric “we will bring you to water”. We will share the fact with peoples that the only problem of WWF is to make water a market good.

–         We will struggle against job losses in water services of municipalities through common organizing.

–         We will follow negative impacts of privatisation of water closely; we will infor
m people about the affects of water privatisation on human health such as infant deaths, epidemic diseases and so on.  

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