Nestle Critic Says Bottled Water Battle Against Nestle About Local Control
Nestle often labels critics of their bottling plants as “anti-growth” or worse – as being against a healthy alternative to sugary beverages (as if they were against water itself).
Jamilla El-Shafei of Kennebunk wrote a powerful letter to the editor of the Lewiston Sun-Journal, and we’ve excerpted part of it here (reprinted on the RedOrbit site; read the whole letter by clicking here)
Contrary to how some media and critics have portrayed the struggle of the “water justice movement,” the battle is not about restricting water for farmers, ski resorts or local breweries. The battle being fought in Maine, and played out in other parts of the country, is for local control, as opposed to corporate control of a precious resource – water.
In Maine, the huge Swiss conglomerate, Nestle, masquerades as a friendly local company. They seek out rural areas of the state, small communities with limited government, and attempt to rush them into a half-century long, one-sided, inescapable contract backed by international trade and investment agreements such as GAT and NAFTA.
On several occasions, we’ve pointed out how media let Nestle – the world’s largest food and beverage company – hide behind the Poland Spring name.
As El-Shafei said later in her editorial, “Present laws in the state of Maine don’t offer enough protection, so Mainers are taking matters into their own hands and are trying to pass local ordinances…”
To Nestle, that’s the anti-corporate sentiment of “outsiders.” To us, Mainers making choices is called democracy.
