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19 玻利维亚劳工领袖荣获高曼环境奖
Labor Organizer from Bolivia Wins Goldman Environmental Prize
Rosanne Skirble
Washington
13 Jun 2001 09:26 UTC
Oscar Olivera believes that clean, affordable water is a basic universal right. The 46-year old shoe factory worker got involved with the issue in the mid-1990s when the Bolivian government was under pressure from international financial institutions to 1)privatize Bolivia's water supply.
So it wasn't surprising when the water system of Cochabamba, Bolivia's third largest city, and Mr. Olivera's hometown, was sold to a private company with 2)ties to the United States and to Spain. Immediately water 3)rates went up. Prices were so high nearly one third of a family's income that workers were hard-pressed to afford water for their daily needs.
Oscar Olivera found the situation 4)intolerable. As an experienced labor leader, he organized a group that demanded changes in the nation's laws to put water back in public hands. University professor Gabriel Herbas has worked 5)alongside Oscar Olivera and represented the Goldman Environmental Prizewinner at 6)ceremonies in the United States.
He says Oscar Olivera has inspired men and women, the young, the old and the poor of Cochabamba to take up the struggle for water rights. Mr. Herbas says the people of Cochabamba began to look at access to natural resources the water, the air, the land as basic rights for which they were willing to fight. Tens of thousands of demonstrators joined Oscar Olivera in the streets of Cochabamba to protest water privatization. In 7)confrontations with the army, thousands were injured and one killed.
Mr. Herbas says Oscar Olivera played a critical role in 8)diffusing the situation with the Bolivian government. Following a period of martial law, Mr. Olivera was asked to take part in 9)negotiations on water rights. Those discussions led to a change in laws and to local management of the water system. Gabriel Herbas says that the environmental prize recognizes that Oscar Olivera, as an advocate for human rights, is also an 10)advocate for the environment. Mr. Herbas says the men, women, children and the elderly of Cochabama clearly demonstrated to the country and to the world that it is possible to overcome fear and to organize to make their voices heard
That, he says, is the work to which Oscar Olivera has 11)dedicated his life.
(1) privatize vt 使归私有，使私人化
(2) ties n.结v.绑,连结
(3) rate[reIt]n.价格, 费用
(4) intolerable[In5tRlErEb(E)l]adj.无法忍受的, 难耐的
(5) alongside[ElRN5saId; (?@) ElC:N5saId]adv.在旁
(6) ceremony[5serImEnI]n.典礼, 仪式, 礼节, 报幕员
(7) confrontation[9kCnfrQn`teIFEn]n.面对, 面对面, 对质
(8) diffuse[dI5fju:s]v.散播,扩散adj.散开的, 弥漫的
(9) negotiation[nI^EJFI5eIF(E)n]n.商议, 谈判, 流通
(10) advocate[5AdvEkEt]n.提倡者, 鼓吹者vt.提倡, 鼓吹
(11) dedicate[5dedIkeIt]vt.献(身), 致力
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