Covid-19 has exposed the catastrophic impact of privatising vital services

For many years, vital public goods and services have been steadily outsourced to private companies. 

This has often resulted in inefficiency, corruption, dwindling quality, increasing costs and subsequent household debt, further marginalising poorer people and undermining the social value of basic needs like housing and water. We need a radical change in direction. There was a glimmer of hope when people seemed to recognise the crucial centrality of public services to the functioning of society.

 As French president Emmanuel Macron put it on 12 March, the pandemic had revealed that there are goods and services that must be placed outside the laws of the market. Take water, a commodity all the more vital as washing your hands is one of the best ways to protect yourself from the virus. 

About 4 billion people worldwide experience severe water scarcity during at least one month of the year. In the Chilean Petorca province, for example, one avocado tree uses more water than the daily quota allocated to each resident. 

Despite increasing daily water allocation to residents, the ministry of health revoked this decision just eight days later – an indication of how authorities continue to put the interests of private companies above the rights of their people.

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