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Nestle Chairman says water is not a human right. Tell him he is wrong
In a candid interview for the documentary We Feed the World, Nestle Chairman Peter Brabeck makes the astonishing claim that water isn’t a human right. He attacks the idea that nature is good, and says it is a great achievement that humans are now able to resist nature’s dominance. He attacks organic agriculture and says genetic modification is better.
Nestle is the world’s biggest bottler of water. Brabeck claims – correctly – that water is the most important raw material in the world. However he then goes on to say that privatisation is the best way to ensure fair distribution. He claims that the idea that water is a human right comes from “extremist” NGOs. Water is a foodstuff like any other, and should have a market value.
He believes that the ultimate social responsibility of any Chairman is to make as much profit as possible, so that people will have jobs.
And just to underline what a lovely man he is, he also thinks we should all be working longer and harder.
Consequences of water privatisation
The consequences of water privatisation have been devastating on poor communities around the world. In South Africa, where the municipal workers’ union SAMWU fought a long battle against privatisation, there has been substantial research (pdf) about the effects. Water privatisation lead to a massive cholera outbreak in Durban in the year 2000.
The Nestle boycott
Nestle already has a very bad reputation among activists. There has been a boycott call since 1977. This is due to Nestle’s aggressive lobbying to get women to stop breastfeeding – which is free and healthy – and use infant formula (sold by Nestle) instead. Nestle has lobbied governments to tell their health departments to promote formula. In poor countries, this has resulted in the deaths of babies, as women have mixed formula with contaminated water instead of breastfeeding.
Tell Nestle they are wrong – water is a human right
There is Europe-wide campaign to tell the European Commission that water is a human right, and to ask them to enact legislation to ensure this is protected.
If you live in Europe, please Sign the petition here.
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Water isn’t a human right, just like health care isn’t a human right. Anything that requires people to provide a service to you for free isn’t a human right. If it were to be considered human right, then that would be as close to the definition of slavery that you could get. If you ask the government to pay for these things, then that would mean higher taxes on everyone else (because money doesn’t grow on trees and has to come from somewhere) and thus restricting the rights of others that earned their money.
Why do you think there are people all over the world dying without water? The problem isn’t usually that someone is controlling the water supply but the fact that there needs to be structures built to bring water supply to those dried out places and this is just not feasible without the pay for the workers. Not to mention, this would also require some kind of filtration system to make the water drinkable.
Rights by definition is something you can express freely as long as it doesn’t restrict others from equally expressing their rights. If you say right to water is a human right, then that means you would be forcing people to build water pathways and to maintain it for you without pay because it is your right to it. This is restricting their liberties and therefore, right to water isn’t a right at all.
Use this definition with any right you have and you will see the rights you are allowed to have by the constitution isn’t restricting the freedom of others, just as I stated. Throwing the word “right” on everything you wish you could have, doesn’t make it a right.
Given that the top one percent of the world’s adult population (about 37 million people) owns 40 percent of the world’s wealth, while the top two percent owns over half and the top 10 percent owns 85 percent, your argument is utterly spurious. You don’t REALLY believe that the top one, two or ten percent DESERVE that because they’re worked hard do you?
There is plenty of everything to go round. There is no need for hunger or for people to die from lack of water. We simply need to take back that which has been stolen from the vast majority of us and redistribute in fairly.
Here is something to have a look at:
http://www.wateraid.org/uk
It would be ridiculous to call it stolen. Our system is seriously flawed and these men are taking advantage of it. There is nothing illegal about it in most cases. If you figured out a way to get rich quick, then that’s great for you but you don’t own anyone anything for figuring that out on your own.
People who have success shouldn’t be forced to “redistribute” it with others. They are smarter and were better at making the most of what they got, and that got them ahead and sometimes much wealthier… but that doesn’t mean they have to redistribute it and give everyone their cut. We are not entitled to anything in life. You have done nothing but you expect a cut of the profits made by these wealthy people who managed their finances better than you did and managed to figure out the loop holes to become wealthy.
Of course I support the idea of attempting to get rid of loopholes but they don’t owe us anything for having found the ways to get ahead. See I am all for people paying back to the community and helping the unfortunate people at THEIR OWN WILL, but they don’t OWE anyone anything. We can’t force them at gun point to share their wealth. It would be great if they did but they don’t owe us anything and that sense of entitlement that we seem to have about wanting to be spoon fed and taken care of, when we have done nothing to deserve it… isn’t a justified one at all. The world doesn’t owe us anything and we shouldn’t feel entitled to receive a fair share of someone’s else wealth for no reason.
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[...] came across this article critiquing the Nestle CEO on his views on water [...]
[...] In a candid interview for the documentary We Feed the World, Nestle Chairman Peter Brabeck makes the astonishing claim that water isn’t a human right. He attacks the idea that nature is good, and says it is a great achievement that humans are now able to resist nature’s dominance. He attacks organic agriculture and says genetic modification is better. Nestle is the world’s biggest bottler of water. Brabeck claims – correctly – that water is the most important raw material in the world. However he then goes on to say that privatisation is the best way to ensure fair distribution. He claims that the idea that water is a human right comes from “extremist” NGOs. Water is a foodstuff like any other, and should have a market value.He believes that the ultimate social responsibility of any Chairman is to make as much profit as possible, so that people will have jobs. And just to underline what a lovely man he is, he also thinks we should all be working longer and harder. [...]
[...] In a candid interview for the documentary We Feed the World, Nestle Chairman Peter Brabeck makes the astonishing claim that water isn't a human right. He attacks the idea that nature is good, and s… [...]