The role of the World Alternative Water Forum (FAMA) and social mobilization

Abstract

The fight to guarantee human rights to water and sanitation has a prominent moment during the World Alternative Water Forum (FAMA), organized simultaneously with the World Water Forum (FMA), organized by the World Water Council (CMA), every three years. The FAMA organizers adopt a narrative of concern about the need to "take care" of the planet's water and to ensure sanitation for the entire population, but in these meetings, small spaces of participation are reserved for civil society, whose sole objective is to legitimize decisions that seek to expand its control by the private sector, corporations, and agribusiness. Results: FAMA, occurs in opposition to the FMA and is configured in a space of democratic debate, exchange of experiences of struggle and resistance in defense of water and public sanitation and against privatizations. It brings together social, popular and trade union movements, the city and the countryside, indigenous populations, and various religiosities, allows discussions around water under the most varied perspectives, under the most varied views and experiences. The themes that have been highlighted in the FAMAs are the fight against privatization; the emphasis on the role of women in the fight for access to water, which in the privatization processes deepen. The need for global organization to cope with the processes of privatization and appropriation of water by capital; the importance of processes of derivatization of sanitation services around the world; the importance of democratic control over companies, and the strengthening of instruments of control and social participation. Conclusion: Every achievement of FAMA, which has been held since the first edition of the FMA in 1997, strengthens the ties between popular organizations around the world that fight in defense of water in a view to reaffirming that water is right and not merchandise. Keywords: Water Forum, Social Mobilization, Human right