Is Water a Human Right? Or should we let them eat cake.
A mother and child sit on the beach on Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
“Wouldn’t life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness include water, if not batteries.” tmf
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“Water is a human right.
The United Nations formally “recognizes the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.”
A new European Citizens Initiative declares, “Water is a public good, not a commodity.”
Former President Jimmy Carter writes, “Clean water is a basic human right. Without it, the other rights may not even matter. Human societies cannot be healthy, prosperous and just without adequate supplies of clean water. What could be a more basic right than clean water?”
So why are children in Detroit marching through that battered city’s downtown with signs reminding officials that “Kids Need Water to be Healthy” and “Kids Without Water Can’t Brush Their Teeth”?
Why are religious leaders being arrested when they seek to prevent the shutoff of water services to families who cannot afford to pay bloated bills?”
~In Michigan they have been cutting off water to men, women, children, infants, babies, seniors and the sick… just because they can. tmf
“The registered nurses plan to “declare a public health emergency and demand a moratorium on the unprecedented water shutoffs in Detroit.”
“Their message is a blunt challenge to austerity:
Gov. Snyder is allowing the tragedy to continue with an endgame of privatizing the public water department—the latest in a string of gifts to Wall Street. The historic transfer of public wealth to private hands overseen by Snyder has cost the public jobs, pensions, vital public safety services, and civic jewels like Olmstead Island Park.
Now It’s time to let them know we, the people, are taking back our lives and intend to receive water.
Let’s Tax Wall Street, Get Our Money Back, and Turn on the Water!”
Also in the Nation: Katrina vaden Heuvel asks why Detroit is denying its citizens water.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/180625/against-austerity-detroit-water-human-right
Against Austerity in Detroit: ‘Water Is a Human Right’
www.thenation.comIt’s time to let them know
we, the people, are taking back our lives.
Citizens organize to block water shutoffs as the UN Special Rapporteur says ”when there is genuine inability to pay, human rights simply forbids disconnections.”
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editor’s note: ~Food and water are
basic human rights. We must preserve life,
so that liberty is possible. A community whose
members don’t provide basic food, water and
shelter as necessary, cannot help but short-
change the most vulnerable among us.
Are the people of America, the richest and
most powerful nation on earth, willing to
surrender to despotism, cynicism and
despair? Or might we take the high road:
feed the hungry, cure the sick and
repair and restore our communities.
Some contend we should invest in corporate welfare and warfare while
we surrender our values to the corporate bottom line. But the secret’s out.
We can shutdown this welfare for the rich and make better investments in
people and communities… while we build bridges to a better tomorrow.
We can tell the cons, profiteers and war mongers
their time has come. They’re out of time, out of their
minds and out of luck. W’ere not gonna surrender.
It’s time they coughed up 
their fair share.
Instead exporting fear, terror and war…
we have the capacity to export agricultural
expertise, medical technology and educational
resources to lift all ships.
Human dignity and human rights are civil rights.
And we’re gonna take ’em back.
Tim Flanagan, associate editor
The Portland Alliance http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/2014/September
The Wordsmith Collection: Writing & Creative Arts
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