Articles
General · 8th April 2008
The Water Front - new film
a new film by Liz Miller
“What if you lived by the largest body of fresh water in the world but could no longer afford to use it?”
THE WATER FRONT, a documentary film by Liz Miller, is the story of one community’s determined resistance to water privatization. Highland Park, Michigan, was once the center of the early 20th century’s booming automobile industry – the location of the first assembly line implemented by the Ford Motor Company, enabling mass production. Now, the post-industrial city is in financial crisis and the state of Michigan has appointed an Emergency Financial Manager, with the same power as an elected mayor, to sort it out. Seeing the municipal water plant as a potential source of revenue, the manager raises the water rates to impossible levels, with some residents receiving water bills as high as $10,000. If they are unable to pay, the water is shut off. Highland Park’s residents, who are mostly poor or low-income and people of colour, have organized a campaign to prevent the water plant from impending privatization, and to assert water, an essential life resource, as a human right.
Water is the liquid gold of the 21st century. While corporations urge local governments to privatize municipal water, communities around the world are organizing to ensure affordable access to this life sustaining resource. THE WATER FRONT is the story of one community's determination to fight the seemingly inevitable path of water privatization.
Highland Park, Michigan, the birthplace of mass production is a post-industrial city on the verge of financial collapse. The state of Michigan has appointed an Emergency Financial Manager to fix the crisis. The Manager sees the water plant, which Ford built in 1917 to support his auto industry, as key to economic recovery. She has raised water rates and has implemented severe measures to collect on bills. As a result, Highland Park residents have received water bills as high as $10,000, they have had their water turned off, their homes foreclosed, and are struggling to keep water, a basic human right, from becoming privatized. THE WATER FRONT follows the personal story of Vallory Johnson(pictured), who transforms her anger into an emotional grassroots campaign, defending affordable water as a human right.
THE WATER FRONT is not just about water, but touches on the very essence of our democratic system. The film presents a community in crisis but it also presents the powerful enactment of local participation in finding solutions to the problems of our times.
This community portrait is also an unnerving indication of what is in store for residents around the world as cities look to update water systems and face increasingly complex issues such as water shortages and implications of the bottled water industry.
The film raises questions such as; Who determines the future of shared public resources? What are alternatives to water privatization? How will we maintain our public water systems and who can we hold accountable?
The fight for water in Highland Park mirrors water justice struggles around the world. As activist and resident Marian Kramer notes in the film, “The fight in Highland Park is the fight in . . . Detroit, in Flint, in Johannesburg, South Africa, in China - in all the places when it comes to the question of water - it becomes a global problem.”
The Water Front also touches upon the growing bottled water industry and its critical connection with water privatization including that of municipal water systems, like the water plant in Highland Park. The marketing of bottled water, which the industry claims is a healthier, purer, and more convenient product, has lead to a distrust of public tap water systems. This is despite the fact that tap water is subject to more stringent regulations, is far cheaper, more widely available and environmentally sustainable, particularly when considering the pollution caused by plastic bottles and the manufacturing, transportation and disposal of bottled water. In addition, the shift towards bottled water helps deflect from the need to call for increased funding and prioritization of safe public water services, leaving the door open for neglectful governments keen on transferring public service costs over to the private sector. Therefore, bottled water sets the stage for water privatization - a trend that communities, students, labour and environmental groups, continue to resist!
to HYPERLINK to the official website
CLICK HERE
see the latest 7-minute trailer of The Waterfront
“What if you lived by the largest body of fresh water in the world but could no longer afford to use it?”
THE WATER FRONT, a documentary film by Liz Miller, is the story of one community’s determined resistance to water privatization. Highland Park, Michigan, was once the center of the early 20th century’s booming automobile industry – the location of the first assembly line implemented by the Ford Motor Company, enabling mass production. Now, the post-industrial city is in financial crisis and the state of Michigan has appointed an Emergency Financial Manager, with the same power as an elected mayor, to sort it out. Seeing the municipal water plant as a potential source of revenue, the manager raises the water rates to impossible levels, with some residents receiving water bills as high as $10,000. If they are unable to pay, the water is shut off. Highland Park’s residents, who are mostly poor or low-income and people of colour, have organized a campaign to prevent the water plant from impending privatization, and to assert water, an essential life resource, as a human right.
Water is the liquid gold of the 21st century. While corporations urge local governments to privatize municipal water, communities around the world are organizing to ensure affordable access to this life sustaining resource. THE WATER FRONT is the story of one community's determination to fight the seemingly inevitable path of water privatization.
Highland Park, Michigan, the birthplace of mass production is a post-industrial city on the verge of financial collapse. The state of Michigan has appointed an Emergency Financial Manager to fix the crisis. The Manager sees the water plant, which Ford built in 1917 to support his auto industry, as key to economic recovery. She has raised water rates and has implemented severe measures to collect on bills. As a result, Highland Park residents have received water bills as high as $10,000, they have had their water turned off, their homes foreclosed, and are struggling to keep water, a basic human right, from becoming privatized. THE WATER FRONT follows the personal story of Vallory Johnson(pictured), who transforms her anger into an emotional grassroots campaign, defending affordable water as a human right.
THE WATER FRONT is not just about water, but touches on the very essence of our democratic system. The film presents a community in crisis but it also presents the powerful enactment of local participation in finding solutions to the problems of our times.
This community portrait is also an unnerving indication of what is in store for residents around the world as cities look to update water systems and face increasingly complex issues such as water shortages and implications of the bottled water industry.
The film raises questions such as; Who determines the future of shared public resources? What are alternatives to water privatization? How will we maintain our public water systems and who can we hold accountable?
The fight for water in Highland Park mirrors water justice struggles around the world. As activist and resident Marian Kramer notes in the film, “The fight in Highland Park is the fight in . . . Detroit, in Flint, in Johannesburg, South Africa, in China - in all the places when it comes to the question of water - it becomes a global problem.”
The Water Front also touches upon the growing bottled water industry and its critical connection with water privatization including that of municipal water systems, like the water plant in Highland Park. The marketing of bottled water, which the industry claims is a healthier, purer, and more convenient product, has lead to a distrust of public tap water systems. This is despite the fact that tap water is subject to more stringent regulations, is far cheaper, more widely available and environmentally sustainable, particularly when considering the pollution caused by plastic bottles and the manufacturing, transportation and disposal of bottled water. In addition, the shift towards bottled water helps deflect from the need to call for increased funding and prioritization of safe public water services, leaving the door open for neglectful governments keen on transferring public service costs over to the private sector. Therefore, bottled water sets the stage for water privatization - a trend that communities, students, labour and environmental groups, continue to resist!
to HYPERLINK to the official website
CLICK HERE
see the latest 7-minute trailer of The Waterfront
