A new phase in the international movement to turn back the rising tide of corporate globalization was marked by US protests in Seattle and the triumphs of grassroots activists in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Volumes have been written about the struggle to shut down the World Trade Organization meetings, but little has been documented about the arguably more successful struggle to regain control of Cochabamba's water supply and kick out the transnational corporation that privatized it. Cochabamba! Water Rebellion in Bolivia tells ...
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A new phase in the international movement to turn back the rising tide of corporate globalization was marked by US protests in Seattle and the triumphs of grassroots activists in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Volumes have been written about the struggle to shut down the World Trade Organization meetings, but little has been documented about the arguably more successful struggle to regain control of Cochabamba's water supply and kick out the transnational corporation that privatized it. Cochabamba! Water Rebellion in Bolivia tells this story - the story of the first great victory against corporate globalization in Latin America. Oscar Olivera, a forty-five-year old machinist, was at the center of the movement that brought tens of thousands of ordinary people to the streets in the Andean city of Cochabamba, Bolivia. a first hand participant in the victorious rebellion and street battles that have inspired activists in social movements around the world. Cochabamba! explains how the city's water supply was sold to Aguas del Tunari, a subsidiary of the US-based transnational corporation Bechtel. Water prices subsequently rose astronomically and poverty-strapped Bolivians refused to pay Olivera explains the process of organizing an opposition movement coalition - the Coordinating Committe for the Defense of Water and Life - and relates the dramatic struggles that eventually defeated the neoliberal privatizers. Olivera reflects on the themes that emerged as a result of the war over water (rapidly becoming the world's new oil); the fear and isolation which the Cochambambinos overcame through a spirit of solidarity and mutual aid; and the Bolivian government's criminalization of social movements ad part of US president Bush's global 'war on terrorism.' Cochabamba! also discusses the impact of the 'water wars' on subsequent battles with transnational corporations and financial institutions.
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