| NGOs the UN’s
Sweatshop?
By Zarina Geloo
Pat Mooney was blunt in his summation of what ails civil
society. It is a victim of the Stockholm Syndrome, he said.
Addressing a meeting of the privatisation and control of
water and energy yesterday, Mooney said he came to several
conclusions after the World Social Summit in South Africa
last September. Civil society had fallen in love with its
UN captor, and by running from one prepcom to another and
then jumping from one summit to another, writing reports and
mobilising support, the grouping was providing cheap, un-unionised
labour for the United Nations.
"No more bloody summits where we provide the entertainment,
we should get ahead of the UN agenda and effect changes without
any more summits.“
Civil society had achieved little since the WSS because it
was always two steps behind the corporate world. ´´While
we are busy at workshops and summits, multinationals are buying
up water sources and setting up hydroelectric projects without
regard for the environment or people,´´ Mooney
said, adding that people were still talking about biotechnology
when industry had already gone on to nanotechnology which
is more complex.
Elizabeth Peredo Beltran from the Foundation of the Free
Trade Area of the Americas said all the promises and pledges
of the WSS did not stop an American multinational company
from suing the Cochabamba community for $25 million for protecting
its water supply.
The World Bank promised the Bolivian government a $50 million
debt cancellation if it gave the U.S. company the right to
develop water supply in the area. The company raised the water
rates between 4 and 25 percent and the government imposed
legislation that removed the water rights and management from
the villagers. The community resisted and the multinational
filed a claim in an international tribunal claiming an abrogation
of the agreement signed by the Bolivian government, which
had concessioned the water supply to it for 40 years.
"The villagers succeeded in protecting their water
but where will the community get the money to pay the company.
We must collectively stop the World Bank from coercing countries
into giving up their mineral and water resources. We also
need to have communities privy to agreements and contracts
which are likely to affect their livelihood.“
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