Act locally to push back the Bush agenda on privatization! Show THIRST in your community. Produced by independent filmmakers Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman, THIRST is being shown in communities across the United States. In Lee Massachusetts, it was a key factor in winning the vote against privatization of the town's water/sewer system.
The Sierra Club's Water Privatization Task Force members are available to speak at a community forum in conjunction with the showing of THIRST. Please contact us immediately if there is any move to privatize your municipal water/sewer system or to build a privately owned facilities for a new subdivision.
The Sierra Club produced the official discussion guide to THIRST Download the free discussion guide to the film here. (700kb PDF, 12 pages)
"'Thirst' is fabulous. A moving and inspiring film about one of the biggest water issues of our day— the growing dangers of corporate control over water. It sounds a clarion call for citizens and governments to reaffirm that water is a public trust, not a commodity to be exploited for private profit. I hope “Thirst” is viewed widely, discussed at town meetings and in legislative debates, and that it energizes citizen involvement in water decisions. A powerful – and needed – film."
— Sandra Postel, co-author of Rivers for Life and director of the Global Water Policy Project
"Do you know who controls your water? You'd better find out. As this powerful film shows it may already be a private corporation run from afar. 'Thirst' challenges apathy and ignorance about our most precious resource and shows how every citizen’s voice can, indeed must, make a difference. See this film, and be inspired to act."
— Peter H. Gleick, author of The World's Water, and 2003 MacArthur Fellow
Films: Dead in the Water
SPECIAL TWO HOUR EPISODE: How powerful companies tried to privatize a public resource around
the world.
This 2 hour documentary is an excellent piece of investigative
journalism that aired on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporations
[CBC's] Fifth Estate in Spring 2004. Fortunately much of the
script and supporting interviews including ones with Maude Barlow,
Jeffrey Sachs, etc are available on the website -www.cbc.ca/fifth/
This documentary provides much good evidence to support concerns surrounding the
privatization of municipal water systems including: evidence of
corruption in the big French Companies, of over pricing and climbing
water rates, of failing to upgrade infrastructure, of defaulting on
maintenance obligations, of low staffing levels, of increases in
customer complaints, of lack of transparency, of the injustice of
cost recovery for the poverty stricken showing South Africans in a
township pulling up water lines and price meters at night,
consequence of cholera outbreak from being forced to drink
contaminated water, and evidence homes are being confiscated as part
of cost recovery lessons.
Water privatization experiences are drawn from France; Argentina;
Bolivia; South Africa; Atlanta, Georgia; Moncton, New Brunswick; and
California.
The combination of extensive footage from around the world, and
excellent hard hitting/in-depth interviews makes this a must see
video. The many interviews include ones with locals impacted by
privatization policies in Argentina, a South African township,
France, Atlanta and Moncton, with the Mayors of Atlanta and Moncton,
and an economist in Argentina. Other well-known figures include Patrick Bond, South
African professor and activist; Maude Barlow, Council of Canadians
Chairperson; Jeffrey Sachs, economist and advisor to Kofi Annan; Jamal Saghir -Director of Energy and Water in the World Bank's Group; Antoine Frerot, Managing Director, Water Division, Veolia Environnement; and Joseph Stiglitz former chief economist with the World Bank- turned
critic.
University of British Columbia Assistant Professor Karen Bakker
served as a program consultant for "Dead in the Water". Her research
focuses on water governance, the political economy of environmental
change, and environmental philosophy and politics. For more on her
work see Bakker's website: http://www.geog.ubc.ca/~bakker/water.htm
— Janet M Eaton, SCC International Liaison,
Sierra Club Water Privatization Task Force
