Water Is a Human Right. Let’s Create a Society That Affirms This.

We have come to know water as the latest casualty of late capitalism’s doctrine of scarcity.

The sacred folklores of the Yoruba tradition tell the story of the time water left Earth. In the narrative, several deities from the heavenly realm come to Earth to go about the process of creation. Among these deities is Oshun, the Orisha (deities who represent the forces of nature) associated with love, fertility, compassion and sweet water. At some point, one of the deities comments that Oshun doesn’t really need to be there. Oshun, upon being insulted, decides to leave Earth, taking all the world’s freshwater with her. Needless to say, the others are unable to bring forth any life without water. Oshun eventually receives an apology and returns to the earthly realm, restoring the waters with her arrival. There is water once again, and where there is water, life can emerge. She returns with a warning: “Don’t let it happen again.”