ISTR Sixth International Conference Toronto, Canada / July 11-14, 2004 Contesting Citizenship and Civil Society in a Divided World

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	Abstracts

Struggles around social citizenship: a case study of resistance to the privatisation of water in Soweto, South Africa
by
Jacklyn Cock
Sociology Department, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. South Africa.

The aim of the paper is to explore the relation betwen changing conceptions of citizenship and environmental justice through a case study: that of resistance to the privatisation of water in Soweto. The concept of environmental justice as a mobilising force emerged in the US in the last forty years. Since then environmentalism has involved struggles around survalist issues so that campaigns have merged with notions of citizenship and the defense of nature to root the movement in a wide variety of rights and claims. In South Africa some of these havejk a constitutional grounding as the Bill of Rights section 24 of the post-apartheid constitution states that "everyone has the right to an eenvironment that is not harmful to their health or well being". This provides the link between environmental issues and social citizenship. A key aspect of the right to a "clean and healthy environment" implies access to adequate sanitation, water and electricity which many Soputh Africans lack. This lack is being aggravated by the current privatisation of water and the installation of pre-paid water meters.a coalition Against Water privatisation was formed in September 2003 and is engaging in a wide repetoire of tactics such as organising petitions, protest marches and support for a court challenge to establish the right of citizens to water. The paper will analyse the social dynamics involved in this new form of social mobilisation through interviews with key informants, documentary analysis and participant observation. In particular the links between the Coalition and other organisations struggling for socio-economic rights will be examined. a key issue is whether these local struggles are producing new forms of global solidarity.

Date received: October 9, 2003