“Water Wars”

In the Book Cochabamba, author Oscar Olivera discusses his involvement in the social activism movement in the “Water War in Bolivia”; as he coins the phrase. Oscar says that the Bolivians “claimed the first space in which men, women, children and the elderly were able to demonstrate, to the country and the world, against the neoliberal policies which had subsumed our lives” and that the forced neoliberal views created an atmosphere where there were “ fewer jobs and more unemployment. Working conditions have deteriorated substantial. Services are becoming more and more expensive. Because of lower revenues and higher costs, that state no longer has enough money to maintain public services”. It was these same neoliberal views and forces that had already taken away so much from the Bolivian society that were trying to privatives the countries water as well that he claims “w3ater is a social good, a natural inheritance of all living beings – plants, animals, and humans. We all know this. That is why no one can own water. Thanks to the mobilizations of the people of Cochabamba they did not succeed and, as yet, no one owns Bolivian air and water.” This shows that the people can confront the system, and that the system is man made and not a natural set of ‘living rules’ that must be followed, no mater what the cost. This idea that the system and rules set forth by man, can be changed and altered by men, which gives hope to other areas of the world that are confronting the same forced neoliberal policies and ideals.