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Bolivian campaigner against water charges to speak in Derry

Saturday 26th November 2005 at 4 pm Sandino's Bar, Derry

A representative of the campaign against water charges in Bolivia is to speak in Derry next Saturday.

Julian Perez has been in the forefront of a struggle to reverse water privatisation in the city of El Alto. He will be joined on the platform by Carey Ann Clarke of Communities Against the Water Tax (CAWT).

The meeting, at Sandino's at 4pm, has been sponsored by CAWT with the support of Derry Trades Council.

A short film on the struggle in Bolivia, made by Muireann de Barra and Aisling Crudden, will also be shown.

Julian Perez has been in Europe trying to explain and win support for the struggle in Bolivia. The Derry meeting is one of only two Irish engagements on his schedule.

In a statement, the meeting organisers said: "The people of El Alto, a city of 800,000, have challenged Bolivia's President and the World Bank to expel Suez and return water to public control. They have taken on these huge interests armed only with sticks, traditional Aymara flags---the emblem of the indigenous people of the region---and their own ability to organise.

"Privatisation has left 200,000 people without access to water. There's a water connection charge of $500 from people living on less than $1 a day! Bolivia's first ‘water war,' in Cochabamba, saw the termination of a 30-year private water contract with US engineering giant, Bechtel. That victory inspired the people of El Alto.

"It should also inspire people in the North, who are constantly told that resistance to water privatisation here is futile.

"Julian Perez represents El Alto's community interest group, El Fejuve. He will explain the way in which the nationalisation of natural resources such as water has become a major factor in next month's Bolivian presidential election.

"Since the beginning of the new millennium, water privatisation has spawned a global water justice movement. Suez has faced opposition in South Africa, the Philippines and Uruguay and has had water contracts cancelled in France, the United States and Argentina, as well as in Bolivia.

"The meeting at Sandino's will provide an opportunity both to express solidarity with the people of El Alto, and to reflect on the importance of resisting water privatisation here.

"Water must be seen not as a commodity to be bought and sold for profit, but as a precious resource, a necessity of life, which we must ensure is kept in public hands."





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