The Internet and the World Wide Web has become too important of a democratic vehicle for private business interests to hold it hostage. It is time for a Constitutional Amendment prohibiting private ownership and control of the backbone that carries internet traffic. Just as the federal government owns and operates the internet highway system, so should Americans demand that the federal government own and operate the Internet backbone and all the fiber that it consists of.
Any company that wants to operate private networks would be free to operate and sell services for as much as they would like and can screw people out of, but the federal government should provide internet access to every person in the United States at the highest access speeds and at the most modest fee possible to insure that the poorest among us will have access.
We should take a lesson from the Bolivians of Cochabamba who took to the streets to protect their water from privatization. This timeline can be found at PBS.org
January 2000
Rising Water Prices Spark Cochabamba Protests
Cochabamba protesters shut down the city for four days, going on strike and erecting roadblocks throughout the city. Residents protest the privatization of their municipally run water system and Aguas del Tunari's rate hikes, which have doubled and tripled their water bills. Aguas del Tunari had informed Bolivian officials that water rates would increase only by 35 percent, to cover the cost of expanding water delivery and to upgrade the city's water infrastructure.
Many people died in this effort,
April 8, 2000
State of Siege: 17-Year-Old Boy Shot Dead
President Hugo Banzer declares a "state of siege," a condition similar to martial law, which can be enacted for 90 days under the Bolivian constitution. It allows for the arrest and detention of individuals without warrants and the enforcement of curfews and travel restrictions. A 17-year-old boy, Victor Hugo Daza, is shot dead by a Bolivian Army captain who opened fire into a crowd of demonstrators. In March 2002, the captain -- allegedly trained by the School of the Americas, a U.S. military academy that has trained tens of thousands of Latin American soldiers, intelligence officers and law enforcement officials in combat tactics -- would be acquitted by a military tribunal.
April 9, 2000
Ammunition, Tear Gas, Injuries and Deaths
Riot police continue to assault protesters with live ammunition and tear gas. Police mutiny in La Paz and Santa Cruz to protest low wages. The April protests will leave six dead and dozens injured and forcibly detained by authorities.
but the Bolivians got their water back out of the hands of private interests who were seeking to use water as a vehicle to force them into poverty and deprive them of basic, essential services.
April 10, 2000
Bolivian Government Changes Course - Gives Control to La Coordinadora
The latest wave of protest-related violence culminates in a historic victory for the residents of Cochabamba and their supporters. After four days in hiding, Oscar Olivera signs an agreement with the Bolivian government that guarantees the withdrawal of Aguas del Tunari, grants control of Cochabamba's water to La Coordinadora (the grassroots coalition led by Olivera), assures the release of detained protesters, and promises the repeal of water privatization legislation. Legislation that would have charged peasants for water drawn from local wells is also removed.
Private interests can never be expected to provide the service that Americans should have the right to have access to. Democracy depends on freedom of the press and the Internet will provide the means for the people to rebuild the free press after having our Fourth Estate sold to the highest bidder by the Reagan Regime. It is time for regime change in the media and that means regime change in ownership of Internet assets. The Internet belongs to all the people, not to Comcast. We should take to the streets as they did in Columbia if we must in order to preserve the doctrine of Net Neutrality.
Oh, and one other thing. . .
The Bolivian president who sold out his people to the the Bechtel water cartel was run out of office and barred from running for re-election.
August 6, 2001
Bolivian President Resigns
Suffering from lung and liver cancer, Hugo Banzer resigns and hands over the Bolivian presidency to 41-year-old Vice President Jorge Quiroga, a Cochabamba native and former IBM executive. Quiroga is sworn in on August 7 to serve out the last year of Banzer's five-year presidential term until August 2002. Under the provisions of the constitution, Quiroga is barred from seeking re-election.