This is a thin attempt by the World Bank to argue – once again – that water should be classified as an economic good (or a human need) and not as a human right. The difference? In the former, water would be provided to people by the market – thus pricing it according to supply and demand, not according to need and ability to pay. In the latter, water would need to be provided to satisfy human need by the government: it would be a right.

This is no small deal, no small discussion over semantics.  It is an integral struggle against privatization and corporate control, and for human respect and equity.

http://farmlandgrab.org/

FYI

I have a live interview tonight with a radio station in California. Here are the details:

Time: 7.20 pm to 8.00 pm (Beirut time). Last ten minutes will be open to questions from callers

Radio:KZYX & Z, 90.7, 91.5, Mendocino Co. Public Radio, www.kzyx.org, 707-895-2324 (Station)

Host: Jeff Blankfort

Topic: Lebanese elections. Obama’s speech.

I am reminded of the words of US Supreme Court Justice Brandeis. It applies to Lebanon, and not only the US: “We can have a democratic society, or we can have the concentration of great wealth in the hands of the few. We cannot have both.”

–

Jeff Blankfort told me just now that, “Ironically, it was Brandeis, the foremost American zionist, and a close friend of Woodwrow Wilson who appointed him supreme court chief justice, who reportedly influenced  WW to join WW1 on the side of Britain when the latter apparently had lost the war and the Germans were ready to sue for peace. The reward, according to someone who participated with Weizmann in the negotiations as well as a statement by Foreign Minister David Lloyd George at the time, was the Balfour Declaration.”

Environmental Rights. Economic Rights. Civil Rights.

Once again, we see the confluence of these issues — issues that are presented all too often as separate, but that, in reality, are deeply intertwined.

We see it in Peru

From Democracy Now:

Dozens of people are estimated to have been killed in clashes between police and indigenous activists protesting oil and mining projects in the northern Peruvian Amazonian province of Bagua. Peruvian authorities have declared a military curfew, and troops are patrolling towns in the Amazon jungle.Authorities say up to twenty-two policemen have been killed, and two remain missing. The indigenous community says at least forty people, including three children, were killed by the police this weekend.

We see it in the land of Palestine

For more than six decades, the al-Buhairi has family lived on and farmed their land near the boundary with Israel, to the east of Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Last week Israeli warplanes dropped leaflets warning individuals not to set foot in a 300-meter-wide (1,000 foot) strip of land on the Gaza side of the border.

Al-Buhairi voiced his anger over the Israeli measure explaining that his entire family, including his six children and two brothers, have been badly affected because they are unable to safely work their land.

Despite the risk, al-Buhairi said the family has to continue trying to farm the land because their livelihood depends on it “Yet we are working under risk,” he said.

“Four days ago I was irrigating some olive trees which are located beyond the designated limit of 300 meters. Three bullets were shot from that military post on the hilltop,” al-Buhairi said, indicating the direction. “One went to the left of me, one to the right and the third over my head.”

The French company Veolia was supposed to operate the rail project that will connect the city center of Jerusalem with illegal settlements in the West Bank, but now wants to withdraw from the project that is deemed illegal under international law. Observers claim this is the achievement of the Global Boycot Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Campaign that has been mounted on Israel.

From: Eco Maniac: Planetary Pop Quiz

“Everyone needs to watch Home. It’s possibly the most beautiful and important film you will ever see. Although it focuses on global climate change, it weaves the ideas of industry, agriculture, economic justice and more into the fabric of life on this planet, showing how every piece is interconnected.”

http://www.youtube.com/homeproject

Check out the  quiz on facts from the film

no comment necessary on this news item

Search for Air France Flight 447 Hindered By Garbage …the ocean in that area is so garbage-filled that rescue workers are having trouble locating any signs of the plane among the floating piles of waste.

Amidst the results of the (s)elections in Lebanon – which could move the country further down a neoliberal economic agenda, with particular fears of accepting the destructive regulations of the World Trade Organization, amidst the results of the elections of the European Parliament, which saw a move further towards the economic right with a loss for the socialists and a gain for the fascists, this news came at a particularly good time

The oil giant Shell has agreed to pay $15.5m (£9.7m) in settlement of a legal action in which it was accused of having collaborated in the execution of the writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other leaders of the Ogoni tribe of southern Nigeria.

The settlement is one of the largest payouts agreed by a multinational corporation charged with human rights violations. Shell and its Nigerian subsidiary SPDC have not conceded to or admitted any of the allegations, pleading innocent to all the civil charges.

But the scale of the payment is being seen by experts in human rights law as a step towards international businesses being made accountable for their environmental and social actions.

…

Human rights experts believe the settlement will have a substantial impact on other multinational corporations. DiCaprio predicted it would “encourage companies to seriously consider the social and environmental impact their operations may have on a community or face the possibility of a suit”.

Who will be next?

Here’s another lawsuit…

“Six people from Texas, including some soldiers, who claim they were poisoned by toxins and emissions from burn pits at U.S. camps in Iraq and Afghanistan are suing contractors KBR and Halliburton.

The suit, moved to federal court in San Antonio from state court last week, alleges the companies operated the large war-zone pits and burned waste since 2004 that included trucks, tires, plastic water bottles, medical waste, hazardous materials, animal carcasses and even human corpses.

The suit claims burning the waste in open pits – with no safety controls – may have released toxins that harmed at least 100,000 people, including U.S. troops, contractors and civilians.”

Hey! Wait! Could the Iraqi people sue!? Those “100,000 people” include Iraqis – and not simply US occupying forces and their support system.

…or, as Rami Zurayk wrote, sectarian elections are merely ’selections’..

for the results, go here. I am still looking for a listing of the ‘white votes’

for the results in context, go here

for an analysis on the real winners in this election, go here

and for an analysis on the before and after, go here

and it would be interesting to see these elections from a strictly Lebanese popular vote…