Water


Water: a fundamental human right on Wall Street

Since December 7, water has been listed on the Wall Street “commodity futures market”, as well as oil, gold, wheat or soybeans. Buyers do not purchase physical products at the time of the futures transaction, but acquire rights to a quantity of water in the future, at a fixed price. This is commonly called "financial speculation". The index called NQH2O…

India: Ongoing repercussions and demands after massive fire in oil well

On 13 September, almost four months after the explosion and oil spill in the Indian town of Baghjan (Tinsukia district, Assam state), experts from the company in charge of  the oil well (Oil India Limited) and international engineers managed to control the fire. Four days earlier, an engineer from the company had died on site. He was the third employee…

Covid-19 in the Gaza Strip

“The Israeli occupation’s attacks on Palestinians have massively damaged health facilities and targeted health workers.  The ongoing, direct attacks have caused thousands of injuries and hundreds of fatalities, which increases the burden on hospitals,” warned Palestinian researcher in health systems, Aisha Yousif Elbasuoni. Meanwhile, environmental engineer Balqis Khozundar lamented that Gaza is experiencing an “environmental catastrophe.” Lack of access to…

Palestine: Activist Abu Saker and his son arrested

In the early hours of Wednesday 29 July, Abu Saker and his 22-year-old son Sakher were arrested by Israeli soldiers and held for 20 hours, without food or water. The police accused them of "stealing water" from Israel's national water company, Mekorot, which -in fact- "illegally appropriates Palestinians to serve, among others, Israel's settlement project", reported the website Stop The…

Japanese government plans to release radioactive contaminated water

“The Japanese government intends to proceed with its plan for environmental release of radioactive contaminated water that has been accumulating since the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in 2011,” denounced Friends of the Earth Japan in a press release. The environmental organisation has launched an online petition demanding the Japanese government that water be stored on land and solidified,…

Chernobyl-Fukushima: Mirrors of the Nuclear Disaster

Nine years have passed since the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster, and the damage continues to be incurred. Although this disaster is still ongoing, efforts are made to render this invisible. FoE Japan has conducted video interviews with evacuees, dairy farmers, fishermen and other community members in order to make the ongoing impacts more known as part of the “Fukushima…

Remembering Dilma Ferreira on the first anniversary of her murder

On 22 March 2019, Dilma Ferreira was brutally murdered in her home, together with her partner, Claudionor Costa da Silva, and neighbor, Milton Lopes. In celebration and remembrance of her life and struggle, Real World Radio interviewed Soniamara Maranho, Tchenna Maso and Cleidiane Vieria, fellow Coordinators at MAB. We asked them about what it means to be a defender of…

“We need national policies for people affected by dams”

14 March marks the Day of Struggle of people affected by dams. The Latin American Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAR) is growing and taking its motto to different places around the world: “Water and energy are not commodities! Water for Life, not for death!”. In the midst of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, Real World Radio interviewed Diana Giraldo,…

“The hardest part is knowing that Vale continues operating”

During the march of people affected by mining company Vale in Brumadinho (Brazil) held by the Brazilian Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB) from 20-25 January, during the first anniversary of the worst socioenvironmental crime in this South American country, Real World Radio interviewed activist Leticia Paranhos, co-coordinator of the Economic Justice-Resisting Neoliberalism Program (EJRN) at Friends of the…

Brumadinho: one million people affected

“This is the second crime of this type. Brumadinho has been worse than Mariana. How many more crimes will it take to rethink the mining paradigm?” Moisés Borges, member of the National Coordination of the Movement of Peoples Affected by Dams (MAB) told Real World Radio.  The MAB is getting ready to host tens of activists from around the world…