Corporate water control persists through lawsuits and quietly seizing sources after grassroots wins

Evidence

The victory was felt by water activists around the world, and the farmers in the outskirts of the city returned to irrigating their fields in traditional ways. Yet, even as the people of Cochabamba assert their rights to control their water, Bechtel is suing the government of Bolivia, and “investors who were part of the private company that sparked the water war in Cochabamba are now up in the mountains, quietly taking control of the key lakes and water sources for the city” (Watson, 2003): “Privatization is very important because the water is more important than the gold now,” says [Gonzalo] Ugalde. — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education, 1526

Categorization

• XREF: Payoff to chapter 37’s claim that Nestlé disputed water impacts and municipal water privatization victimized communities — a parallel pattern. — connects to: Nestlé bottling took public Michigan water for under $100 a year in licensing fees — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 1512; Nestlé disputed local water impacts the courts later found real — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 1514; Corporate privatization of water and seeds erodes local communities’ decision-making power — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 223 (+1 more)
• ADDENDUM: Worth holding against the trees-as-infrastructure essay’s theme of enclosure of commons resources.

Broader Connections

• Corporate privatization of water and seeds erodes local communities’ decision-making power #corroborates (0.80) — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education, 223
• Regulators often protect the very corporations they are meant to regulate #complicates (0.75) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1550