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August 26, 2003
A Day at the Network
A good part of today was spent at the Consumer Network office. I was interviewing Gonzalo whose focus is on organizing actions in different parts of the country, particularly Managua. What struck me most during the interviews was the similarities in the challenges faced by the Network in their attempts to educate and organize around privatization issues, and the challenges faced by peace activists in the United States. Not that I came here thinking that those similarities wouldn´t exist.
Nicaragua is, in some ways, not the same place it was 20 years ago. Back then, as several people here have mentioned, it seemed like everyone was involved and aware. An alert and knowledgeable citizenry. Now activists face the same kinds of apathy and ignorance that we face in the U.S., and I´m sure most activists in most places encounter. One Nicaraguan summed it up by saying that nowadays lots of people in his country just sit around watching stupid TV shows and listening to sappy songs. Sound familiar?
As passionate as he is about his work, Gonzalo faces the same frustrations. One glaring difference between Nicaragua and the U.S. is, of course, the immense poverty in Nicaragua. Unemployment is at 70%. The country is deep in debt. So, as Gonzalo says, in addition to general apathy, there is also the fact that most people are thinking about today--- What are they going to feed their family? How are they going to survive?
Gonzalo believes that the distinction should be made between privatization and investment. A person or group that invests in something rightfully has a say in how things are done. But when a company acquires something-- like water-- it´s theirs, and they´re going to do what they want with it. Of course, what they want is to make money.
If the Network can reach people, and help them to realize that the water, for now anyway, is theirs--- and if they can get people to invest there time and energy, even if they have no money, then that´s a great start for pressuring the government to act responsibly in the face of the World Bank and IMF´s pressure to privatize Nicaragua´s water. At the same time, the Network is working on the government to invest in its people by finding ways to improve water quality and access. One suggestion (among several) that Gonzalo is for involves government officials (who are paid on a par with U.S. federal politicians) cutting their pay to half of what it is today, and putting the money into making improvements. It may sound far fetched to us in the U.S., but here where the disparity in income is even more glaring for most people, it may be a pressure point that will get some results when combined with concerns over water which is so essential to life itself. Anyone can relate to the importance of water, so Gonzalo and the rest at the Network press on.
Posted by Joe Public at August 26, 2003 03:37 PM
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