February, 19 2009, 02:51pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Rachael Richardson, Food & Water Watch (917) 733-0434
Kate Fried, Food & Water Watch (202) 683-2500
Food & Water Watch-Sponsored Film The Water Front Screens in NYC
Documentary Exposes the Effects of Underfunded, Neglected Water Systems
NEW YORK
Food & Water Watch, a national consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., today sponsored a screening of The Water Front,
a documentary film highlighting the negative effects of aging water
systems and a Michigan community's struggle to defend its water rights.
The Water Front illustrates
the challenges facing cash-strapped communities in today's harsh
economic climate when, confronted with aging water systems, many choose
to sell their water utilities to private companies. Privatizing water
systems often creates more problems than it actually solves. Private
water utilities charge higher rates than municipalities and drive up
costs while neglecting service. In fact, research by Food & Water
Watch shows that publicly owned and operated water utilities offer
better service at a lower cost than their private counterparts.
"The Water Front is the
story of a community's effort to maintain access to a vital natural
resource in the face of poverty and deteriorating resources," said
Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. "It
serves to illustrate the dire importance of maintaining funding for
water infrastructure systems in Michigan, the United States and around
the world."
Following the screening, Liz Miller, the film's director, spoke to
the audience about water privatization and security issues. Miller also
announced the winners of The Water Front
Remix Contest, which challenged sound artists to remix the movie's
title track, "Mr. Waterman," by Detroit area bluesman Joe L. Carter.
They are:
- First Prize: "Joe L. Carter-Mr. Waterman" by dance music producer, DJ Mokji
- Audience Favorite: "Mercy Mix" by Arnell Newman
- Montreal Favorite: "March of the Waterman" by Dino Emilio Giancola
"Each submission was a work of art," said Miller. "2009 marks the
50th anniversary of Motown. The sounds of Detroit have long inspired
musicians and sound artists; with this contest they now serve as a
powerful medium to educate people about water-how this seemingly simple
resource is often loaded with political complexities.
Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.
(202) 683-2500LATEST NEWS
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While applauding the U.S. House of Representatives' bipartisan passage of a bill to ensure that "law enforcement and intelligence agencies can't do an end-run around the Constitution by buying information from data brokers" on Wednesday, privacy advocates highlighted that Congress is trying to extend and expand a long-abused government spying program.
The House voted 219-199 for Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (FANFSA), which won support from 96 Democrats and 123 Republicans, including the lead sponsor, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio). Named for the constitutional amendment that protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, H.R. 4639 would close what campaigners call the data broker loophole.
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Wednesday's vote followed the House sending the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act to the Senate. H.R. 7888 would reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows for warrantless spying on noncitizens abroad but also sweeps up Americans' data.
The House notably included an amendment forcing a wide range of individuals and businesses to cooperate with government spying operations but rejected an amendment that would have added a warrant requirement to the bill, which the Senate could vote on as soon as Thursday.
Noting those decisions on the FISA reauthorization legislation, Ruddock stressed that "today's vote is a victory but follows a recent loss and ongoing threat as that Section 702 bill moves to the Senate this week too."
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Jeramie Scott, senior counsel and director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center's Project on Surveillance Oversight, also praised the House's FANFSA passage on Wednesday.
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Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at ACLU, similarly said Wednesday that "the bipartisan passage of this bill is a flashing warning sign to the government that if it wants our data, it must get a warrant."
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While claiming that President Joe Biden backs "Palestinian aspirations for statehood," one of the cables asserts that "it remains the U.S. view that the most expeditious path toward a political horizon for the Palestinian people is in the context of a normalization agreement between Israel and its neighbors."
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The renewed push for Palestine's U.N. membership comes as Israel wages a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority, which hasn't controlled Gaza for nearly two decades, rejected the Biden administration's requests to hold off on seeking full membership.
"We wanted the U.S. to provide a substantive alternative to U.N. recognition. They didn't," one unnamed Palestinian official toldAxios on Wednesday. "We believe full membership in the U.N. for Palestine is way overdue. We have waited more than 12 years since our initial request."
As The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein and Daniel Boguslaw noted:
Since 2011, the U.N. Security Council has rejected the Palestinian Authority's request for full member status. On April 2, the Palestinian Observer Mission to the U.N. requested that the council once again take up consideration of its membership application. According to the first State Department cable, U.N. meetings since the beginning of April suggest that Algeria, China, Guyana, Mozambique, Russia, Slovenia, Sierra Leone, and Malta support granting Palestine full membership to the U.N. It also says that France, Japan, and Korea are undecided, while the United Kingdom will likely abstain from a vote.
Along with the United States, China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom are permanent members of the UNSC, so they also have veto power.
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Belgium—which is seeking economic sanctions against Israel in response to its genocidal war on Gaza—is expected to join Spain's push for Palestinian statehood after the country's European Union presidency expires in June.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who has also claimed to support a so-called "two-state solution"—has alternately boasted about thwarting Palestinian statehood.
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Yanis Varoufakis, a PI member and secretary-general of the left-wing Democracy in Europe Movement 2025, called the database "a treasure chest of well-researched reports on how the reactionaries of the world unite."
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