WE, citizens of Earth, call for and commit to working together to ensure that a binding international law is put in place for the immediate and universal protection of all Water, as the first vital step towards global cooperation for effective, worldwide social and ecological healing.
Proposal for a world water law
ELEUSIS: The ancient city of Mysteries, the birthplace of the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone, the land of Aeschylus, of travellers, of legends, the “soul place” of Henry Miller, Walt Whitman, Hegel, Franz Wright, Dimitris Pikionis, George Seferis, Nikos Gatsou… The city with “the long, calm and silent circular beach, surrounded by high mountains … The clear ridges are erased against the bright sky and are reflected in the blue sea. Opposite, the yellowish rocks of Salamis drop steeply into the hill. To the right the slopes of Kithairon and the mount of Parnitha are limited to warm and bright gray strokes of land, and at their feet lies the sacred plain of Demeter bathed in sunlight, separated from the blue, still sea by a narrow beach of white and rose pebbles,” according to Eric Bell’s 19thh-century eloquent description.
ELEUSINA: The modern coastal city, with its special and unique feature of 13 kilometres coast, has been occupied since the beginning of the 20th century by the largest industrial zone in Greece – which includes shipyards, refineries, cement factories, public and private port facilities, and other nuisance industries – leaving residents with only 50 meters of free access to the shore.
In recent years, due to the reduction of the pollution load after the modernisation of the industries, scientific studies – among others – have established a reduction of pollution and a significant improvement in the quality of the natural waters, which led to the reappearance of many marine species that had disappeared (oysters, sea urchins) and in the increase of fish. In spite of all this, the Waterbodies of Eleusina are not under any protection status, nor has it been designated as a Nature Protection Area.
WE ALL the residents of Eleusina have distinct and inherent rights, related to the Waterbodies of the city. Therefore, we maintain that mother Εarth along with forests, plants, rivers, lakes, oceans, seas, waterways, watersheds, all belong to themselves and have rights to their ecological identity and their inclusion in a protection regime.
1) WE ALL declare with this Manifesto that the city of Eleusina must ensure and grant the right for uncompromising protection and restoration to the Waterbodies surrounding and delimiting it – the river to the east, the bay in front, and the coves to the west, which were destroyed during the twenty years from 1970 to 1990 by the discharge into the sea and the currents of untreated waste from the industries, as well as of the sewage of the Central Sewerage Pipe of Athens.
2) WE ALL demand that the immense long-lasting pressures on the Gulf and on Eleusina’s Waterbodies in general, aiming to occupy every free square of the coastline and the sea space for all kinds of industrial activity –as a rule, nuisance and undesirable elsewhere– should cease, along with the unimpeded continuation of existing activities
3) WE ALL declare that the coastal front of Eleusina, from Sarandapotamos to Vlycha, has the self-evident right to be restored and transformed into a sustainable ecosystem through the removal of industrial activities, with the ultimate goal of restoring environmental balance and returning the front to the city and its residents.
4) WE ALL demand a new legislative approach in the city of Eleusina that ensures and grants the right of personhood status to all natural water resources, sea, rivers, lakes, wetlands, springs, streams and aquifers, to attain a sustainable management and ensure their good ecological status, for a healthy environment, which will be key in dealing with the ongoing pollution, deforestation, desertification, biodiversity, loss and climate change crises.
5) WΕ ALL demand that the ongoing over-exploitation of the entire coastal front should stop. It has already led to the destruction of the long-suffering Vlycha Bay with the complete disappearance of the natural estuary of the Soures stream and the wetlands, as well as the planned embankments of the picturesque dockside of the fishermen and the sea area at Kalympaki.
6) WE ALL declare the need for special management and maintenance of all streams and the preservation of their deltas, which have been concreted in large parts with the risk of overflowing.
7) WE ALL demand the relocation of the current commercial port to the industrial area located on the embankments of Halyvourgiki, where there are port infrastructures outside the city and they allow direct connection to all transport networks, while at the same time securing in full all the positions of the workers.
8) WE ALL demand that the legal framework for water use and exploitation of water resources be tightened, especially regarding the Thriasian Field, and support the establishment of a center for environmental and ecological research, information and negotiation between the Waterbodies and the city of Elefsina.
9) WE ALL are working towards a world where people will transform themselves into caretakers and healers of the Waterbodies, abolishing its violent exploitation and, above all, ensuring future of society – or else water will take revenge on us.
10) WE ALL believe that through art it is possible for people to change their perceptions, to reflect and design a future in harmony with nature and the Waterbodies of Eleusina, who, according to the traditions of the Arvanites, still keep in their memory the riverbeds with the fairies and the fey who took away their scarf; those water elements that still provide shelter to birds and always claim their unhindered union with the sea, a living and life-giving sea.
Jenny Marketou with citizens of Eleusina
Jenny Marketou is a Greek multidisciplinary artist, lecturer, and author who recently released her book “Futuring Waters”, which was created after years of artistic, participative and workshop-based research on water rights with academics, lawyers and citizens. The following manifesto for the Water Rights of Elefsina was created in this process, included by the editorial team as a call to action and an example of how we can reimagine and protect our relations with water.