Maude Barlow

This book has been a personal journey, for it has reminded me of the possibility of the human spirit to change and thus for the world to change.
from Still Hopeful by Maude Barlow

Maude Barlow has been a social justice activist for over forty years. Her parents were activists. Barlow worked for women’s equality, against globalization’s disastrous impact, and for water justice. Out of this lifetime of experience she offers this memoir of her personal journey, which is also a guidebook for activists and inspiration to remain hopeful. Still Hopeful shares the history of how activists have motivated change in the past and how we can impact change for the future.

It is easy to give up and lose hope for change. The push back is stronger the closer society comes to breaking out into something new. We see this every day on the news. Reactionaries rolling back advancements, while the people rise up in protest. It’s hard not to just give in to pessimism or hopelessness.

Hope is born of radical uncertainty, rooted in the unknown and the unknowable, Barlow quotes from a speech by Joan Halifax. We don’t know the impact our actions have on others and on the future. “Hope is a gamble,” Barlow quotes from Rebecca Solnit, a bet on the future. “Giving up hope for change is to condemn so many others to misery,” Barlow warns.

But how do we keep hope? One way is to remember how humanity survived past crises. This particularly speaks to me. As a reader of history, I know how society has veered off into darkness and corrected its path again.

Sharing her work in her three areas of activism, Barlow shows the challenges, the work, and the outcome of collective activism.

The first section reflects on her work in the women’s movement, particularly in her home country of Canada. “Rights have to be fought for and taken,” was her first lesson. A law doesn’t end a problem, it’s a beginning.

…the struggle for justice is ongoing and never over.
from Still Hopeful by Maude Barlow

I previously read Barlow’s book Whose Water Is It Anyways? about the grass roots movement against privatization of water. Water as a ‘tradeable good’ is a huge threat to local communities who can’t afford to pay for clean water. She ends the chapter with advice on preventing activist burn-out.

I found most interesting the chapter “Challenging Corporate Rule,” the negative impact of deregulation, privatization, free trade, and the WTO. It’s an area I didn’t know deeply. I remember when the ‘global economy’ was considered a positive move. Barlow made the economics and their impact on poor countries understandable and moving. Covid has shown the drawbacks when a country can’t manufacture needed medications and basic supplies.

The last chapter looks to the future; climate change countered by embracing Indigenous attitudes of long-range thinking, the restoration of ecosystems, embracing the rights of nature, changing how we eat. We must challenge the basic concept of unregulated growth and the idea that more is better, and center our concerns on human welfare.

The lessons are not applicable only to activists. My husband was a pastor whose work was to lead churches to grow and expand to meet the needs of the community. Resistance was strong. Leaders didn’t want to let ‘those people’ from the neighborhood into the church; they didn’t want to adapt new ways that included the needs of young adults; they were more concerned about those inside the church than the desperate needs of those outside. Burn-out was a part of his life. He was often demoralized.

Barlow’s memoir will be an inspiration to anyone with a vision of a better future.

I received a free book from the publisher. My review is fair and unbiased.… (más)

Whose Water Is It Anyway? Taking Water Protection Into Public Hands is a history of the water conservation and justice movement rooted in anti-privatization and a call to worldwide action. It begins with the neoliberal move toward privatizing public services pushed by conservative governments. For example, in the U.K., the government would not fund infrastructure without the local government agreeing to privatize it. The federal government in Canada tied their water funding to privatization as well, but that was recently reversed, or perhaps given a 90° turn. They still encourage public-private partnerships but do not mandate them. Privatization has resulted in higher prices and degraded water quality and in water being sent off to other markets, bringing on the possibility of future water shortages. Water privatization has spread worldwide.

In addition to the growing privatization of water, there is the exponential growth of people drinking bottled water. People even drink bottled water at home where they have perfectly good tap water.

The next chapter focuses on resistance campaigns to turn back the tide of privatization and push for public ownership and conservation She describes several campaigns around the world, creating a global movement for water justice, pushing the idea that all people have a right to clean, affordable drinking water.

This led to the Blue Communities movement pushing local governing bodies to promise publicly-owned water, recognize water is a right, and ban bottled water on local government properties and events. Barlow traces that movement in Canada and in Europe and its future around the world. The book includes model language for Blue Communities resolutions.

While I was aware of the need for water conservation and of many of the predatory practices of water companies throughout the world. Nestlé tried to grab the water from Cascade Locks here in Oregon and was fought to a standstill. However, this book is a sobering look at how far privatization has penetrated the world water supply and how conservative governments have forced privatization on an unwilling public.

The first two and the last chapters are the most interesting. The many local campaigns were, I am certain, exciting as they happened, but are not the most interesting reading. However, there are some particular local circumstances that provide useful examples for those wishing to make their own hometown a Blue Community. That’s the point of the book, to encourage readers to local action, to spread the Blue Communities movement everywhere. Barlow provides the essentials for anyone wishing to join the movement and work to make their own community Blue.

I received an ARC of Whose Water Is It Anyway? from the publisher through Shelf Awareness.

Whose Water Is It Anyway? at ECW Press

Maude Barlow

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2019/09/30/9781770414303/… (más)

I have read the headlines and news articles:

In Detroit, surviving without water has become a way of life, 2018 Bridge Magazine article headline

ACLU Petitions State to Stop Detroit Water Shut Offs, 2019 Michigan Public Radio story

Water Shut Offs Could Reach 17,000 Households, 2018 Detroit Free Press article

According to the EPA, an affordable water bill costs about 4.5 percent of a household’s monthly income, but metro Detroiters are paying around 10 percent. 2019 Curbed Detroit article

My own water/sewer bill in the Detroit suburbs has doubled over ten years. We have installed low water toilets and appliances and we don't water the grass in summer. We have four rain barrels to water the gardens.

Luckily, we can pay our water bill. I can't imagine how people survive without reliable, clean, tap water. People who can't afford water like thousands in Detroit--and across the world. People like those in Flint and Oscoda other Michigan communities whose tap water is polluted with lead and PFAS.

In Michigan, surrounded by the Great Lakes, and embracing 11,000 lakes, we still don't provide clean water to all. In Osceola, Michigan Nestle pumps out our water for $200 a year, but our citizens in vulnerable communities suffer. Where is the justice in this?

Author and water activist Maude Barlow has fought for water justice since 1985 when NAFTA gave Americans access to Canadia's water resources. Alarmed at the implications, Barlow questioned, who owns the water?

In Whose Water Is It Anyway? Barlow celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Blue Communities Project. She describes her personal journey as an activist. She explains how water became privatized and the impact world-wide. Finally, Barlow presents the Blue Communities Project which has been adopted across the world, putting water back into the hands of the people, with sample documents to help local citizens begin their own campaign.

Companies have bought water rights and pumped the groundwater dry across the world. And all those plastic bottles have created a nightmare. Not just as trash--Barlow shares that bottled water testing shows most contain micro-plastic!

I was surprised to learn that the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights did not include access to water as a basic right because seventy years ago it was assumed all people had and would have access to water. Today we know that water is not limitless. Barlow tells how privatization of water takes local water away from citizens to be sold for a profit. In 2015 the UN finally addressed the human right to water. Included is the statement that governments must provide clean water to people, "must refrain from any action or policy, such as water cut-offs," and are obliged to prevent businesses from polluting a community's water.

But to fulfill that promise, citizens must claim the power over their water. Barlow's book tells us how to do that.

I received access to a free ebook through the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.… (más)