If you brushed your teeth this morning or flushed the toilet or had a cup of coffee, consider yourself lucky. Actually, if you turned on your tap and potable water freely came out, consider yourself truly blessed.
Because so many of us in the United States are in this situation it can be easy to forget that nearly 900 million other people aren't so lucky. It can be easy to forget that globally we face a frightening water crisis. And it can be hard to notice that even here in the US there are dire threats to our water supply right now.
The people hardest hit by the water crisis are in developing countries -- places it is easy for many world leaders (and the rest of us) to overlook. And even the number of those without clean water -- last tallied at 884 million -- can be hard to grasp. Here's another way of looking at it: if you take that number and translate it into the population of developed countries, the people living in the world today without access to clean drinking water would equal all the people living in the US, Canada, Argentina, Chile, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, England, Italy, Spain, Japan, Australia and Norway.
Like our economic, food, health and climate crises, if you're a person of color and/or poor, you'll be hardest hit. According to the United Nations, if you are a poor person living in a slum you're likely to pay five to 10 times more for water than wealthy people living in the same city. And so too, are women disproportionately affected because they are the ones responsible for getting water each day in most developing countries -- work that often means hours of difficult labor under dangerous conditions.
Rape and Red Tape on the Reservation: Why Native American Women Are Fighting For Plan B
China Vows to Stop Using Executed Prisoners as Main Source for Organ Transplants
While boasting several UN agencies as partners, the World Water Forum is criticized for posing as a multi-stakeholder body. The overarching message of activists protesting the World Water Forum is that there is a need for international policy and multilateral cooperation when it comes to water resources, but a trade show run by water multinationals cannot be the space for these discussions.
You don't have to know anything about the World Water Forum to know something is wonky when a forum that claims to provide solutions for the world's water crisis shuts out vast segments of the public. With a heavy police presence surrounding the Forum, activists attempting to register on the first day were detained before even entering the Forum. There was no apparent reason other than the fact that many were young and not garbed in business attire. Some had slogans like "water is a human right" on their clothes.
The First Amendment right to assemble and protest is going to get a black eye in 2012—as it has every time there has been an upsurge in America’s social justice movements.
Already in city after city, protesters and civil rights lawyers are troubled by proposed and newly enacted anti-protest rules, many of which are likely to be found unconstitutional if they have their day in court. In the meantime mayors, police and in some cases federal agencies are making detailed plans to thwart protests at local and national events.
Thousands rally for US teen Trayvon Martin
Activists are calling for justice in the 17-year-old’s death.
Thousands participated in the "Million Hoodie March" in New York for Trayvon Martin, the US teenager whose death sparked a national uproar.
On Feb. 26, Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a self-appointed neighborhood watch captain who alleges that Martin was acting suspiciously.
Florida police say there’s no evidence that disproves Zimmerman’s self-defense claim. However, the Justice Department has now opened an investigation into the killing.
Martin was unarmed and wearing a hoodie while walking in his father's gated community, where Zimmerman was on duty.
On Feb. 26, Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a self-appointed neighborhood watch captain who alleges that Martin was acting suspiciously.
Florida police say there’s no evidence that disproves Zimmerman’s self-defense claim. However, the Justice Department has now opened an investigation into the killing.
Martin was unarmed and wearing a hoodie while walking in his father's gated community, where Zimmerman was on duty.
Video of the Moment
No comments:
Post a Comment