Description of ¡Cochabamba!.
Historically a common trust, water is now bought and sold as a private commodity.
With billions at the mercy of an unrestrained marketplace, it is easy to understand
why this precious resource is at the center of the international movement working
to turn back the rising tide of corporate globalization.
The triumphant struggle of grassroots activists in Cochabamba, Bolivia, sounded
a significant opening salvo in the water wars. In 2001, water warriors there
regained control of their water supply and defied all odds by driving out the
transnational corporation that had stolen their water in the first place.
¡Cochabamba! is the story of the first great victory against corporate
globalization in Latin America. Oscar Olivera, a 45-year-old machinist who helped
shape and lead a movement that brought thousands of ordinary people to the streets,
powerfully conveys the perspective of a committed participant in a victorious
and inspirational rebellion.
The beloved and highly respected Olivera relates the selling of the city’s
water supply to Aguas del Tunari—a subsidiary of US-based Bechtel—the
subsequent astronomical rise in water prices, and the refusal of poverty-strapped
Bolivians to pay them. Olivera brings us to the front lines of a movement, chronicling
how the people organized an opposition and the dramatic struggles that eventually
defeated the privatizers.
With hard-won political savvy, Olivera reflects on major themes that emerged
from the war over water: the fear and isolation that Cochabambinos faced with
a spirit of solidarity and mutual aid; the challenges of democratically administering
the city’s water supply; and the impact of the water wars on subsequent
resistance.
Breaking News
The Morales Victory and Bolivian Social Movements
¡Cochabamba! contributor Bolivia's New Vice President
News from Bolivia indicates that Evo Morales of the MAS party (Movimiento Al Socialismo; Movement Toward Socialism) has been elected that country’s new president. This election is, among many other things, a further referendum on and rejection of the neoliberal policies that have dominated and impoverished Bolivia.
There is already much debate within the strong Bolivian social movements over how Evo Morales and the MAS will respond to this mandate. Oscar Olivera, who with the Coordinadora in 2000 led a successful opposition to water privatization in Cochabamba and has advanced the call for a Constituent Assembly, is but one of many who raise such questions. As Olivera reportedly told The Guardian (UK), “There’s been a loss of confidence in him [Morales]. I'll vote for him, but it's a critical support.”
A December 2005 interview in Green Left Weekly makes Olivera’s position clearer: “No matter which way you look at it, the elections are not the solution for meeting the demands of the population. However, elections are a space that has presented itself and which we, as autonomous social movements, are taking up in order to accumulate forces to pass over this bridge, towards these two grand demands [nationalization of hydrocarbons and th...
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Table of Contents
Foreword by Vandana Shiva About this book by Tom Lewis Preface
The Water War
Privatization
Organization
War
Perspectives on the Water War and the Coordinadora
The Coordinadora by Raquel Gutiérrez-Aguilar
The “Multitude” by Álvaro Garcia Linera
Interview with Luis Sánchez-Gómez
SEMAPA: Globalizing Solidarity
Our Reality and Our Dreams
The New World of Labor
A Political Thesis
For a Constituent Assembly: Creating Public Spaces
Toward a National and Continental Rebellion
The Gas War
Reconquering our Collective Patrimony
The Legacy of the Coordinadora by Tom
Lewis
The Significance of the Gas War
Afterword: They Can’t Privatize Our Dreams
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Praise
“¡Cochabamba! shows us that a world beyond corporate globalization
is not just possible, but is actually happening. As the Bolivian people remind
us, there is one power stronger than the power of money—and that is the
power of the people.”
—Vandana Shiva, from the foreword
“After reading this book, no citizen will ever again take for granted
the water that flows from her tap. ¡Cochabamba! embodies the spirit
of a united people who would not allow corporate rule to trump democratic decision-making.”
—Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Water for All Campaign
“Oscar Olivera provides us with a passionate inside look at one of Latin
America’s most important social struggles and popular victories. Here is
the tale of how the poor of Bolivia stood down one of the largest corporation’s
in the world, told by the man who did the most to lead the battle.”
—Jim Shultz, executive director of The Democracy Center
After reading ¡Cochabamba!, I can understand the discontent among the people (as well as their protest tactics) far better than that first bewildering exposure. If I had read this book prior to arriving in-country, I would have had the specific context needed in order to interpret what seemed to be total chaos.
—Richard Joseph, author of Transcend:
There are Rights, There are Wrongs … And then, There are Truths...
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Reviews
Guerilla News Network
Review
by Joseph Richard, March 22, 2005
A new book on the battle over the most basic resource
There are certain human needs that are so basic, that in a civilized society,
to be deprived of such is nothing less than criminal. One of these needs is
water. In a democracy, if citizens are deprived of water, then that democracy
must be taken back. Control must be returned to those whom the democracy is
intended to serve; the people. This exact scenario occurred during April 2000
in the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia. It is a success story, which led to victory
for the masses in Cochabamba. This triumph is now referred to as “The Water
War” and has inspired activists in social movements around the world.
The Water War was a ground-breaking victory against the life-sapping effect
of globalization in Latin America. A recent publication by South End Press entitled:
¡Cochabamba! – Water War in Bolivia by Oscar Olivera in collaboration
with Tom Lewis is a first-hand account of that victory. Featuring perspectives
from water activist and prominent labor leader Oscar Olivera, “Cochabamba”
is a four-part work covering various aspects of The Water War, and its resulting
social and political outcomes.
Bolivia is a nation that is land locked and isolated; located in th...
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Interview
Oscar Olivera, the leader of the Cochabamba Coordinadora in defense of water and life reflects on the lessons of struggles for water in Bolivia and talks of the challenges and priorities for the new Ministry of Water.
Why did you get involved in the struggle to defend water and to fight privatization in Cochabamba?
In the contract for the water concession with Aguas del Tunari and the Drinking Water Law they established measures that directly affected people in their daily lives. One of those was the dolarisation of water rates for people connected to the central network, another was the expropriation of alternative water systems that had been built by hundreds of cooperatives and thirdly you had the creation of a market in water that ended traditional uses and customs in water management and removed the rights of communities to their own water sources.
What’s more these rules established a fixed rate of return for the multinational of 16% and even forced the population to ask permission from the Superintendent of Sanitation to collect rain water.
A resident connected to the central network saw his rates triple in one day. People who weren’t connected could not get a service because the multinational had a monopoly.
The communal water systems constructed as a result of everyone’s work were handed over to the company without any compensation. They did exactly the same by handing over the lakes and rivers belonging to small farming communities. The...
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