Cosmos

Fifteen Years of Water Struggles

Movimenti del Mondo is a series of debates and documentaries/movies promoted by the Scuola Normale Superiore and organized by Lorenzo Bosi (SNS), Donatella Della Porta (SNS/EUI) and Alice Mattoni (EUI).

On June 11, starting at 3 PM, Palazzo Strozzi (Sala Altana) will host the second  meeting of this cycle, titled

Fifteen Years of Water Struggles. Lessons learned from Bolivia to Italy

The event focuses on the mobilizations that are opposing to water privatization in the world, and in particular on the emergence and on the characteristics of the Bolivian and Italian movements that are promoting the idea of water as a common.

Fifteen years ago, in 1999 and 2000, the citizens of Cochabamba (Bolivia) forced their government to end the contract with the private company Aguas del Tunari, reclaiming with strikes and street protests a public and community-oriented management of water. Four years ago, in 2011, a network of hundreds of Italian organizations convinced 26 million Italians to vote for two referendums, which blocked a large scale attempt to privatize the water services in the country.

The Instituto di Scienze Umane e Sociali of the Scuola Normale Superiore, at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, gives voice to the protagonists of these struggles, to compare their experiences and describe the shared backgrounds of the water movements in the world. In a debate chaired by Cesar Guzman-Concha (Scuola Normale Superiore), Matteo Cernison (European University Institute), Carlos Crespo (Centro Estudios Superiores Universitarios/Universidad Mayor de San Simón) and Simona Savini (Forum Italiano dei Movimenti per l’Acqua) will share their views on the water mobilizations, on the idea of water as a common, on the different forms of actions adopted in Italy and in bolivia to oppose to water privatization attempts.

After the discussion, the event will continue with the projection of “Even the rain – También la lluvia”. The movie, centered on the 2000 Cochabamba Water War, won three Goya prizes and was the official candidate for Spain and Latin America to the 2011 Academy Awards. Oscar Olivera, spokeperson of the Coordinadora por la Defensa del Agua y la Vida and one of the protagonists of the Cochabamba struggle, will introduce the movie in a discussion chaired by Leonidas Oikonomakis (European University Institute).

Program of the Event

Location : Palazzo Strozzi, Sala “L’Altana” Scuola Normale Superiore, Firenze

Date : 11 June 2015, 3 – 7:30 PM

Early afternoon roundtable (3 – 4:30 PM)

Chair : César Guzman-Concha (SNS)

Speakers: Carlos Crespo (CESU-UMSS), Simona Savini (Forum Italiano dei Movimenti per l’Acqua), Matteo Cernison (EUI)

Late afternoon/evening session (5-7 PM)

Chair: Leonidas Oikonomakis (EUI)

Speaker: Oscar Olivera (Coordinadora por la Defensa del Agua y la Vida)

Projection of the movie “También la lluvia“, Original Spanish version with English subtitles