“We call all organizations to build in a joint way the Peoples’ Summit in Rio+20, Brazil, and together prevent transnational corporations and governments to turn our waters, energy and environment into a commodity”, states the MAB in their open call for the Day of Action to take place on March 14th in several Brazilian cities.

The MAB, which is part of La Via Campesina Brazil and one of the main organizations against the privatization of rivers at world level, states that on March 14th, hundreds of communities affected by the building of dams will be mobilized.

The statement quotes a report by the World Commission on Dams (a body of the United Nations) according to which around 80 million people have been directly or indirectly displaced after the building of dams in the world.

“In the past years we are witnessing the advance of large national and transnational companies in the control of natural resources, minerals, water, seeds, food, oil and electric power. All these natural resources were turned into commodities and are being exploited by the industrial sectors that highly depend on energy. The current capitalism crisis shows how unsustainable the current production and consumption model is, that aims to generate profit for just a few”, reads the statement by the Brazilian organization.

The MAB considers that the building of a new development paradigm focused on the search for dignified living conditions for the working class, peasants, fisherfolk, Afro-descendants and Indigenous People is urgent.

In terms of the energy model, the economic crisis opens the door to discuss a new structure that is based on real solutions to solve the contradictions of the current model and that takes into account the principles of energy sovereignty based on a peoples’ energy project, reads the MAB’s statement.