Radio Mundo Real

The strategies of the people present in Istambul, Turkey, did not only restrain to holding an alternative forum in defense of water. These fora were defined as social movement’s and international networks’ autonomous spaces to exchange ideas and agree future actions to confront the policies of international financial institutions and their transnational corporations.

Many of the people who were attending the alternative events, also participated in the 5th World Water Forum, in order to question the decisions taken there under the false pretense of the purported participation of the civil society.

Activists from around the world attended the official forum despite the risk implied by trying to unmask the real interests of the World Bank and the World Water Council. This ended up materializing with the deportation of two activists of International Rivers, who had been detained during the Forum’s opening demonstrations.

Members of the international network Reclaming Public Water, and from other networks, participated both in the alternative and in the official fora. On March 21st, there was a big meeting to evaluate the decisions taken at the 5th World Water Forum, and to follow up the progress around the public and community partnerships.

These tools have come out as effective alternatives to counter technical and economic arguments some of the problems caused by water privatization and commodification.

Real World Radio interviewed Philip Therhorst, from Reclaming Public Water, to know the agenda for the coming months, which includes a meeting in April in Uruguay’s capital, Montevideo.

Photo: http://aragonsostenible.blogia.com