Lockdown at Bechtel – Let the Water Flow!

On October 28, at the beginning of a week in which governments and corporate leaders from across the Americas meet in Quito to negotiate the FTAA, a vocal opposition was raised in the heart of San Francisco’s business district. A handful of activists occupied the entrance to the world headquarters of Bechtel Corporation, while scores of supporters rallied outside with music, dance, protest chants, and cheers of solidarity. Across the street from the Bechtel building, which occupies most of a city block, a banner was raised demanding that Bechtel drop their $25 million lawsuit against the government of Bolivia.

The Action

The group of activists, men and women, young and old, walked into Bechtel headquarters at 11:20 a.m. and immediately chained themselves together around a turnstile in the lobby of the building. For the lockdown they used lock boxes made of lengths of pipe painted blue with slogans such as "Our world is not for sale", and "Water for Life, Not Profit." Their lockdown continued for over two hours, disrupting business as dozens of police and firemen rushed to the scene in response. As the chained-down activists negotiated with police and Bechtel officials inside the building, supporters gathered outside with songs and chants.
The group "Dancers Without Borders" performed a dance piece entitled "On Oppression", a marching band known as the Brass Liberation Orchestra played festive dissonance on French Horn, Sax, Bass Drum, and Cymbals, and a dozen others circled in front of the entrance of the building with blue–tinted cloth on stilts to create a "river of life" flowing merrily through San Francisco’s financial district. Marchers circled the building shouting "Bechtel wants millions/We say No!/Don’t privatize the water/Let the water Flow!" San Francisco Police arrived on the scene shortly after the rally began, but did little to contain the crowd of protesters.
Inside Bechtel, the thirteen activists demanded that they be allowed to speak to the highest Bechtel official in the building. After some time they were granted a meeting with Bechtel’s Public Relations Officers, but the dialogue reportedly went nowhere. Police offered the activists a chance to unchain themselves in exchange for a simple charge of trespassing, but the activists held out until they were cut loose from their chains with a heavy circular saw. Between 1:30 and 2:00 the group of thirteen was brought out of the building one by one to the cheers and good will of their rallying comrades.

The Demands

Bechtel, one of the world’s largest engineering firms, has drawn heavy criticism from advocates for human rights, environmental protection, fair trade, and ethical business practices for its record of putting vast profits over the health and well-being of millions in its ventures to build everything from water supply schemes to bridges to nuclear power plants. Bechtel was targeted by the San Francisco activists because of its strong support for the Free Trade Area of the Americas and its frontline position in the rush to commodify and privatize the world’s dwindling supply of fresh water.
The action was assembled and coordinated by the group Action for Local/Global Justice to articulate three key demands: that Bechtel drop its $25 million lawsuit against the government of Bolivia, cease support of the FTAA, and stop privatizing water at home and abroad. Bechtel has been the object of letter-writing campaigns, public interest lobbying, and other pressures to meet these demands, to no avail. As one of the activists noted, "because of the way corporations like Bechtel work, people who choose to defend the public interest are forced to do it by means of direct action and direct democracy. Because corporate decisions are made behind closed doors, beyond public scrutiny, direct action of this sort is the only way to show disapproval of what these corporations do."

The FTAA

The FTAA, a pending trade agreement between every nation in North and South America, barring Cuba, is known by critics as "NAFTA on steroids." Initiated at meetings in Santiago, Chile in 1998, and based on the model of NAFTA and the WTO, the FTAA goes far beyond the trade liberalization schemes brought about by those models, giving multinational corporations sweeping authority over virtually every aspect of life in the Americas. By promoting IMF-style Structural Adjustment and other economic austerity measures, the FTAA will bring about the privatization and downsizing of services such as health care and social programs and ensure that all public utilities – water, power, and telecommunications – come under the control of the private sector.
The recent history of Bechtel Corporation serves as a cautionary tale of what the FTAA may bring. Bechtel, a century-old Fortune 500 business, is best known for massive infrastructure projects such as the Hong Kong airport, the London Underground, and the Alaskan, trans-Arabian and trans-Caspian Oil Pipelines. Bechtel is responsible for the construction and co-management of the Nevada Nuclear test site and the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage area, as well as more than 150 nuclear power plants worldwide. The attention that Bechtel is drawing in the current debate revolves around its new position as one of the global giants in water management. Among Bechtel’s recent contracts in the realm of water are its buyout of the water supply system in Metro Manila and its position as 50% owner of U.S. Water, a subsidiary that is currently buying up public water services in dozens of cities across the United States. Bechtel also operates International Water Limited, whose best-known legacy is the struggle in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

Water in Cochabamba

On Feburary 4, 2000, more than 1,000 police were called out to crush demonstrations in Cochabamba, Bolivia, when massive rate increases by Aguas de Tunari, Bechtel’s local subsidiary, threatened fresh water access an estimated 500,000 people in the region. What followed was two days of rioting that left two people blind, one dead, and hundreds injured.
By early April of 2000, Bechtel terminated its contract and abandoned the country. Local workers took control of Cochabamba’s water supply, and remain in control to this day. The price hikes that instigated the rioting were driven by Bechtel’s need to pay off $30 million owed by the previous public water company. According to Jim Shultz of The Democracy Center in Cochabamba, the rate increase amounted to as much as 300 percent over previous rates.

After leaving Bolivia, Bechtel instigated a case against the impoverished nation to the tune of $25 million. Under a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) – a mechanism that is part of NAFTA and similar to those that will be set in place by the FTAA – Bechtel has the right to sue Bolivia for its lost profits. Bechtel employees interviewed on the day of the San Francisco protest claim that the government of Bolivia "stole" a water system that was designed and built by Bechtel. But common sense dictates that Bechtel should never have taken over the system with the intention of charging up to 300 % more than the previous company had charged – up to a quarter of residents’ annual income in many cases.
The suit, which is being leveled against the national government of Bolivia, puts tremendous pressure on the leaders of Cochabamba’s citizens’ movement and the workers who have kept water flowing since April 2000. As far as the protesters are concerned, the Cochabamba water takeover provides a model of cooperatively run public utility – a model that should be followed from Santiago to San Francisco. Hence the cries rising from the streets of San Francisco as the thirteen activists who occupied Bechtel headquarters were brought out of the building by police: "No F, no T, no double A, from here to Cochabamba make Bechtel go away."