Blue Planet Project founder Maude Barlow was in Marburg, Germany today to celebrate public water.
Marburg is a university city in the German federal state of Hessen. It has a population of about 72,000 people. It is situated about 470 kilometres south-west of Berlin. Marburg Mayor Thomas Spies is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). The majority in the city’s 59-seat parliament is held by a coalition of SPD (22 seats) and Green Party (13 seats) members.
Barlow was welcomed by the Mayor, signed the Golden Book of Marburg, and gave a speech about public water at their City Hall.
The Golden Book is a traditional honour to welcome notable guests and has been signed by renowned figures including the Dalai Lama. The City of Marburg tweeted (in German): “Alternative Nobel Prize laureate @MaudeBarlow joins the Golden Book of the university town #Marburg”.
The Universitätsstadt Marburg posted (in German) on Facebook: “The Canadian water activist Dr. Maude Barlow has just entered the Golden Book of the City of Marburg. With the words ‘it is a delight’, she gave her thanks for this great honor and praised the commitment of Germany in the struggle for recognition for human rights on water. Lord Mayor Dr. Thomas Spies was delighted to receive ‘a guest of this importance’ in the historic City Hall. Barlow says, ‘The human right to water – a lot is achieved and yet we have to continue fighting – currently against the threat of water protection by TTIP and CETA.’ Barlow is visiting the university city at the invitation of the Alliance of Public Water Management (AöW) and the City of Marburg.”
Earlier today, Barlow tweeted:
– Entering the Old City Hall (1526) in Marburg. Wonderful keepers of public water here!
– 500 year old public water fountain!
Tomorrow, Barlow travels to Geneva to present the World Council of Churches (WCC) with a blue community certificate.
The WCC notes, “Maude Barlow will deliver the keynote address, award the WCC a ‘blue community certificate’ and inaugurate tap water-based public water fountains at the Ecumenical Centre.” The World Council of Churches is a worldwide fellowship of 349 global, regional and sub-regional, national and local churches. The fellowship includes denominations collectively representing a Christian population of some 590 million people in nearly 150 countries in all regions of the world.
Last Friday Barlow was in Würzburg and then on Saturday in Munich to promote public water and speak in opposition to the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).