This past March, Al Jazeera reported, “The alter-globalisation activists (at the World Social Forum in Tunisia, including Blue Planet Project activists) are not the only people to have paid North Africa a visit in recent weeks. The International Monetary Fund has also been knocking on doors in both Tunisia and Egypt, ‘assisting’ the governments in both countries to introduce their standard set of ‘structural reforms’. …Critics attribute (IMF) policies (in Tunisia over the past 30 years) with perpetuating the kind of inequalities and systemic unemployment that pushed the young street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, to set himself on fire and trigger the events that toppled longtime ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.”
In April, Blue Planet Project campaigner Meera Karunananthan wrote, “Until the revolution, the IMF had promoted the authoritarian state as a structural adjustment poster child. …When the revolution erupted, (Tunisian president) Ben Ali who had already privatized 160 state-owned enterprises since the late 80s, was about to start selling off the country’s water and sanitation services, SONEDE. …It appears that what Ben Ali failed, (Tunisia’s governing party) Ennahda would pursue. Despite the well-document evidence (about the negative impacts of) water privatization, …the Tunisian government appears to be pursuing the privatization of the water and sanitation utility.”
And now today there is news that Tunisia is poised to pursue public-private partnerships, P3s. Maghreb Confidential reports, “According to our sources, a cabinet meeting on Nov. 6 adopted new legislation on infrastructure and public services concessions that international donors had long been clamouring for. Drafted by French legal expert Xavier Ghelber with funding from the European Union, the legislation will allow for the creation of public-private partnerships without mentioning that term which has drawn hostility from some legislators. The bill, which provides for greater transparency in awarding contracts, will allow lenders to pull their P3 projects (water, waste management and the like) out of the drawer.”
At the ’roundtable on water as a human right and a commons’ that the Blue Planet Project helped convene at the World Social Forum, a Tunisian union leader talked about how water service is excellent in his country (90 percent access in cities, 80 percent in rural areas) and told us that it is publicly-owned. But he highlighted that the water utility is being targeted by transnational corporations that seek to profit from it. Today’s news appears to add to his warning. During that session, attended by people from 23 different countries, he called for an international day of water cooperation between water utilities to challenge private water companies.
While it hasn’t been confirmed yet, it is possible that the World Social Forum in 2016 will be held again in Tunis. If this is the case, it may be a good opportunity for the world community to continue to defend public water in Tunisia.
Further reading
UPDATE: The Blue Planet Project lands in Tunisia
NEWS: IMF said to have reached deal with Tunisia
UPDATE: Right to water roundtable takes place at the World Social Forum
