Economy & Society

How is it possible that for centuries the right to private property has been considered a natural and sacred right to which all other human rights are subordinate, and on which all others depend, however fundamental they might be? This booklet seeks to explain the tortuous ideological construct which lies behind the “naturalization” and “sacralization” of the bourgeois right to private property

The current neoliberal model of globalisation, far from slowing down the effects of environmental damages and guaranteeing basic rights, has instead brought about the commercialisation of the water market, and turned it into a new business opportunity increasing the vulnerability of the weakest sectors of society. We need to promote a “New Water Culture” which restores, within the framework of modernity, the old wisdom of our ancestor’s cultures that was based on an attitude of care and respect for Nature.

This booklet is a wake-up call about the situation in which more than half the world’s population is now living. For those living in the cities, it becomes increasingly more difficult to think about what lies behind a chicken, or a pineapple, which are purchased in large retail chains like Carrefour or Mercadona.  Meanwhile some 3 billion persons continue to produce almost all the food they consume, and they are effectively feeding 70% of the world population.

Corporations, soldiers, politicians, NGOs …. and in the center, the suffering masses. These are the main actors in a drama that has been people’s daily experience in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for decades now, but the situation has grown worse due to the high demand for certain minerals that are especially plentiful in the African subsoil. This booklet introduces us to the complexities of this problem that exposes the contradictions of globalization.