Thom Hartmann: What kills more children than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined? Former Swedish ambassador Jan Eliasson is with us. Am I pronouncing that right, sir?

Jan Eliasson: Yes, you did indeed, thank you very much.

Thom Hartmann: Oh wonderful. And by the way, today our program is now being carried in and I know I’m going to mangle this, Öppna Kanalen Skövde located in Skövde, Sweden.

Jan Eliasson: I can’t…

Thom Hartmann: Do you know this town? Sko (with an umlaut over it) vde.

Jan Eliasson: Oh I see. Yes, I think it’s in the southern part of Sweden.

Thom Hartmann: Yes, yeah.

Jan Eliasson: That’s interesting, how do you do that?

Thom Hartmann: We are syndicated by Pacifica which is an international network and we also have affiliates in the UK and Ghana Africa and all across the United States.

Jan Eliasson: This is globalization.

Thom Hartmann: Yeah I guess so, in a small way, in a very small way. In any case. Before we get into the core issue that I wanted to talk with you about which is this issue that you’re working so hard with on water, WaterAid.org your website. I did want to ask you if you could comment on just the, this is the headline from the Financial Times from two days ago. “Nightmare rise of far right jolts liberal tradition in Sweden.” Can you share any thoughts with us on, my take on this is that this is, this fellow Jimmie Akesson?

Jan Eliasson: Yeah, right.

Thom Hartmann: Akesson, who is basically a neo-Nazi in business clothes. That he got a little over 5% of the vote which unfortunately is going to give him some power, but on the other hand the good news is it was only 5% of the vote. Your thoughts on what happened? Can you tell us, as a Swede?

Jan Eliasson: Well I am almost depressed about this because we have really fought these extreme right, right wing movements. But now they made it into parliament for the first time. They will have 20 seats in parliament and they will have a balancing role. And the social democrats to which I belong on the left side, we didn’t make it and there’s a conservative government which, I will be dependent on these guys and I think it’s horrible. And I hope it doesn’t shift values in the deepest sense that stem from Sweden. We are, there’s a strong movement now, how we deal with this problem. But if you have 9% unemployment and nothing seems to help so to diminish that figure, maybe there is a climate in which these movements thrive. We have a basic problem in Europe with these movements.

Thom Hartmann: Absolutely. And I think that the thing that Americans don’t realize. You know conservatives in the United States, people who call themselves conservatives, they may use these kinds of issues, like for example his anti-immigration stance, that’s basically his shtick, his racist shtick. In the United States they use that to activate their base. But what they’re really about is tax cuts for the rich, and more corporate monopolies and they’re funded by billionaires mostly in the United States. But this guy, you know, the thing is that the far right in Sweden is not a pro-corporate far right, it’s an anti-immigrant far right. It’s a very different thing.

Jan Eliasson: Exactly. That’s right, that’s right.

Thom Hartmann: So the American press says conservatives are taking over in Sweden and all the pro-corporate, conservative commentators in America go see we told you the Swedish economic model doesn’t work, they’re going to roll back their healthcare program, they’re going to do away with their unemployment, not true.

Jan Eliasson: And if the, if they continue, this government, our government, continues to lower taxes you will have an even weaker system of you know dealing with the kids and their education, old people, disabled and sick.

Thom Hartmann: Yeah it’s going to be a tough one.

Jan Eliasson: It’s going to be, that might even make this, these right, this movement thrive move. So we’ll see.

Thom Hartmann: Right. Well let’s talk about Water Aid, sir.

Jan Eliasson: Yes.

Thom Hartmann: WaterAid.org is the website. This is your cause of your life right now that you’re working on. The Millennium Development Goal, this is the MDG of the United Nations was to cut poverty in half in the world by 2015. We are nowhere close to that. And one dimension of that is 2.6 billion people on planet Earth don’t even have access to a functioning toilet.

Jan Eliasson: Right.

Thom Hartmann: And so you’ve got more children dying, 4000 a day estimated, dying from diarrhea than die from the combined death tolls of AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

Jan Eliasson: Yeah, shocking figures.

Thom Hartmann: It is. What are you guys doing about this with WaterAid.org and what is the UN doing about this.

Jan Eliasson: Yeah well let me also add that 885 million people in the world don’t have safe drinking water. So you have these two figures.

Thom Hartmann: Almost a billion.

Jan Eliasson: You know, both safe drinking water. So a lot of the billion who don’t have safe water. And you’re absolutely right. This is the orphan of the Millennium Development Goal. They want, that is almost surrounded with taboos, you know, you don’t talk about toilets.

Thom Hartmann: Right.

Jan Eliasson: But you know a world without toilets is a world without dignity. It’s been incredible. I was the Special Envoy of the United Nations in Darfur for about 18 months, only recently, and I saw with my own eyes the horrible realities, you know.

Thom Hartmann: We broadcasted our show live from Gok Machar South Sudan, 15 miles from the Darfur border a year ago this March.

Jan Eliasson: Oh you did?

Thom Hartmann: Yeah and we could see a village being burned on the horizon. I mean it’s just… yeah. This is.

Jan Eliasson: What we tried to do is to make the point that if you deal seriously with sanitation, the sanitation, the toilet problem and the water problem you also deal seriously with a lot of other goals within this MDG family. If you reduce the problem of sanitation you reduce child mortality, you improve the health of mothers.

Thom Hartmann: Maternal survival.

Jan Eliasson: Yeah maternal health and you reduce of course extreme poverty. You even have effects on gender equality because it is the women who go for water and unfortunately in Africa. So, and education, they don’t go to school. In Darfur I saw there were twice as many boys as girls in the school and I asked why. Well, there’s no toilet, they don’t have toilets and they are ashamed to go to school. Apart from unfortunately cultural habits.

Thom Hartmann: Right. And we know that one of the most effective ways, and this has you know just been so well documented in the last few decades. One of the most effective ways to stop population explosions is to empower women.

Jan Eliasson: Indeed, indeed.

Thom Hartmann: Give them education, give them political power and boom, population stabilizes.

Jan Eliasson: Exactly. You know another thing that government should do is to give a higher percentage of their development assistance to water and sanitation projects. Japan is the best in the world on that. They give 15% of their assistance to water and sanitation projects.

Thom Hartmann: Wow.

Jan Eliasson: Because they know it pays off to an enormous degree. While countries in Europe and I think the US is down to 2 to 4.

Thom Hartmann: Yeah on a per capita basis, I think the US is one of the most penurious. And Japan is one of the most generous in the world.

Jan Eliasson: Yeah, indeed.

Thom Hartmann: We’re talking with former Swedish ambassador Jan Eliasson. And WaterAid.org is the website. Ambassador Eliasson, what can average Americans, what can our listeners and our viewers around the world, although most of them are in the United States, do about these kind of things? We have a minute left, sir.

Jan Eliasson: Well I think you can of course support those organizations with the United Nations that deal with these issues. One Health Organization and UNICEF. UNICEF you can give contributions. But I must say the reason I chose Water Aid is that I found during my many years in Africa that Water Aid was the most effective organization in dealing with this program. They work locally. They work with the, you know, the people in the neighborhoods. They drill for water, they get, they work very practically. And they were named by Financial Times 2008 the best charity in the world.

Thom Hartmann: Wow!

Jan Eliasson: Yeah. And I decided to be, to establish together with some friends, Water Aid Sweden on the example of Water Aid UK. And it’s now turned into Water Aid International, which, with also a branch in the United States. So this is a very practical way of knowing that you can really make a difference out there for these kids who are dying in diarrhea, dysentery, and dehydration.

Thom Hartmann: Yeah. And you know once again this kills more children than AIDS, malaria and TB combined. But as you say, nobody wants to talk about toilets. But it’s important stuff. WaterAid.org is the website. Former Swedish Ambassador, Jan Eliasson. Thank you so much for being with us ambassador.

Jan Eliasson: Thanks for caring and thanks for calling.

Thom Hartmann: Thank you very much. It’s very, very good speaking with you. And it’s great to have people of your stature who can be a role model for others and who are doing such great work in the world. We’ll be right back.

Transcribed by Suzanne Roberts, Portland Psychology Clinic.