Food & Water Watch Mourns the Loss of Water Activist Danielle Mitterand
Media Statement: "We are greatly saddened at the loss of Danielle Mitterand, a valiant and tireless leader on the human right to water. As one of the most outspoken opponents of privatizing water services and commodifying water, she was instrumental in helping to organize the global water justice movement.
Statement by Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch and Maude Barlow, Chair, Council of Canadians
Washington, D.C. – “We are greatly saddened at the loss of Danielle Mitterand,a valiant and tireless leader on the human right to water. As one of the most outspoken opponents of privatizing water services and commodifying water, she was instrumental in helping to organize the global water justice movement.
“Mrs. Mitterand was never afraid to challenge the French multinational water companies and to promote the cause of publicly controlled water services. She and her organization, France Libertés helped to document the many abuses that these companies perpetrated from France to the developing world.
“During the next World Water Forum, to be held in Marseilles in March 2011, her leadership challenging the political and economic forces that want to profit from water shall greatly be missed. But, her work has not been in vain. The movement that she helped found will continue fighting the theft of water and work to insure that all people across the world have access to water.”
Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control.
Europe Contact: Gabriella Zanzanaini, gzanzanaini(at)fweurope.org, +32 488 409 662
North America Contact: Rich Bindell, rbindell(at)fwwatch(dot)org, 202-683-2457