privatization isn’t privacy

Relative Newz

i think sometimes people mistake the two.

privatization is the word that’s used to describe the process of enabling a corporation, a for-profit enterprise, to manage and regulate something. the theory, according to some, is that a for-profit management system will be more professional, more sophisticated, better able to provide services and products. the free market, this philosophy suggests, will ensure that management provides the best service at the best price. if people aren’t satisfied with the product, they simply won’t shop there, and the corporation will go out of business.

privacy is a word we use to describe our collective right to live our lives free from outside interference. privacy means nobody’s spying on us: nobody’s listening in on our phone calls, nobody’s reading our email (except the person for whom it was intended), nobody’s watching us on secret cameras planted here and there and who knows where, nobody’s following us around, or peering into our homes with telescopes.

sometimes i think people get the two mixed up. they think that it’s good to be in favour of privatization because that will mean they will have more privacy. maybe it’ll mean that he can go back to living how he lived before they sent that photo to his boyfriend over his new photo-enabled phone. maybe she can live how she lived before she posted that photo of herself on that website.

unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

those who favour privatization are also often in favour of reduced amounts of privacy. it’s about power and control. the power and control freaks are usually men, though condi is certainly a good example of a woman so lacking in self confidence that she feels powerless and so seeks to control the lives of others. those who want to control everything, or who want a small group of people controlling everything, they don’t trust the public, they don’t trust democracy, they work to undermine our privacy so you’ll panic and grasp for the mistaken belief that joining their club will ensure that your life will return to normal.

ultimately, they control freaks are none too bright - obviously, no human can be in control of everything even if god was made in his image.

i’m willing to bet those control freaks are just delighted when you do something to embarrass yourself - they can then throw the word ‘privatization’ at you and hope you’ll grab for it, thinking it ‘privacy,’ and they can get more and more control while you get less and less. and you aren’t guaranteed any privacy, either.

those who oppose privatization (but are, i’m guessing, in favour of privacy), they believe that it is simply unfair and unnatural for any small elite group of people to try and control everything. they’re particularly concerned that people obsessed with money will soon, unless there are some big changes, own the stuff of life. water, you see, is the latest of our precious resources to fall victim to privatization (alongside healthcare, hydro, education, transportation, housing etc). some people believe that access to water should not be connected to a for-profit system. they know that corporations are mainly concerned with making money. and what better way to make money than by controlling the one substance that all individuals need, if they wish to stay alive?!

corporations are driven by their investors, executive decisions are made, not with the public’s interest in mind, but with the investors’ best interests in mind. corporations can survive if they lose a few consumers here and there (there are, after all, over 6 billion consumers on the planet), but it hurts when the investors pull out. free market philosophy, about buyers shopping elsewhere if they don’t like the service, doesn’t really work here. the free market was great, a few hundred years ago, when it offered people an opportunity to trade goods where previously the monarchs and land-owners controlled all trade. but if you need water, and one or two large and unfriendly organizations aren’t providing you very good service, or they’re putting the price of it out of your range, what do you do? you die a slow and horrible death because there’s nowhere else you can shop. you can’t hold an election and replace the people that own the water. it’s unlikely that your complaints will even be heard, let alone taken seriously. you can’t get into the corporate boardroom because there are police officers with tasers guarding the doors. remember - they don’t really like you unless you have scads of money (and even then they only like your money). they don’t care to hear from you because they hate democracy - it undermines their illusive power and authority.

if water is publically or cooperatively managed, then you and i are part of the process. you don’t have to have a lot of money to invest in the company so you can have a vote, you already have a vote (though some would argue that without proportional representation your vote doesn’t really count for much). if you don’t like the way the water is being managed and distributed and made accessible, if you think it’s too expensive or too polluted or if you’re concerned that illegal logging practices are destroying stream beds, you can complain. you can write letters, you can meet with your elected representatives, you can organize with your friends and hold a rally (but good luck getting any corporate, or privatized or, sadly, state media attention - the cbc being very dependent and therefore very loyal to their corporate funders).

the irony is that many public managers (the government) are sometimes in favour of private management. they argue that publically or cooperatively organized businesses are unprofessional, unproductive, ineffective. what they’re saying is that they, themselves, are unprofessional, unproductive, and ineffective and it’s just easier if you don’t have any ability to hold them accountable for their failings.

there’s a saying about people getting the type of government they deserve. i think that’s a pile of crap. we get the type of government that the corporate media chooses for us.

for more information about the privatization of water check these websites:

www.greatervictoriawaterwatchcoalition.ca

www.ourrivers.ca

Wednesday, November 28, 2007