WORLD WORLDWIDE FRANCE News Journal Update - (en) France, UCL AL #336 - Spotlight, Megabasins: Underwater (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 Ahead of the demonstration against basins on March 25 in Deux-Sèvres, an article

on the perception of water in our modern societies. Based on a text by the
philosopher Ivan Illich (1926 - 2002), this article seeks to explain how water
itself, as an element, was transformed from a common good into a commercial and
technical good, both in its physical state, but also in the imagination of
citizens. ---- Brussels, 8:23 a.m. Under a bright sky, a crowd gathers in front
of the Manneken-Pis. Coming from distant lands, some are amazed, others, no doubt
disappointed. He is, after all, small. Eyes are first fixed on the little man,
perched on his highest podium, before turning to the fountain below. A basin of
water built of blackened stones reflects the rays of the rising sun. The placid
water is only slightly disturbed by the small stream of piss that comes out of
the bronze statue. This jet that supplies the city with this most basic element,
the most essential to life on earth. Water, this mirror of our civilisation.
Still able to attract human beings.

"Water can be a pleasant stream..."
The small spring of water, hidden in a discreet Brussels alley, bears witness to
our undulating relationship with water. The philosopher Ivan Illich tells us that
water is "an ever-changing mirror. What he says reflects the fashions of the
time; what it seems to reveal[...]hides the things underneath"[1]. Originally,
the Manneken-Pis was a source of water for the inhabitants of the district,
watering all those who came to drink, without distinction. The motif of a
urinating boy dates back to ancient times as a symbol of fertility, a notion that
is found in all cultures around the world. It is no coincidence that Manneken-Pis
would have saved the city from a fire by urinating on the flames. Water: donor,
savior of life. Yet, 200 km north of Brussels, the Dutch city of Haarlem must be
saved from the relentless waters. A little boy, seeing a leak in the dike, plugs
the hole with his finger. Everywhere on the planet where water intersects with
human society stories describe this dual nature. Illich reminds us that water is
often characterized by duality. Twins. The water can be a pleasant shallow stream
or it can represent the abyss, the Kraken's underwater cave. The fact that it is
no longer residents who get water under the benevolent gaze of Manneken-Pis, but
tourists taking pictures of themselves, embodies its modern duality. Water is no
longer thought of as essential to life. It is also a commodity, capable of
generating capital.

"...how she can represent the abyss"
Hand in hand with gravity, water flows where it wants, when it wants. She is
inexorable. And then comes the human. While water was free to roam the landscapes
on earth for a few billion years, the birth of agriculture is transforming water
flows. It must be controlled. Controlled. Humans too, for that matter. The
appearance of agriculture shaped our modern society and laid the foundations for
existing inequalities. Agriculture is by nature like water, dualistic. The
difference; modern agricultural models are based on human choices, political
choices. And these choices all have an effect on how we view water.

"Water[...]is no longer a source of life..."
For Illich, the modern water duality can be explained as follows: water and H2O
have become opposite objects. Water no longer has its mystical power, its
nourishing power that it had in traditional societies. Source of life. It has
become "a resource that requires technical management". A simple chemical
substance. This transformation is at the heart of the Bassines conflict. It is no
longer enough to recover, to channel the water, as past generations did by
digging the canals of the Marais Poitevin. It must be appropriate, in order to
guarantee future agricultural production. A cabal of men, positioning themselves
as the guarantors of our food security, propose to safeguard this precious
substance by taming it. By enclosing it in large tarpaulin holes. For Illich, the
total control of water, its disinfection with chlorine to eliminate all forms of
life, and consequently, the treatment against all forms of poisons introduced by
humans, transforms it into an "industrial and technical detergent, a product
toxic ". Water, for these farmers, is no longer a source of life. It is a
fertilizer like the others. A simple molecule, without which their uniform plants
cannot grow.

"...She is a fertilizer like the others.»

Opposite, walking arm-in-arm towards a blue wall of CRS, are those who want to
free water from this technical prison. Through the action of a determined
movement, a source of truth springs forth. The water struggles currently taking
place in Deux-Sèvres and other places in France are among those hidden things
that Illich was talking about. Hidden not in the sense that they do not appear in
the press - Sainte-Soline has already changed everything - hidden in the sense
that this conflict reveals the profound change that our society is going through.
Climate change, a decaying environment, is pushing governments around the world
to limit individual and collective rights in the name of preserving the "common
good". We, as a population, are mostly ready to make "sacrifices". Public
acquiescence, which plays on innate human fears and empathy, is one of the most
effective tools of modern technocratic governments. The successive crises linked
to climate change ; mega-fires, floods, droughts, this era called the
"permacrisis", will undoubtedly lead to a loss of freedoms in the years to come.
With the tacit consent of the population. This is already the case when we agree
to reduce our water use in times of drought.

But this consent does not apply to everyone. Despite the driest winter in history
in Deux-Sèvres, water restrictions from the spring, the Barons des Bassines had
derogations to fill their water tanks with groundwater. For what? Because they
feed France. Because the War in Ukraine threatens food security. In other words,
they ensure the "common good". A full stomach. The use of water shows the duality
of our agricultural systems, of our political systems. The Marais Poitevin is the
Manneken-Pis of Deux-Sèvrien. The Coulon pier under a summer sun; crowds gather
in front of window sills adorned with multicolored geraniums. Behind them, the
waters of the Sèvre Niortaise flow peacefully, attracting gazes, cell phones and
cameras, while the H2O flowing under their feet is silently pumped towards the
surrounding mega-basins.

Let's be many and many this March 25th. No Bassaran.

Niels (UCL Angers)

To validate

[1]I. Illich, "H2O and the waters of forgetfulness", 1985, Dallas Institute of
Humanities and Culture (translations by the author of the article)

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Megabassines-Le-dessous-des-eaux
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca