The Secret Corporate Global Power Grab And The Tiny Country Fighting Back by Lee Camp
Kelly Giles
U.S. Immigration Law Clerk, Reg. Canadian Immigration Consultant, Writer/Storyteller &Human Rts/Peace Activist-Freelance
January in the year 2000, Bolivians pour out into the streets of Cochabamba in furious protest. The chorizo was?spicy?that day, my friends. Why were they so angry? Their water had broken! — I don’t mean they gave birth. (That would’ve been awkward for thousands of people at once.) No, their water had been stolen by some of the richest people in the world.
As covered in?Earth Island Journal:
“Cochabamba’s public water company, SEMAPA (Municipal Water and Sewage Service), was sold to the only bidder: Bechtel-owned Aguas del Tunari. In addition, a law was passed that effectively gave Aguas del Tunari control over all area water systems, including decades-old community-operated wells, countryside irrigation networks, and rain collection systems (leading to the famous expression that Bechtel even tried to own the raindrops).”
Bechtel bought Bolivia’s rain out from under them, er, above them! What’s next - A company called Octapharma gonna buy?the blood out of people’s veins?!?Oh wait, a company called Octapharma? does indeed?buy blood plasma?out of poor Americans.
(Really? You named it?Octapharma??Was the name Soul-Sucking Cepholopod? taken?)
Anyway, back to 2000. Bechtel buys the water including the rain. The people go Bolivian ballistic, which consists of hitting people with their bowler hats. And the government ultimately backs down - returning the water to the people. People power for the win! (Apparently we’re actually capable of doing something other than posting ass exercizes on TikTok. Who knew?)
So, the story doesn’t end there. As?Z Network reported, “...the consortium?filed?a legal claim against the Bolivian government in 2002, seeking up to?$50 million…”
Bechtel and the other jerks in their circle-jerk wanted to be?paid?for having lost the right to?steal?Bolivia’s water. This is like someone trying to murder you and after you stop them, they sue you for the amount of money they?would’ve made?selling your organs to a Bulgarian teenager with a septum ring who only goes by Gogo.
But this is not just about Bolivia. The mechanism that allowed Bechtel to sue can be used against a lot of countries including the U.S. It’s something called “Investor-State Dispute Dettlement” or ISDS. “ISDS lets foreign?companies bypass national courts and sue governments before international panels of arbitrators.”
Basically a tribunal of corporate judges decides whether to side with the corporations or side with the people. And?who?do you think they normally go with? As?Z Network reported, “These tribunals have awarded hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars to companies…” They’ve done that even when those companies tore up national laws, wiped themselves with environmental regulations, and scrubbed their jimmy johns with human rights.
The ISDS system has also been a huge hurdle for climate action. And?yes, I know some of you don’t believe climate crisis is real and for you all: I don’t want you to stop reading — So just for a few minutes go play with your Beanie Babies while the grown-ups finish talking. Okay?
Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, the Netherlands and the U.S. have all faced?billions?of dollars of claims by companies saying they?deserve?to make their oil money. Never thought I’d hear the sentence, “You aren’t letting us?burn the world down enough.?We’re gonna?sue?you.” Ah, capitalism — It’s always there when you need someone… to cut out your heart, stomp on it, then sell it to a Bulgarian teenager named Gogo. (I don’t know why he’s my guy today, but we’re in too deep now!?It’s Gogo or bust!?…That’s also what it says on his business cards.)
Also unshockingly, it has almost always been rich companies from rich nations suing poor governments of poor countries. Oh, I get it now. Colonialism is more alive and well than former president Jimmy Carter. …Oh wait, sorry, I wrote that joke several months ago. Shouda updated that. (Note to unpaid interns of questionable origin: Update my jokes! And delete this aside before we publish.)
But Bolivia isn’t done being badass. They have worked very hard to get out of this ISDS bullshit, and they’ve created a movement that has spread around the world. But escaping this iron trap is not easy.
Plus cases can only be initiated by transnational investors – The countries are getting screwed six ways to Sunday and?can’t even go after the investors!?(Does “getting screwed six ways to Sunday” mean you get to take a break on Sunday or does it mean Sunday is, like, the worst day? Like when there’s a?crescendo?of screwing? Like a?zenith?of wretched tomfoolery? Seriously, I need to know.)
But I would think something so awful, so clearly rigged in favor of giant parasitic corporations as the ISDS would be kept quiet, you know, secretive rather than—Oh it is!
“Proceedings are conducted?behind closed doors… And there is no binding code of ethics for arbitrators, who can act as both judges and counsel within the system.”
No binding code of ethics. Them’s?dinner bells?to the U.S. empire and its corporate totalitarianism. “No binding code of ethics” to them is the sound of a cricket to a hungry snake or the sound of a scared production assistant to Ellen Degeneres.
So why is it so tough to get out of ISDS? Why can’t Bolivia and every nation just say, “This is bullshit. We’ve been had. We’re out”? – Like I said to my swim team coach after crying silently underwater for two straight years. (What is the point of swim team? Congrats - You’re fast in the water. Too bad we’re a goddamn land-based creature. It’s like a fish being the fastest to fall from a building.)
Anyway, why didn’t the nations quit the ISDS quick and easy? “The protections are built?into more than 2,600 treaties and countless contracts… Bolivia spent more than a decade snipping the threads tying it to those legal agreements. And yet, it’s still not quite free.” It’s like going through a divorce from someone who’s also the parent of your children, your business partner,?and?your tattoo artist. Getting bad cover-jobs over the 12 tats that remind you of them is just the?beginning?of your escape procedure.
So could it get any worse for the victims of ISDS? Yes. Even?after?Bolivia pulled out of the treaties - “Most of these agreements?contain ‘sunset clauses,’ which allow companies who invested before termination to bring new claims for five to 20 years afterward.”
The contract has been?terminated?and they still get five to 20 years to screw you? This goes against?everything?we now teach kids about consent. Consent can be withdrawn, kids. You can say yes and then later be like, “Nope. No. Shut it down. Nay nay, good sir! Permit withdrawn.” That’s one of the main rules. But apparently not when it comes to Corporate Globalist Rule.
And even though the US ruling elite are some of the biggest beneficiaries of this completely exploitative and unethical system, there?are?a few who have been telling the truth about ISDS. Even the trade rep of wannabe dictator and current crack dealer Donald Trump (I mean Elon Musk’s buttcrack) — Even Trump’s former trade representative Robert Lighthizer?told Congress, “A U.S. person goes into a court system, goes through the system and they’re stuck with what they get. A foreign national can do that and then at the end of the day say, ‘I want three guys in London to say we’re going to overrule the entire U.S. system.’”
Three guys in London. Even the U.S. has given up our sovereignty. Why would the leaders at the top of our country do that? Because they?are?the globalist leeches who mainly view nation states as a way to control the unwashed masses. (I, personally, am not unwashed. I want to be clear about that. Well, okay, when it comes to my feet… guilty as charged. They look like the swamp mission in?Call of Duty 5.)
Where was I? Ah yes, Bolivians are leading a revolution of the people against the corporate billionaire class. And for that, my bowler cap is off to you all.