WATER ABLAZE - Patagonia Sin Represas

8.5 Local Agenda 21
Local Agenda 21 is an action programme which the UN member states
drew up within the framework of Agenda 21 at the Rio Conference
in 1992. The intention was to bring together players from the realm
of politics, the business sector and civil society to cooperate in
implementing concepts for sustainable development at local level.
Thousands of towns, mainly in Europe, have since taken part in this
programme and established Local Agenda working groups. At first,
this fresh new approach attracted many champions and supporters,
but enthusiasm gradually subsided when it became clear that neither
politicians nor businessmen feel any inclination to spend their
free time listening to critical questions posed by active citizens and
environmental groups. It will only be possible to find a way out of this
dilemma when a responsible and mature civil society – able to form
an independent opinion – rediscovers its own power and grows strong
enough to resist manipulation. The prevailing superior might of the
business sector could be put firmly in its place, if the public were to
openly declare: “The King is in the altogether!” When all is said and
done, this is about democracy: Who determines what happens
8.6 White Corruption and the Power of the Lobbyists
One problem which has been smouldering for some considerable
time now in Germany and other countries is the across-the-board
entanglement between the worlds of politics and business. The
supplementary earnings of Laurenz Meyer and Hermann-Josef Arentz,
who, as leading politicians, both appeared on RWE’s list of salary
earners, are only the most prominent examples of a phenomenon
known as “white corruption”, which has since gained control of vast
areas of the political landscape at all decision-making levels. RWE is
keeping alive an old company tradition: Was it not its own founders
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