Pontiff Calls Water an "Inalienable Right"

Neo-liberals following the IMF-WTO line in developing countries tried to privitize water in the 80s and 90s and it casued a massive popular backlash. Since then a new consensus against free market water has arrived, as even those discredited institutions have realized. Water can not be allowed to be a commodity. It must be provided by the Government for all - like many essential services.

Still today, World Water Day, there are more than $1 billion human beings without access to water. It is a heinous crime, made worse by the fact even the Pope can't draw attention to it. This article has received exactly one write up in the world's free media.

VATICAN CITY, MARCH 22, 2007 -
A message sent on behalf of the Pope by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, recalls that there is a "shared
responsibility" in managing this precious resource, "enabling access by all, especially those living in conditions of poverty."

The message stated that this is "a moral and political imperative in a world that has levels of knowledge and technology capable of ending a scarcity of water."

The papal message continues: "We are all called to modify our way of life in an educational effort capable of returning the worth and respect merited by this common resource for humanity.

"We are faced with a socioeconomic, environmental and moral challenge that concerns not only institutions, but society itself."