May 16, 2001 Table of Contents Home Back Issues         Water is Sacred Support for the Cochabamba Declaration by Barbara Walker Graham  Subscribe to our free e-newsletter!     Especially important to the women of the Feminist Action and to the Pagan Cluster is the concept of water and the sacredness of water, and its vital necessity to peoples. Handing out bottles of water labeled "May You Never Thirst", the Cluster hoped to make tangible at least one of the many complex and interconnected issues surrounding the FTAA. The Pagan Cluster also provided leaflets describing the Cochabamba Declaration, which was written in reaction to Bechtel Corp.'s privatization of the water supply in Cochabamba, Bolivia. This privatization raised water rates 40 percent, so much that poor and dispossessed laborers were unable to afford it! Massive civil disobedience resulted in the redistribution of the water rights -- at least for a short time -- the Bolivian government has since sent in armed forces to quell the peasant insurrection.   The Cochabamba Declaration … "Water belongs to the earth and all species and is sacred to life, therefore, the world's water must be conserved, reclaimed and protected for all future generations and its natural patterns respected." … "Water is a fundamental human right and a public trust to be guarded by all levels of government, therefore, it should not be commodified, privatized or traded for commercial purposes. These right must be enshrined at all levels of government. In particular, an international treaty must ensure these principles are noncontrovertible." … "Water is best protected by local communities and citizens who must be respected as equal partners with governments in the protection and regulation of water. Peoples of the earth are the only vehicle to promote earth democracy and save water." Water also figured highly in the Pagan Cluster's Living River Action during the protests. The Living River mission statement included, "We say that our lives, our communities, the health of the earth's ecosystems, the cultures of indigenous peoples, the dreams of children are too important to be subsumed to profit. Another world is possible: A world of justice, freedom, ecological balance and true abundance, and we will make it real. Although the negotiators of the FTAA believe they have fenced out dissent, we believe they have walled themselves in. We intend to liberate them so that they can hear the voices of the people, the land, and the waters!"   Next>>>> Starhawk's report