Water, more on SEWA , and the long from census

Water. . .

I wrote a little about international access to water, yesterday; and this morning, there it is, in the news. . . Funny how these things hang around in the ether. . .

The story was in the The Toronto Star this morning and the head was: UN to vote on right to water: ‘Historic’ chance to ease human suffering, says Canadian activist

The "activist" in question is Maude Barlow - the founder of the Council of Canadians. The article says in part:

A United Nations vote to recognize water as a basic human right is a “historic” chance for the global community to ease human suffering, according to a Canadian activist in the thick of a last-ditch lobbying effort.

“We’re running out of water and the crisis is getting worse,” Maude Barlow said Monday from New York, on the eve of a vote expected as early as Wednesday at the UN General Assembly.

“If we don’t make a statement that we don’t want entire populations left behind, what does it say about us? About our humanity?”

Barlow, former senior adviser on water at the UN and chair of the Council of Canadians citizens group, is optimistic the resolution will pass by majority vote.

However, it appears powerful nations — including Canada — either will not support it or will push for a version that Barlow says would continue to allow water to be bought and sold as a commodity.

Of course Canada, emphasizing free market policies and lauding corporations over the needs of people, that our government has become, would not want to say that water is not a commodity and cannot be bought and sold - they would privatize the air I think, if they could. I want to re-write the headlines - Canada votes to deny water to the poor, shareholders of water corporations are gonna' party like its 1999.

When did "shareholder's interests" become more important than citizen interests? At least once we pretended that this was not the case and so if you caught a government out, voting for corporate interests, over the public, you could point it out and changes might happen. Now it is like everyone is a Reagan Clone -- everyone buys trickle down or class mobility- trickle down in that (even though it has proven over and over again that it only leads to greater disparities between rich and poor) when corporations do well - they employ more people etc and so everyone benefits - the rising tide lifts all boats theory. . . and then there is class mobility and people believe that they can be lifted beyond the next level to the top - this is people who vote and support what is good for the rich because they believe that they will "be there someday".

Anyway, shouldn't water and food and shelter be accessible to everyone? It is not. We should agree that we are going distribute the wealth of this world in a way that means that everyone has the basics covered. We will have to do with less, as others need more. Yes where there is drought or famine for some other reason (often war) we need to get water and food to people - this is much easier if no one owns the water. Then international support can help drill for the water, put in a well or pipes to move it around. When water is privatized, the water corp. has to make sure that a profit is made, which increases the price on every well dug, every pipe laid. . . So why is Canada not agreeing to declare that water is a human right - more from the Star article:

Foreign Affairs spokesperson said in an email Tuesday that Canada already “recognizes there are linkages between access to safe drinking water and certain existing human rights obligations,” and supports further study on the issue of water as a right.

The email also said Canada asserts “its international human rights obligations in no way limit its sovereign right to manage its own resources.”

Barlow dismisses the argument that Canada’s water resources could be jeopardized by the proposed UN resolution. She says the sweeping 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights doesn’t mean Canada has to guarantee jobs or pensions for every country.

. . .

Time is critical, says Barlow, because the world is facing “a double whammy”: continued lack of water through poverty and the growing physical and ecological crisis that deprives the world of clean water.

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After mentioning SEWA yesterday I wanted to follow up with more information about why I love them and think they are a great model. I would love to know more about them.

SEWA is the "Self-employed women's association" of India - of course the poor in India, as elsewhere, are for the most part not employed. By that I do not mean that they are "unemployed" but that they are small resellers of goods, subsistence farmers, makers of crafts, drivers of taxi's - that is they are self-employed. Some estimates are, that 80% of the world population are "not employees". So SEWA has been a very successful model in assisting women in India that are in this category - they say on their website:

SEWA is a trade union registered in 1972. It is an organisation of poor, self-employed women workers. These are women who earn a living through their own labour or small businesses. They do not obtain regular salaried employment with welfare benefits like workers in the organised sector. They are the unprotected labour force of our country. Constituting 93% of the labour force, these are workers of the unorganised sector. Of the female labour force in India, more than 94% are in the unorganised sector. However their work is not counted and hence remains invisible.

One story I heard some time ago - but it may be somewhere on their website [later: found the detail at: http://www.sewa.org/Rudi Products And Rudi Multi Trading Co Ltd.asp] or I may have read it elsewhere is about one of the things that SEWA does -- is that many women are subsistence farmers. When food is harvested, sometimes they have surplus that cannot be eaten or stored. However, let's say on any given day you have 10 tomatoes - 10 tomatoes will get you say 50 rupees at the market, but the bus ride to and from the market is 30-50 rupees - so it is not worth going - you cannot earn cash from your surplus as it too small an amount - so SEWA
runs a truck that drives through these remote places and buys the surplus at the same rate the women would get if they could get to the market - providing cash income. I don't know why that seems like such a simple.good idea but I really thought it was terrific as the subsistence farmers in India do not do well, although it represents so much of the country.

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Cannot believe that the Cons are still holding out on the Long Form census - from the perspective of most "ordinary " folks - this looks like a big mistake - apparently, it is just pandering to the Con "base" who are to the right of Atilla the Hun! Those same folks who want shareholder rights to be paramount, who want more actions made crimes, who want to lock more people up for longer, who want to give the police more powers, privatize our jails etc. But, eliminating the census also insures that there will never be reliable, acceptable data to prove that we have poor people, aboriginal people, people who speak other languages at home, people who have health problems - among other groups with needs. . . what a travesty . . . Most recent CBC update at: Clement, Sheikh to testify about census reform

Travelling with Matt in Gaza, Civicus and SEWA

First something wonderful! You may remember Travelling with Matt. His website, "Where the Hell is Matt?" showed him dancing, badly, around the world. The video of his travels, and dancing with people in many countries, was very inspiring and uplifting, and brought us all together. Now he has a video where he is dancing with children in Gaza. Watching the kids dance, and reading about them having a good time at summer camp, made me very happy.



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Another great thing that is happening in Canada. . .

I hope I can attend this assembly. CIVICUS 9th Annual World Assembly, which this year is in Montreal. See: http://civicus.org/world-assembly Sounds very appealing. . . It will be interesting, and much would be new to me. I want to participate and would hope for increasing my knowledge base about development issues, and to participate in making decisions about future outcomes fro the organization and its members.

The following workshop interests me in particular--

Abstract:

In the backdrop of increasing economic inequalities threatening to arrest social cohesion and harmony, the search for solution-oriented interventions to secure economic justice has gained centre-stage in the global development debate and practice. At the proposed workshop, participants will have the opportunity to share experiences, learn and gain practical tips from a highly experienced panel of civil society practitioners about the criticality of participatory governance approaches in promoting equitable economic development policies, securing economic rights of people and achieve inclusive growth. Specifically, participants will be exposed to tools and approaches such as Participatory Budgeting, Public Expenditure Tracking, Social Audits and so on. A part of the panel discussion will be driven by a video documentary produced by the International Budget Partnership (IBP)

Presenters:

Manjunath Sadashiva, CIVICUS Participatory Governance Programme, India
Anu Pekkonen, CIVICUS Participatory Governance Programme, Finland
Helena Hofbauer, International Budget Partnership, South Africa
Elizabeth Pinnington, Pinnington Training and Research, Canada
Yogesh Kumar, Samarthan, India

In India, I saw so much more participation in parties and politics. . . and it seemed like everyone had a real analysis of what was going on. . . So I would really like to engage in that discussion - how can they increase participation in India, especially among the poor - who demonstrate but get excluded from party politics - and, how can it be emulated in other countries?

That CIVICUS Assembly is being followed by something else, that's free (Civicus is expensive - $600.) and also looks interesting. . . is the Citizen's Media Rendevouz The website says, in part:

In an era where mass media is increasingly fragile (declining advertizing revenues, financial crisis, digital revolution, fragmenting audiences, etc.), citizen media have an unprecedented opportunity to occupy the public sphere, particularly due to the advancement of social media and the democratization of modes of production.

For this second edition, the Citizen Media Rendez-Vous seeks to advance innovative practices within citizen media’s landscape, here and elsewhere in world. How can the public access and appropriate new media projects to better inform and mobilize itself? How can citizen media be used in the defense of human rights?

The Citizen Media Rendez-Vous gathers bloggers, engaged filmmakers, photographers and citizen journalists, media experts, alternative and independent media practitioners, web entrepreneurs, as well as others from the media landscape in turmoil. The Citizen Media Rendez-Vous is a space that promotes the sharing of ideas and practices. It invites new perspectives and encourages new collaborations. Lively exchanges among panelists and participants will touch subjects such as the creation of content, the containers within which content is placed (technology platforms) and different community organizational models.

I am planning to go to Montreal for these events. I have registered for the Rendevous and applied to be a volunteer blogger for the CIVICUS Assembly, as I cannot afford the registration fee.
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Last link suggestion today . . . and another happy one is to a story in the NY Times

The story is about a poor Indian woman from Gujarat who was selected by SEWA (Self-Employed Women's Association) to come to NY to promote Indian handicrafts. I am particularly impressed with SEWA (have been for some time) who have helped organize women in India using a kind of trade union model. They also have a very successful and profitable bank that serves those who were originally thought to not need a bank - micro credit is now used in lots of places. Anyway, it was a story that made me laugh and cry. I won't spell it out - just follow the link -From Untouchable to Businesswoman - and go read it for yourself.

I cried partly because in lots of India, and Africa too, it is hard for people to find clean drinking water. Today Kevin and I went for a hike through an area that once housed many people on a "poor Farm" outside Halifax, NS. We were thinking and talking about the model of having a "poor farm" where you went to work and eat if you were too poor to feed yourself, and worrying that we have not come much further - too poor to feed yourself you can get welfare which will leave you well below the Canadian low income cut offs and not able to feed, house, and transport yourself. . . Eventually it became a "mental institution" instead, and we know how those services are available and serve us well (not!) The farm had a reservoir, which we found, but the water was very "dirty' looking and it started us thinking about people who have to drink water that is not clean and safe, and who even have to feed it to their children. . . it is the kind of thing that SEWA helps with, in India.