Water in dispute: Chilean private property over the basis of life

On World Water Day, ChDI offers an article on the current state of property and future directions for equitable and sustainable use.

 

Sunday March 22, 2020

Alejandra Parra Muñoz[i]

 

We are water. Around 65% of the human body is made up of water. Everything we eat requires water for its development. The sea jellyfish is 99% water, while that fish is 65-80% water.  The water content in plants is about 70%. In other words, water is not only vital for humans, it is vital for all living things on the planet.

Although three-quarters of the planet is covered by water, only 2% of is fresh water. From this 2%, a smaller percentage is available for human consumption. However, there has been an abundance of fresh water on the planet for tens of thousands of years. The existence of a stable climate, large extensions of forests, and a synergetic relationship between humanity and the environment, have led to the maintenance of these beneficial conditions for the life development. But since the industrial revolution half of the forests have been cut down and the atmosphere has been modified resulting that climate has undergone enormous changes. Today, seasons are blurred; the rains have been compressed in Read more

ChDI launches first manifesto in support of social movement in Chile

Today, Tuesday November 19, 2019, from the Chilean communities abroad we have a message for the people who live in Chile: Without justice there is no peace. As a community of Chileans abroad, we greet and deeply appreciate this transversal awakening, after 30 years of postponing social demands and unresolved precarization, which have been caused by the neoliberal model installed in our country since the civic-military dictatorship of Pinochet.

The social awakening, triggered by acts of civil disobedience and the massive demonstrations that – in these 30 years – have been led by high school students demanding public, quality and non-sexist education. An awakening that they spontaneously joined:

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ChDI gathers first results of collaboration with European Parliament

Chile Despertó International Network collects the first results from the collaboration with the European United Left/Nordic Green Left GUE-NGL

Brussels, November 14, 2019

The Human Rights Committee of the Chile Despertó International Network would like to thank the members of the European Parliament Idoia Villanueva and Miguel Urbán, from the Spanish coalition Unidas Podemos, for the report they produced following their visit with more than fifty Chilean organizations. They met with representatives of human rights groups, student associations, indigenous movements, ecologists, feminists, and unionists.

The decision by Sebastian Piñera, Chile’s president, to declare a state of emergency on Sunday October 27 th aroused the communities of Chileans living abroad. This has been the principal motor that ignited the coordination from Barcelona of Chileans on all five continents.

Chileans and their allies filled the streets of more than 130 cities, in a chorus of international condemnation against Piñera and his government for police violence that Read more