Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen
David Beats Goliath: Water Over Gold
The most dangerous thing to be in Central America is a water defender. The transnational mining interests frighten regional governments with massive lawsuits if they don’t get their way. And they have killed. But as the new book The Water Defenders tells the story, despite the bullying, sometimes the people most affected can actually take on the corporate imposed definition of progress and save their vital water supply. Focusing on El Salvador, on this show, co-author Robin Broad says we must look to how it is extracted not just the retail gold for jewelry and electronics. For example, cyanide is unseen but is essential to the process. There’s no reason not to re-use gold. And the narrative points out that moving beyond the likely allies can make all the difference. A replicable lesson.