L'Acqua Non Si Vende (Water is not for sale)

p nbsp;/p p In a beautiful show of revolutionary resistance and love for pachamama, the people of Italy said no to the privatization of the countryrsquo;s water resourcesnbsp;and to Prime Minister Berlusconirsquo;s push tonbsp;restartnbsp;the country#39;snbsp;nuclear power program. Voters turned out in mass for a referendum on laws that called for private investment in public water municipalities and a mandate to restart the nuclear energy programmdash;two issues that proved highly contentious, motivating people to organize./p p The law mandating the privatization of water passed in 2008, calling for privatization by the end of 2011. Proponents of the lawmdash;called the Ronchi Law, after European Affairs Minister Andrea Ronchimdash;indicate the law was put into place to bring Italy in line with European regulations and to make Italyrsquo;s water system more efficientnbsp;via investments in maintenance and infrastructure. 57% of eligible Italians voted, surpassing the 50% needed to bring the issue to voters. Voters cast 90% of their votes against privatization. This means that municipalities will be prohibited from selling water services to investors as part of a plan to bankroll the maintenance of the nationrsquo;s aging water system./p p At present, Italy has among the lowest water prices in Europe, lower than Great Britain and Germany. According to the World Water Forum in 2009 (a href="http://www.worldwaterforum5.org/" title="http://www.worldwaterforum5.org/"http://www.worldwaterforum5.org//a), Italy loses 30% of its water from leaky aqueducts and theft, compared with 20% in countries with comparable systems. In July 2010 the Forum Italiano dei Movimenti per Lrsquo;Acqua, a network of national associations and local committees, collected one million signaturesmdash;500,000 more than needed to call for a referendum. In June of last year, protestors covered public fountains with black plastic bags, chains, pad locks, and other materials to bring attention to the issue./p p While the government insists that privatization of its waternbsp;is needed, opponents argue that water is a common good and that access is a fundamental right and as such, cannot be subject to the laws of the free market. Roman Catholic nuns and priests came out in resistance, saying that water is a gift from God and shouldnrsquo;t be used to produce profits for companies and corporations. In October of 2010, Pope Benedict spoke of the UN Resolution on the right to water and sanitation: ldquo;Water is essential to human nutrition, to rural activities and to the conservation of nature. Another referendum issue was the restarting of Italyrsquo;s nuclear power program./p p The issue has come to the forefront of the discourse of energy in the wake of the Fukushima disaster and the recent anniversary of Chernobyl. In 1987 Italians voted against nuclear energy in a countrywide referendum in reaction to the devastation of Chernobyl. All 4 of the countryrsquo;s nuclear plants were shut down. After the Fukushima disaster, the countryrsquo;s industry minister echoed Prime Minister Berlusconirsquo;s calls for the restart of the countryrsquo;s nuclear energy program. Since 1987, Italy still has not disposed of its nuclear waste. Opponents of nuclear power also point out that fact that Italy is prone to earthquakes, with seven quakes over magnitude 6 in the last 100 years./p p The referendum outcomes dealt a big defeat to Prime Minister Berlusconi, who has been dogged by charges of corruption and sexual scandal./p