New Internationalist. The people, the ideas, the action in the fight for global justice.

Anti-water privatization activists from all over Africa met today at the World Social Forum to launch a new African Water Network aimed at strengthening co-operation and co-ordinating efforts to ‘oppose water privatization in all its forms’; to work for a participatory model of public control over water; and to assert that water is a fundamental human right. Virginia Setshedi from the South African Coalition Against Water Privatization explained the significance of the event: ‘Today we celebrate the birth of this network to resist the theft of our water, tomorrow we will celebrate access to clean water for all!’