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<P><FONT face=Arial>Press Release: For Immediate Release, May 19, 2004</FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial>Contact: Dan Bacher, 916-487-4905, email:
danielbacher@hotmail.com</FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial>Sagren Govender to Speak on Water Privatization in South
Africa at Water</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>Forum</FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial>The Central America Action Committee of Sacramento will
present a water</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>rights forum, “Trading Away Our
Water: Who Owns It? Who Gets It?," on</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>Monday
June 7, 7-9 p.m. The event will take place at the Newman Center, 5900</FONT>
<BR><FONT face=Arial>Newman Court, off Carlson Avenue north of CSU
Sacramento.</FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial>Sagren Govender, from Durban, Kwa-Zulu, South Africa, will
speak on water</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>privatization in South Africa.
Govender is the co-founder of Committee for</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>South
African Solidarity, COSAS, which has an office in Oakland, Ca. He is</FONT>
<BR><FONT face=Arial>also the Volunteer Editor of South African BEACON.</FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial>Water is increasingly becoming a hot topic in Sacramento,
the U.S., Central</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>America and throughout the world.
Poor and indigenous communities are</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>particularly
hard hit by water diversions and the privatization of water</FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial>resources by huge global corporations.</FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial>The event will also feature an overview of global water
privatization -</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>including right here in Sacramento -
by Nancy Price of the Alliance for</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>Democracy. Price
recently returned from an international gathering in Costa</FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial>Rica on how to organize opposition to US-pushed "free trade"
(including</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>water!) agreements in the Western
Hemisphere.</FONT>
<P><U><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>Tod Bedrosian of the Hoopa Valley Tribe will
discuss the long struggle of</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>the tribe to restore
water and fish to the Trinity River. The tribe and its</FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial>supporters have successfully pressured a number of cities and
public</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>utilities, including SMUD, to pull out of a
lawsuit blocking Trinity River</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>restoration.</FONT>
</STRONG></U>
<P><FONT face=Arial>Juliette Beck, the California Coordinator and Senior
Organizer of the Water</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>for All Campaign of Public
Citizen, will MC the forum.</FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial>The event will also feature exhibits and brief presentations
regarding:</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>• rural Nicaraguan water projects, El
Porvenir</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>• solar water pasteurization, Solar Cookers
International</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>• ceramic water filters (filtrones),
Friends of San Juan de Oriente</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>(Nicaragua).</FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial>This promises to be a unique, entertaining and highly
informative event, the</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>first of its kind in
Sacramento. The event is free, but donations are</FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial>appreciated. The forum is co-sponsored by the Women's International
League</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>for Peace and Freedom (Sacramento), El
Porvenir, Solar Cookers International</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>and Friends of
San Juan de Oriente.</FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial>For more information, call the Central America Action
Committee,</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial>916-739-0860</FONT> </P>
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