Παρασκευή 3 Ιανουαρίου 2014

Το παγκόσμιο κίνημα για το νερό στρέφει το ενδιαφέρον του στην Ελλάδα ισχυροποιώντας το μέτωπο διεθνώς.

Posted by Ripis Costas on 9:41 π.μ.

 
By SatokoKishimoto (TNI, 23/12/2013, contact: satoko [at] tni.org)

This report aims to share key discussions and outcomes of the strategy meeting within the global water justice community.

The Reclaiming Public Water Network connects water activists, trade unions, academics and public water operators from the global North and South, as well as regional and thematic networks, all working to improve and democratise public water provision. 50 people from 29 countries participated in the strategy meeting in Barcelona. This meeting took place the days before the Global Water Operators Partnerships Alliance (GWOPA) biannual Congress, 27- 29th in Barcelona. The main aim of the strategy meeting was to strengthen the global coalition for democratic public water provision. One of the key objectives was to develop joint strategies to upscale Public Public Partnerships (PuPs)[1] improve public water systems and as a tool to counter Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and other privatisation.

 In order to achieve this, it was important to share the progress made on public-public and community partnerships within the network and to be clear about values of PuPs we wanted to promote. Going beyond a narrow definition of ‘public’ as state ownership, we aimed to clarify our vision of ‘publicness’. 


The strategy meeting benefited tremendously from the active input from all participants, also in the preparations. Both the concept note and meeting programme were developed in a collective manner with inputs from many participants. Many organizations self-financed travel and lodging costs, Engineers without Borders (ESF) as the local host took care of all logistics and the Barcelona-based trade union CCOO generously provided meeting venues for free. Special thanks go to all organisations[2] that made financial contributions to the meeting.
Before going to the contents, it is worth introducing several new actors who have joined the reclaiming public water work at the strategy meeting. These include the Chamber of Labour (AK, which represents three million workers in Austria), the Habi Center for Environmental Rights (which unites lawyers defending human rights in Egypt), Aqua Public Europea (the European association of public water operators defending public water) and the AöW (the alliance of public water management in Germany). 
Many others deserve to be highlighted, such as the visionary managers from Nairobi City Water & Sewerage Company, the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority Bangkok (MWA), EPMAPS (public utility in Quito, Ecuador), ONEE (National Office for Electricity and Drinking Water Supply Morocco), who joined us and helped us understand the day-to-day challenges of public water companies. Long-term allies PSI (Public Services International) coordinated the participation of its affiliated trade unions. PSIRU (Public Services International Research Unit) and MSP (Municipal Services Project) provide the essential academic backbone of our work. PAPC (Platform for public community partnerships in Americas) works with many community organisations in Bolivia, Uruguay and Colombia helped deepen our understanding the key role of community water partnerships projects. AEOPAS (the Spanish public water operator association) inspired us with their strong public ethos and commitment to the human right to water.

 Inspiration for promoting alternatives to water privatization and commodification often comes from struggles for water justice which we are engaged in. The strategy meeting started with the session on struggles: fighting to return water services into public hands. The long-term fight against privatized water services in Jakarta, Indonesia has entered a critical phase as the city government is considering ending the contract with the private operators. Terminating a private contract and rebuild functioning public water provision is a huge challenge, where the global water justice community should provide solid support and relevant expertise. In Ghana, a profit driven management contract was terminated as it failed to improve water services, but great challenges remain. The country's public water company is left alone without political support and financial resources. In Greece, austerity policies have deepened the social and economic crisis. Grassroots campaigns are fighting back against the sale of public water companies in Athens and Thessaloniki, building social alliances with workers and municipalities. Costis Ripis from Association of Engineers of the Athens water company (EYDAP) called for international solidarity (*). EYDAP, the well-functioning company serving 4 million populations is due to be sold. (*) Addition from Association of Engineers of the Athens water company (EYDAP).


 The global alliance against fracking is an encouraging example of how different actors such as climate activists, pubic health organizations and local authorities can work effectively together. David Hall, former director of PSIRU, analyzed new trends in water services and provided great insights into how to democratise public water. The number of concession contracts held by corporate water giants has decreased since 2000. 
 
This analysis links to the shift of World Bank’s strategy asJorgen Magdahl stressed. High-profile failures of privatisation projects and major popular resistance to them have made the World Bank focus on public sector reform instead, using state power to pursue neoliberal policies, thereby avoiding resistance. Corporatisation of the public sector is well accepted in Africa as a way to fight corruption and improve efficiency, and as part of this the public sector is encouraged to introduce PPP arrangements with the private sector. On this same issue, there was breaking news from Japan, where the 2nd largest city Osaka is about to give up municipal water provision. The city governments want to fully corporatise its water systems by introducing a newly created ‘private’ company, with shares owned by the municipality. Obviously, corporatisation is less easy to criticize sharply and careful examination is required in each case. This topic was a perfect introduction to the following discussion, on ‘publicness’.

The 2nd session of the strategy meeting focused on building new models of public water. This session coordinated by David McDonald, co-director of MPS, which has carried out elaborate research on alternatives to privatisation and market driven reforms. We discussed the importance of clarifying what we mean by ‘public’, something which clearly goes beyond the narrow definition of state ownership. We can not afford to stay in theoretical discussions nor fighting over definition of ‘public’ as it is highly context dependent. Instead we aimed to learn from real experiences from public operators and campaigns and finding a consensus around basic principles of ‘pubicness’, such as equity. Not-for-profit but for the public interest are key element to define what we want. ‘We are not defending badly functioning and corrupted public water provision, but advocate democratic, environmentally sound, accountable water provision’, David McDonald stated as the starting point. Samir Bensaid from ONEE Morocco said that wtithout citizens' and workers’ participation, public management can lead to bureaucracy, lack of accountability and widespread corruption. This is then used by neoliberal politicians as a pretext to justifying privatisation.

Philip Gichuki presented the social connection policy which Nairobi Water company has
introduced to provide affordable water to all. 40% of residence live in informal settelments where poor people get water from private venders at prices 3-5 times more exprensive than Nairobi Water's rate. The central fature in the social connection policy is to install individual connection in these slum areas. As connection fees are a barrier for many citizens, microcredit financing plays a role. Still, individual connections are impossible in very informal settelments where people have no stable houses and move day by day. 
Nairobi Water therefore introduced a pre-paid tocken system, through which people can get clean water at the cheapest rate.
 This pre-paid system sparked debate and was questioned by activiststs. Trade unions of Nairobi Water support this policy as it helps poor people access safe drinking water at affordable rates. What becomes clear from this debate is that public utilities in the global south face a huge pressure to increase revenues and recover costs in order to invest in improving the water systems. Without having a positive economic cycle, services can not be extended.
 The background for this situaiton is the lack of water sector investment and subsidies by governments. Public utilities are forced to be ‘independent’ through the above-mentioned neoliberal corporatisation policies. While economic sustainability is a core challenge for public utilities, it is clear that governments must take responsibility and that public finance must play a major role in expanding the water services.
Corporitisation reforms means that public water companies act under private law and that decision are made without accountability. Securing genuine ‘publicness’ is at the centre of the water debate in Berlin, where the government recently bought back all shares from the private company (after more than a decade of privatisation) and the utility Berliner Wasserbetriebe (BWB) became 100% in ‘public hands'. The Berliners have proposed participatory mechanism, but BWB does not (yet) seem to realize this is an opportunity to transform itself.

The ‘pubicness’ discussion was essential to develop joint strategies for financing public water and for promoting sustainable PuPs. The session on 'PUPs: diversity and impacts' was coordinated by Mary Ann Manahan (Focus on the Global South) and speakers presented progress in on-going efforts to implement concrete PuP projects including partnerships between community water organizations[3]. While narrowly defined PuPs tend to focus on performance indicators for water services, the partnerships which New York Water Authority and MWA (Bangkok)[4] have developed with upstream stakeholders and communities to protect water resources are truly innovative. They demonstrate the strength of public bodies to have a long term planning on water resources and the importance of linking diverse stakeholders in the water basin. Such partnerships contribute to the reduction of water treatment costs, provide quality water to downstream citizens and support rural economies. Emanuele Lobina of PSIRU summed up the discussions on to define the Public-Public Partnerships we want to promote.
Public-ness should be central to the spirit of partnerships to secure they lead to community development. 
Community development is not something to be decided on externally but should be discussed locally in a genuinely democratic manner. Partnerships are about solidarity, not profit, about collaboration, not competition. Trust and openness, not secrecy, creates real opportunities for knowledge transfer and experience-sharing.
 As PUPs are about public-ness, they are political tool for us to expand and democratise public water provision. Jakarta’s transition to public water could be supported through PuP arrangement for instance, involving partnering public utilities which are committed to share expertise for the transition from privatisation to public management.

Although time was limited, the strategy meeting also aimed to advance the discussion on the human right to water and sanitation: how to make it real. Does from Habi Center  told us that 600 million US$ are being spent to build a new waste water plant in the desert area where a exclusive residential area for the Egyptian upper class is planned to be build, while the government fails to release the 5 million US$ needed to complete projects to provide safe drinking water and adequate sanitation for 2, 5 million people in three towns in Egypt. This is a reality where water is public hands, but where the state does not make rational decisions to implement to right to water. The lesson from this session is that we need to see and use human right to water as a political tool to empower people, rather than merely a legal tool. The human right to water is not yet implemented in a way that makes it an effective tool to solve conflicts over water resources deprivation and pollution caused by destructive dams, mining activities and bottling industries. As the success of the European Citizen Initiative (ECI) on the right to water demonstrated, citizens can be empowered and mobilized to express political demands and put strong pressure on governments. The Blue community project is another positive example, in which municipalities declare they recognise the human right to water and pledge to implement it actively.

After thematic sessions two group discussions devoted to developing joint advocacy strategies. One such issue is the up-scaling of political support for PuPs and public-community partnerships. The PuP group was facilitated by Milo Fiasconaro of Aqua Public Euroepa and AEOPAS. The group agreed that PUPs were a viable alternative tool to PPPs and should be supported and promoted at the political level. We set ourselves that goal to achieve in three years time: increase numbers and visibility of PuPs (including community partnerships) which lead community development. In order to do so, we need to document and highlight these projects in the international policy discourse. The group spent substantial time to discuss the 1% scheme for decentralized solidarity projects as a source of autonomous finance for public operators to engage in partnership projects. The importance of collective learning was stressed, so that lessons from specific partnerships can be learned. As a concrete action, the group agreed to continue putting pressure on the European Commission to continue the financial scheme to support PuP projects in African countries (ACP). It was also proposed that securing support for remunicipalisation in Jakarta through PuPs should be a concrete common priority.
The second issue is that of, more generally, promoting policies to strengthen and democratize public water delivery (a continuation of the session on new models of public water). The group concluded that public management is very different than private, but that there's need for a clearer narrative. We need to reclaim and re-think the language being used by the pro-private actors: efficiency, transparency, affordability, participation, and accountability. We need to further define these terms in the context of equity and solidarity, paying attention to gender, race, class, and living conditions. This effort should help to define ‘social efficiency’ to offer as a concrete proposal for public sector reform policy discourse and also enabling us to challenge neoliberal policies on local, national and international levels. Developing capacity to measure public water provision is equally important. We need to add new, progressive criteria for performance, such as human rights, health and safety for workers, public sector ethos and solidarity. AEOPAS and Aqua Public Europea will take the lead in developing such specific indicators for public management.

Throughout the meeting, we were encouraged to see that remunicipalisation becoming a growing political trend. 86 cities in the world remunicipalised water services all over the world during the last 15 years, according to newly published PSIRU paper. And this trend has accelerated after 2009. Clearly the high-profile remunicipalisation in Paris (2010) has inspired and empowered other municipalities. Right after our strategy meeting, we organized a public event on Rescuing water in Catalonia: the Global Trend towards Remunicipalisation. Citizens in Barcelona are increasingly critical of Agbar, the Suez-owned private operator which runs the city’s water services. More than 175 people attended and the event was streamed on-line (http://bambuser.com/v/4131750). Eloi Badia of the ESF presented the legally dubious operations by Agbar in Barcelona.

 The citizen’s platform Aigua és Vida has revealed that Agbar's contract is in fact illegal, but political pressure for further privatisation has accelerated as politicians argue for reducing the public debt in the economic crisis. During the debate, experiences from Paris, Berlin, Huesna (in the province of Seville), Figaro-Montmany (Catalonia) were shared and the audience actively joined to discussing challenges and opportunities. Beatriz Martinez wrote an article from the event ‘Remunicipalisation in the water sector: an unstoppable wave’ to capture these discussions, highly recommended reading.


[1] Public-public, public-community and community-community partnerships (PUPs) are emerging as a superior alternative to PPPs for developing capacity and achieving water for all. PUPs are the collaboration between two or more public authorities and/or communities and civic organisations, based on solidarity and a shared sense of publicness, to improve the capacity and effectiveness of public water and sanitation services and managing water resources. Ranging from inclusive and accountable twinning arrangements to public-community partnerships, PUPs are relationships forged around common values which exclude profit-seeking.
[2] Engineers without Borders (ESF), Public Services International(PSI), Allianz der öffentlichen Wasserwirtschaft (AöW), European Federation of Public Service Unions(EPSU), Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), arbeiterkammer (AK Austria), FIVAS Norway, Ver.di-German public services trade union and Transnational Institute (TNI)
[3] video; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2kl-wDQmGs
[4] video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZncLDQnRBY

----------------------



Open letter to EU Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs

Extending and upscaling support for innovative non-profit partnerships in order to contribute to universal access to water and sanitation in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific countries.

Brussels, 22 November 2013
 
To: EU Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs

Dear Commissioner,

With this letter we would like to stress the importance of continuing the support for not-for-profit water partnership projects in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries that was provided by the ACPEU. Water Facility under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF). The Partnerships for Capacity.
Development in the ACP Water & Sanitation Sector, with an earmarked budget of €40 million, has been hailed as an innovative programme with the potential of achieving significant impact at scale. It is on this background that we call upon you to continue - and strengthen – the European Commission’s support for water partnership projects in the upcoming 11th EDF.
During the Budapest Water Summit earlier last month, DG Development's André Liebaert presented the EU Water Facility and indicated that the focus for the 2014-2020 framework was likely to change, emphasizing the Water, Food, and Energy nexus. The new focus would be on sustainable agriculture, efficient energy and water use, climate resilient water infrastructure, among other themes. While we recognize the importance of these issues, abandoning the focus on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) would prove highly problematic. Universal access to water and sanitation remains a formidable challenge in ACP countries and globally. We therefore call for efforts to develop capacity in the water and sanitation sector to be multiplied, not reduced.
There is a growing recognition of the potential of not-for-profit partnerships in the water sector. Both UN HABITAT and UNDP have facilitated the development of global platforms to promote not-forprofit, solidarity based partnerships and also several national aid agencies have shown interest (USAID, ADF France, etc.). The ACP-EU Water Facility has played a pioneering role, not only in providing substantial funding for projects, but also key features like the involvement of Non State Actors and providing a coherent evaluation framework. The innovative features of the Partnerships for Capacity Development in the ACP Water & Sanitation Sector have attracted the interest of the international water community and we firmly believe that these should not be lost.
In August 2012, a report by the Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU), University of Greenwich evaluated the expected impact of ACP-EU Water Partnerships, and comparatively evaluated the ACP-EU Water Partnerships initiative and other international programmes of not-forprofit partnerships for capacity development in the water and sanitation sector. This evaluation was commissioned for by the European Commission and found that the expected impact of ACP-EU.
Water Partnerships consisted in millions of people benefiting from capacity development and
improvements in key areas for sustainable water development. Highlights of the expected impact included: 20.5 million people benefiting from expanded access to the poor in water supply; 12 million people benefiting from improved efficiency in management and system maintenance in sanitation; 105.4 million people benefiting from improved integrated water resources management.
The evaluation highlighted a number of important innovative aspects of this programme, which
explicitly aims to support capacity development for public authorities in ACP countries through not-forprofit partnerships. Despite the fact that more than 90% of water and sanitation services in the world are provided by publicly owned utilities, the Partnerships for Capacity Development in the ACP Water & Sanitation Sector is unique in focusing specifically on unleashing the potential of partnerships between public operators. The program has successfully engaged a significant number of small and medium-sized public water utilities in ACP countries in capacity-building partnership projects.
There are several other distinctively innovative aspects of the program that deserve to be highlighted.
Financial resources are directed towards capacity development for improving water systems, towards good governance and towards sustainable water resources management. Good governance in the water sector can indeed only be achieved through such an integrated approach. Another important innovative element is the involvement of local Non State Actors as supporting partners. The evaluation report points out that the funded projects involve 31 Non State Actors as project partners, 18 of which are based in ACP countries. Half of all the funded projects involve Non State Actors as partners, which is impressively high compared to other international programmes. 
This community and citizen participation will help make the results more sustainable. The results are remarkably promising and the EU’s continued leadership in advancing this approach is clearly needed.
According to the above-mentioned report, the ACP-EU Water Facility awarded grants to 32
partnership projects at the end of 2011. However, the 300 Concept Notes submitted in the first stage of the selection procedure indicate the potential capacity that the ACP-EU Water Partnerships initiative could mobilize if this was to be strengthened.
We would therefore like to propose to extend and upscale partnerships for capacity development through not-for-profit partnerships in ACP countries in the 11th European Development Fund (EDF).
We believe that this would be the coronation of 2013 as the United Nations’ International Year of Water Cooperation. We would also like to remind you of the fact that European citizens have
expressed strong commitment to water as a human right by supporting the first successful European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) with 1.9 million signatures across all 28 Member States. This ECI includes the demand that the EU must increase its efforts to achieve universal access to water and sanitation.
We are keen on providing more detailed proposals to ensure that commensurate efforts are directed towards the realisation of the human right to water and sanitation.
We look forward to your response to our concerns and suggestions and remain at your disposal for discussing these issues further.

Yours sincerely,
 
Satoko Kishimoto
 
On behalf of :
  • Transnational Institute
  • European Federation of Public Service Unions
  • Food & Water Europe
  • Public Services International
  • Corporate Europe Observatory
Σημαντική στιγμή του διημέρου ήταν η βράβευση του  David Hall για τη πολύχρονη προσφορά του στο κίνημα του νερού.
David Hall works part-time for PSIRU. He was formerly director of the Public Services International Research Unit at the University of Greenwich Business School. He researches and teaches the politics and economics of public services, public finance and privatisation. David has special expertise in the sectors of water, energy, waste management, and healthcare. Before becoming director of PSIRU, David worked for over 25 years in teaching and research in public services, privatisation, and industrial relations for colleges, research institutions, and trade union research units.

Μετά το κλείσιμο των εργασιών, πραγματοποιήθηκε ενημερωτική συνάντηση μεταξύ των : Platform Aigua és Vida and Reclaiming Public Water network,

   organised a conference in order to learn more about the growing international trend towards remunicipalizing water, and what can be done to bring water services back into public hands in Catalonia.



SPEAKERS:
  • Bruno Nguyen - Eau de Paris
  • Christa Hecht - Allianz der öffentlichen Wasserwirtschaft e.V. (Germany)
  • Dorothea Haerlin - Wasserstich Berlin
  • Emilio Pachon - Aguas del Huesna (province of Seville)
  • Lluc V. Pelaez - Mayor of Figaro-Montmany (Catalonia)
  • David McDonald, Queen's University (Canada)
Cities and towns around the world are taking back control of their water systems after failed attempts at privatization. The speakers discussed the challenges and successes of their own remunicipalization experiences, and what can be done to reclaim public water. The event offered an opportunity to network with more than 50 representatives of the Reclaiming Public Water network.
Location
Headquarters of Comisions Obreres
Via laietana 16 Auditorium
Barcelona
Spain
Να ευχαριστήσουμε την Δωροθέα για την αποστολή του πλούσιου ενημερωτικού υλικού . Όπως φαίνεται το "Veolia Adieu" άρχισε να κυκλοφορεί.
Το Βερολίνο λοιπόν κατάφερε να περάσει στην επόμενη ημέρα πληρώνοντας ένα βαρύ τίμημα. Οι συμβάσεις που "σπάνε" είναι η χειρότερη επιλογή γιατί η διεθνής νομοθεσία έχει πολύ αυστηρές ρήτρες.

 Γιαυτό οι δύο μεγάλες ελληνικές επιχειρήσεις ΕΥΔΑΠ και ΕΥΑΘ δεν πρέπει να περάσουν στο επίπεδο υπογραφής σύμβασης. Μετά, ας μη γελιόμαστε, η υπόθεση επαναδημοτικοποίησης θα είναι εξαιρετικά δύσκολη. Το Βερολίνο διέθεσε 1,2 δισ. ευρώ για να σπάσει τις δύο συμβάσεις και δεν είναι απλό να διαχειριστεί την επόμενη ημέρα. Εμείς που ζούμε κάτω από τρία μνημόνια θα μπορέσουμε να επιχειρήσουμε κάτι ανάλογο ;


Στο δεύτερο Συνέδριο που ακολούθησε, αρκετοί από τους συμμετέχοντας στο "Strategy meeting on the Future of Public Water" βρέθηκαν στις εργασίες του για ένα διήμερο.

 Σ'αυτό το Συνέδριο την διοργάνωση είχε η «GWOPA» η οποία είναι μια συμμαχία που εργάζεται με κοινό στόχο τη δημιουργία νέων συνεργασιών για τους διαχειριστές νερού (WOPs).

 Η γραμματεία της «GWOPA», φιλοξενείται στα Ηνωμένα Έθνη «UN-Habitat», καθοδηγείται από μια διεθνή οργανωτική επιτροπή «international Steering Committee» και υποστηρίζεται από ένα παγκόσμιο δίκτυο συνεργατών και μελών.

                    David Boys, deputy general secretary of PSI (Public Service International)

 Η «GWOPA» έχει υποστηρικτές σε όλες τις ηπείρους που αντιπροσωπεύουν χιλιάδες εταιρείες νερού, τράπεζες ανάπτυξης, διεθνή χρηματοπιστωτικά Ιδρύματα, εργατικά συνδικάτα, συλλογικότητες πολιτών, συνεργάτες ανάπτυξης, και εκπαιδευτικά ιδρύματα. Το γραφείο της γραμματείας βρίσκεται στη Βαρκελώνη, Ισπανία από τον Απρίλιο του 2013.

Ο Σύλλογος Μηχανικών Π.Ε & Τ.Ε. ΕΥΔΑΠ,  εξελέγη μέλος της Οργανωτικής επιτροπής της GWOPA στο 2ο παγκόσμιο συνέδριο που έγινε στη Βαρκελώνη στις 29/11/2013  για την Νοτιο-Ανατολική Ευρώπη. Μια σημαντική διεθνής εκπροσώπηση για τα επόμενα χρόνια που θα πρέπει να την αξιοποιήσουμε για όλους τους εργαζόμενους.


The 2nd Global WOPs Congress Wrapped up in Barcelona

At the General Assembly, eleven new members of the GWOPA Steering Committee were elected in the various membership categories set up in the GWOPA charter, replacing the outgoing members. The GWOPA Secretariat would like to convey its warm appreciation to the outgoing steering committe member organizations who contributed substantially during GWOPA's first 4-year term:


<Representatives of water and sanitation uitilities>



- African Water Association (AfWA), - Arab Countries Water Utilities' Association (ACWUA), - Water & Sanitation Agency, Rawalpindi, - Aguas Bonaerenses Operator (5 de Septiembre S.A.), - Inter-institutional professional network of water sector in Serbia (IPN)*, - World Waternet (Europe), - Reclaiming Public Water Network (RPWN)
- ABVAKABO FNV*

* Resigned after the completion of 2 years. 
<Alliance partners>
- Asian Development Bank (ADB), - Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), - International Water Association (IWA)


And we would like to welcome:
- Rand Water, South Africa - representing Africa
- Office National de l'Electricité et de l'Eau Potable, Morocco - representing Arab region, - PERPAMSI (Indonesia Water Supply Association), Indonesia - representing Asia, - SABESP (Sao Paulo Water and Sanitation Company), Brazil - representing Latin America
- Association of Engineers of the Athens water company (EYDAP), Greece - representing Southeast Europe
- Aqua Publica Europa - representing the North, - Aquanet BV, The netherlands - representing the North
- Ingenieria Sin Fronteras - representing CSOs, - CONTAGWAS (Consideraciones generales sobre legislación sanitaria) - representing Union, - UNESCO-IHE - representing Alliance partners, - WOP-LAC - as a regional platform for Latin America.