The March for Clean Water on Sunday 3 Nov was the first national event of its kind. That in itself is significant. Bringing together 130 different organisations in such a united display of imagination, passion and concern is also remarkable. The organisers, River Action and Surfers against Sewage, deserve immense thanks for this brilliant achievement.
It was gratifying to see that the March was covered by the BBC and other channels. This is no mean feat, considering the plethora of other demonstrations and a news agenda crowded with the US and Tory leadership elections, the budget, Gaza, etc. etc.
So what next?
While an event like this is good in itself, added value comes from galvanising more people into taking effective action. One thing all water customers can do is use their leverage as consumers to bring down the rotten private water monopolies who continue to cause so much harm.
Water boycotters unite!
It was great to see water boycotters turning out in force on the march. BoycottThamesWater.Org supporters alone gave out over 1500 leaflets. The response was entirely positive. We could easily have given out more. There were also many interesting conversations.
Decent people’s default position is to pay their bills on time and to be very risk averse. A task for all water ‘boycotting’ organisations is to normalise the idea among the wider public that it is okay to behave disruptively. In fact some of us would say its our moral duty to do so against the outrageous abnormality of private greed driven monopolies devastating our precious natural resources.
It was always expected that it will take time to bring more people on board. Our group has already come along way since it was founded this year.. We hope many more will join us following the march.
