Latin America Week 2007: THIRSTING FOR JUSTICE

national | miscellaneous | event notice Monday April 16, 2007 18:08 by Gaffer Girl - Latin America Solidarity Centre

Defending the Global Water Commons

Latin America Week takes place between April 15-21 with events organised in Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Belfast and Derry -with a focus on grassroots resistance to water privatisation in Latin America.

Speakers from Bolivia, Uruguay and Chiapas (Mexico) share their experience of water privatisation and the popular resistance movements which have emerged in defence of water and life in Latin America in recent years.

A range of conferences, meetings, workshops and cultural events around Ireland, focusing on the issue of ownership of water. From the Bolivian Water war to Uruguayan water referendum and the We Won't Pay campaign in N. Ireland, there is a growing global concern about who benefits from the exploitation of water. How can we ensure that the earth's water is directed democratically and sustainable to the good of its people?
Have your say and meet Latin Americans involved in this struggle...

The annual Latin America Week in Ireland will take place from the 15th until the 21st of April 2007. The event is a unique opportunity in Ireland to learn from Latin America about alternatives to water privatization, a development, which Ireland is facing in the long or short term as current developments in the countries Sligo and Limerick show. The event also provides the fantastic chance for people in Ireland to connect with Latin America - through hearing or meeting with one of our guest speakers from the region or attend a film screening or other event. Each year the week has a specific focus and brings together people working around similar issues in Ireland and Latin America.

Latin America Week 2007 focuses on:"Learning from Latin America. Alternatives to water privatization." The theme is a result of LASC intensive work on the water issue through the active participation in the social encounter "Enlazando Alternativas 2" in summer 2006 in Vienna and in "Blue October 2007", an international month of action to challenge corporate control of water and to protect water as a shared natural resource available to all.

Water is essential for all forms of life and crucial for human development. Latin America is a continent rich in natural resources but over the last five hundred years most of its people have not benefited from the exploitation of these. The drive to privatize water distribution and resources is still gaining steam in Latin America. Although transnational water companies have suffered setbacks in places like Puerto Rico, Bolivia, and Uruguay, they continue with plans to appropriate the region's hydrological resources-rivers, aquifers, wells, and aqueduct systems. While "privatization" has become a loaded term in the water business, companies prefer a softer discourse, employing concepts such as "decentralization," "civil society participation," and "sustainable development." But there also good news from Latin America, a continent which experienced the first water war of our time. We invited representatives from the Latin American NGO scene and from the academic area to talk about their campaigns to get water recognized as fundamental human right, their fight against water privatization and their initiative to develop effective and efficient alternative concepts.

Further information contact LASC -
ph:01 6760 435
info@lasc.ie
www.lasc.ie

For the events in Belfast, contact Gary Mulcahy, We Won't Pay Campaign secretary. E-mail: wewontpay@btconnect.com ; Telephone: 0044 28 90311778; Website: www.wewontpaycampaign.com

For the events in Derry, contact Shane O'Curry. E-mail: shaneocurry@fastmail.fm ; Mobile: 0044 79 68210645

For the events in Dublin, contact LASC: info@lasc.ie or 01 6760435

For the events in Galway, contact Martha Fabregat, Irish Mexico Group. Mobile: 0872031764; E-mail: lumarna0@hotmail.com

For the events in Limerick, contact Nancy Serrano, University of Limerick. Telephone: (061) 202192