“Let’s go home with patience, Balinese wisdom about water, and a positive agenda,” said Éric Tardieu, vice president of the World Water Council, as he closed out the 10th World Water Forum in Bali, Indonesia, last month.
Such positivity might have been hard to muster for those planning to attend WWF and a separate counter-conference led by a civil society called the People’s Water Forum, which was shut down by a pro-government paramilitary group as part of — attendees claim — a continued crackdown on freedom of expression in Indonesia and likely because of the forum’s anti-water privatization stance.
The Patriot Garuda Nusantara blockaded PWF attendees in their hotel for three days and intimidated and threatened others. Reports describe dozens of men storming the event venue, forcibly removing posters, and shoving attendees.