Water sustains life: without it, humans cannot survive for more than a few days. And yet this precious fluid is becoming increasingly politicized as the debates about control and ownership of water itself, and of the many organizations which govern its use, gain force. Maggie Black is a writer and editor on watery affairs. She has worked in this capacity for the World Bank, Water Aid, DFID and the EC, and also for the World Commission on Dams, although this assignment came to grief. As a result she visited the Narmada Valley in India where large dams are being famously opposed, and wrote a special issue of New Internationalist entitled ‘Do or die: the people versus development in the Narmada Valley’. Her books include ‘From Handpumps to Health’, (UNICEF); Water: ‘Life Force’ (New Internationalist Publications) and ‘The No-Nonsense Guide to Water’, (Verso and NI); and ‘Water: A Matter of life and Health’, (OUP Delhi)
2006 Cafes
- The effect of 7/7 on the Muslim community in Britain: from the inside
- Progressive politics in France in European context
- The social production of Natural disasters
- Social Europe and the work/life balance
- On to Iran?
- The rise of America’s theocratic right: democracy in peril
- Big Pharma: corporate wealth versus public health
- The Evo Morales election victory: what does it mean for South America?
- Water and Politics: The power and the fury
- India, the mysterious miracle: Is there an ‘Indian model’ of development?
- Why subsidise rich landowners? It’s time for a land value tax
- Undermining global security: Arms brokers and military supply chains
- The Thames Gateway: A breakthrough or a catastrophe?
- Afghanistan: Towards a new Jihad?
- British ‘No’ and French ‘Non’: Europe’s greatest threat?