Beautiful Solutions: A Toolbox for Liberation
by Elandria Williams, Eli Feghali, Rachel Plattus and Nathan Schneider · 15 Dec 2024 · 346pp · 84,111 words
that transform the system? 7: UTILITIES & ENERGY STORY Association of Recyclers of Bogotá STORY Energiewende STORY Taking Back the Water System in Ramos Arizpe SOLUTION Remunicipalization SOLUTION Zero Waste PRINCIPLE Share Responsibility QUESTION How do we relate to government and state power in growing solidarity economies? 8: MANUFACTURING STORY Southern Journeys
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. The city council approved the remunicipalization of the system at its first session. On April 11, the new Ramos Arizpe Municipal Water Company (COMPARA) assumed control. WHERE RAMOS ARIZPE, COAHUILA, MEXICO
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Gerardo Alatorre Frenk. (2018) longreads.tni.org/stateofpower/flowing-movement-building-alternative-water-governance-in-mexico ARTICLE “Remunicipalization: The Future of the Water Sector?” by David A. McDonald. (2018) b.link/qen94sau SOLUTION REMUNICIPALIZATION A 2009 demonstration in Paris against the privitization of France’s national postal service company. Photo by Siren
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-Com (CC BY-SA 3.0). OVERVIEW Remunicipalization is when the management of utilities is brought back under public control. Some
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of the most important examples concern water, but remunicipalization encompasses regional and national-level services from energy and transportation to internet access and education
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. THE REMUNICIPALIZATION OF UTILITIES IS OFTEN A community response to dysfunctional governance by privatized utility suppliers and public-private
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partnerships between governments and private industry. The factors leading to water remunicipalization, for instance, are similar worldwide: poor service performance, under-investment in infrastructure, disputes over operational costs and price increases, soaring utility bills, environmental hazards, and
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these common problems have motivated many communities and policy-makers to take services back into public control. Between 2000 and 2015, 235 cases of water remunicipalization occurred in 37 countries around the world, including in major cities from Kampala to Kuala Lampur and Bogotá to Berlin. “A MAJOR TREND HAS EMERGED
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RETURNING WATER AND WASTEWATER SERVICES TO PUBLIC MANAGEMENT THROUGH REMUNICIPALIZATION, FORCING WATER MULTINATIONALS TO PULL OUT OF SERVICES IN LATIN AMERICA, ASIA, THE UNITED STATES, AFRICA, AND EUROPE.” —REMUNICIPALISATION.ORG Though each case differs, remunicipalization brings benefits to local governments and citizens alike. Since remunicipalizing its water supply in 2007, Houston, Texas has saved
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utilities companies don’t have to fight to reinvest revenues in improving the water systems—as have governments in both Dar es Salaam and Berlin. Remunicipalization efforts can increase access to water for low-income households by making water policy more accountable to community needs. Arenys de Munt, a small town
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residents experiencing financial difficulties. After remunicipalization, the city council has not only declared water a human right but is implementing a policy to make it an accessible reality. Most cases of
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remunicipalization around the world have involved terminating private contracts, either before they were due to expire or directly after the expiration date. However, challenges can arise
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the first female mayor of Suginami, Tokyo and author of Reclaiming Public Services: How Cities and Citizens are Turning Back Privatization. Many of the successful remunicipalization efforts around the world would not have been possible without the tireless mobilization of committed citizens. Berliners organized a referendum to demand that secret water
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privatization contracts be disclosed. In Uruguay, a referendum calling for a nationwide end to privatization eventually led to the remunicipalization of water and sanitation services. Remunicipalization is about building better public services—more transparent, more accountable, more efficient, and more focused on people’s long-term needs. If
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citizens are willing to fight for remunicipalization and against privatization, it is because they believe that the public sector is better equipped to meet broader social and environmental goals than profit-driven
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private companies. Remunicipalization strategies can be applied to other essential services such as energy, transportation, healthcare, education, and more. Hundreds of cities in Germany have remunicipalized energy services; several cities in Sweden have reversed private contracts in elderly care; and
Rentier Capitalism: Who Owns the Economy, and Who Pays for It?
by Brett Christophers · 17 Nov 2020 · 614pp · 168,545 words
local level. Many such examples concern the provision of local utilities returning from private to public ownership. Some of the most prominent instances of such ‘remunicipalization’ pertain to international cases; Aditya Chakrabortty has written about the notable case of Wolfhagen in Germany, where the local grid has returned successfully to municipal
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and material security for the rentier, moves are now afoot. An important report compiled by Olivier Petitjean and Satoko Kishimoto has identified sixty-four UK remunicipalizations across education, energy, housing, transportation and more.54 The bulk of these cases, as David Hall and Cat Hobbs of We Own It have noted
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services back in-house when contracts fail or prove problematic (see Chapter 5).55 But there have also been more ambitious and probably more enduring remunicipalizations. Local authorities have established municipal energy companies in Nottingham, Leeds and Bristol – all major cities – where new public-sector suppliers already cover over 2 million
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people.56 While these remunicipalizations have been by the public sector, and indeed most of the emergent proposals for ownership transformation referred to above likewise pertain to the expansion of
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(REITs), 355–358 Reckitt Benckiser Group, 7, 148–149, 172, 177 Registered Community Design, 146 RELX, 7, 148, 172 Remainers, Brexit and, 381–384, 418 remunicipalization, 404–405 renationalization, 405 Renfrewshire, Scotland, 346 rent: definitions and understandings of, xvi–xvii, xx–xxvi; main sources of, xxx–xxxi rentier capitalism, xvii–xix
The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Fresh Water in the Twenty-First Century
by Alex Prud'Homme · 6 Jun 2011 · 692pp · 167,950 words
, and sometimes outright violence.” Courts in Brazil, India, and South Africa had reversed decisions by private contractors to disconnect pipes when customers didn’t pay. Remunicipalization of water systems had taken place in Africa, Uruguay, Argentina, and Canada. “It now seems like this trend of increased privatization is reversing,” the UN
Paint Your Town Red
by Matthew Brown · 14 Jun 2021
Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
by Carl Sagan · 8 Sep 1997 · 356pp · 102,224 words