Online
book launch video, 7 July 2021
What
constitutes a victory? The case of Ireland.
‘I
think to say that the Irish government 'abandoned' the charging agenda is a
little bit misleading. They have postponed the charging and are ready to try to
introduce them at anytime’.
‘I
am also expecting attempts to bring charges back in Ireland soon. The struggle
continues!’
Both colleagues, who raised the issue of water charges in Ireland, have been key activists of the related struggles and know the situation well. As I argue in the book, these struggles were a success in that the government had to withdraw water charges in 2016 and reimburse all those, who had initially paid. Nevertheless, I also agree that there has not been a final victory. Capital and the Irish government are likely to come back and try again imposing water charges when the next opportunity arises. Moreover, the company Irish Water has continued to outsource contract work to private providers. In short, while the anti-water charges campaign should be considered a victory in my view, the struggle for public water will have to continue.
What
is happening with these broad alliances today?
‘What
has happened to these multi-sector alliances that succeeded in fighting water
privatization…what are they doing now? You mentioned the transformative
potential of water in that it shifts the logic to think of water as a commons
and a different way of organizing society. Even in the face of capital finding
new ways to profit, do you see examples—even if small— of this transformative
potential growing today? Specifically in terms of the alliances built in the
fight, are they continuing to work together?’
‘Do
you think that the anti-fascist struggle in Italy, anti-colonial struggle in
Ireland as well as the anti-imperialist struggles in Latin America have been
effective in the success of the water struggles in these countries?’
Struggles
against capitalist exploitation based on broad alliances are exhausting and
time consuming. Inevitably, there is a danger of activists becoming burnt out.
In fact, the alliances discussed in the book are no longer operating with the
same large number of activists. However, in all four cases, an important
nucleus of activists continues to maintain a presence, observing the situation.
At the European level, for example, while the European Federation of Public
Service Unions (EPSU) has reoriented its main focus to other policy areas, the
European Water Movement with strong EPSU participation continues to meet
regularly and engages in both ongoing European level developments on water as
well as new struggles such as resistance against micro hydropower plants in the
Balkan countries. Recent commemorations of the tenth anniversary of the Italian
water referendum too have demonstrated that activists continue to be involved
across the country (see
Italian Forum of Water Movements, June 2021).
Equally,
the consequences of the learning-in-struggle, which took place during the water
campaigns, should not be underestimated. In Ireland, for example, the
experiences of the water struggles were put to good use in the struggles around
the referendum on the Repeal of the Eighth Amendment in 2018 paving the
way to official abortion rights. And clearly, as water struggles continue to
affect positively other struggles, so they themselves had been affected by
prior anti-imperialist, anti-colonial struggles. In different ways in different
countries, but ultimately all struggles leave behind some ‘residues of
resistance’, which in turn become influential in future struggles.
There
have been a number of attempts to extend the focus on water as a commons to
other areas such as public transport. To date, however, they have not been
successful. The unique quality of water as a source of life cannot easily be
transferred to other areas. A focus on the potential benefits of a public
provision of essential services is, however, increasingly taking hold amongst
European publics (see Transnational
Institute 2020).
Alternative ways of financing public water
‘Did
you at all look at alternative financing models that water movements propose?
Right now, the model is debt financing and I know PSI has done some research on
Public-public partnerships etc., but wondering whether you did some concerted
research on alternative financing (versus financialization via private equity
firms etc.)?’
In
the book, I make clear that just because a water company is public, this does
not mean that it is a good, well-functioning company. One of the key problems,
which drives municipalities towards privatization in the first place, is often
a lack of appropriate public finances. Alternative financial models for public
water is an important area for future research.
Water policy in the UK?
‘If
you were made “Minister of Water” for the U.K. and given free reign over
policy, what would you do on your first day?’
‘How
do we support the latent support of the British public for renationalizing
water into a successful political campaign?’
As ‘Minister
for Water’, I would renationalize water on the first day. Opinion polls confirm
that a clear majority of British citizens continues to support public water and
renationalization was an important part of the Labour Party election manifestos
in 2017 and 2019. However, re-nationalization on its own is not enough to
guarantee a high-quality service. We need to think about how we can democratise
the management of our water services and the campaign group We Own It
has developed an interesting model in this respect including the participation
of community groups and workers in the running of the company (see We
Own It 2019).
Role of Commission and MEPs?
‘Did
you see any role for the EP and even the Commission? When working on the
creation of legislation on Corporate Social Responsibility, certain MEPs seem
to have been particularly active and determinant for discussing mandatory CSR.’
The
European Commission has been a key agent of neo-liberal restructuring in the
European Union since the mid-1980s, early 1990s. It is the main contact point
for lobbyists from large transnational corporations and has attempted to push
water privatization on a number of occasions, including for example the
Bolkestein Directive in 2004 to 2006.
Within
the European Parliament, however, there have been several MEPs who actively
supported public water. Most noticeable in this respect is the Irish MEP Lynn
Boylan of the European United Left – Nordic Green Left political group,
who co-ordinated efforts in the European Parliament pushing the Commission to
follow up on the European Citizens Initiative. Unfortunately, she was not
re-elected in the 2019 elections.
The Italian referendum of June 2011
‘Regarding
the Italian referendum; what do you think limited the results, i.e. where were
the weaknesses of the campaign?’
As
such, there are no obvious, big mistakes of weaknesses by the Italian Forum of
Water Movements. They secured a resounding victory in the referendum in 2011 despite
widespread opposition by almost all political parties and total lack of
coverage by the media. Nevertheless, agency always takes place within the
structuring conditions of the capitalist social relations of production. The
victory in 2011 came at a time, when Italy too was dragged into the Eurozone
crisis and struggled to re-finance its debts. The related economic crisis was
used by capital first to block progress towards re-municipalisation of water
services wherever possible, before then pushing towards privatisation in new,
more subtle strategies.
Water as a commons?
‘I
was wondering about the transformative potential of the idea water as a commons
that you talked about - whether this had a role also in the other cases besides
Italy?’
‘As
far as alternative proposals on water management (non-profit cooperative system
per municipality based upon direct democracy and decisions taken at open
assemblies as suggested by K136/Citizens Union for Water Initiative in
Thessaloniki/Greece as opposed to the statist/ nationalization ( or owned by
the municipality approach ) of SOSte to
nero or the fluidity of Water Warriors ( established to mobilize against
privatisation but who have yet to decide on alternative, although closer to
democratic management that revolves around citizen's participation … To what
extent does the inability to reach a consensus place a barrier towards
transformative change?
In
addition to Italy, the notion of water as a commons also played a strong role
in the struggles for public water in Thessaloniki/Greece, with the citizens’
movement K136 developing a concrete proposal of how this could be put into place.
However, as the second question here suggests, ultimately the various social movements
in Thessaloniki have been unable to agree on a joint position, which blocks a
productive way forward towards an alternative public provision of water.
In
general, there has been a shift away from a focus on the commons towards
alternative, participatory ways of managing public water, including the
participation of consumer groups and workers in the running of companies (see Transforming
capitalism? The role of the commons and direct democracy in struggles against
water privatisation in Europe).
What role does the climate play?
‘In
your research have you found that struggles against water privatisation have
been more successful or popular in warmer and drier climates? If so, what can
be done to build momentum in more temperate climates?’
Of
course, different climates have an impact on the availability of drinkable
water. As political ecologists have, however, successfully shown, access or
non-access to water is very much a political question. The climate is of
secondary importance. In my book, I look at struggles in Greece and Italy, the
European South, but very similar dynamics are also identified in the Irish
case, a country which is not short of rain.
Water privatisation in the EU
‘Out
of the 27 EU countries how many of them have privatized water supplies?’
Across
the European Union, the provision of water is often a decision taken at the
municipal, not the national level. Importantly, the EU is one of the areas in which
the re-municipalisation of water services is increasingly the option chosen by
local decision-makers. This affects, for example, France, the home country of
the large transnational corporations Suez and Veolia, as well as Spain and here
in particular Catalonia, where a large number of private water concessions have
come to an end recently (Kishimoto,
Lobina and Petitjean 2015). By contrast, the privatisation of water
services is currently driven forward in China, India, Russia and the Gulf States
(Powell
and Yurchenko 2020).
Personal website: http://andreasbieler.net
20 July 2021
In Turkey like Italy and Ireland, the experience and practices of the anti-fascist struggle of the revolutionary left prior to the 1980 military coup have been influential in the organization of the movement against hydroelectric plants in some regions albeit not many.
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