Choose Life When You Choose Your Next Cell Phone and Laptop
Written March 15, 2012
In this very moment, as you read this sentence, a boy, just a child, is mining in a deep and dark tunnel in the dead of night under atrocious conditions. Right now, as you read this sentence, a woman is being brutally gang raped by a group of men in uniform. Right now, as you read this sentence, a war is going on and mass atrocities are taking place. And the laptop I am typing on and the cell phone in your pocket are responsible for the daily murders of our fellow human beings in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) in Africa. My intentions in writing this blog are not to make you feel guilty, but rather, for you to become aware.
Our cell phones, computers and other electronic devices are tainted with blood; they are directly connected to the mass atrocities occurring in the Democratic Republic of Congo today and are fueling the war. Since 1996, the war has killed nearly 6 million civilians and displaced at least 2 million. Additionally, an estimated 7,000 females (grandmothers, women, and children) were raped in 2009 alone. It is no wonder that this conflict is the deadliest war since World War II and has earned the nickname "Africa's World War." Our laptops, cell phones and other electronic devices are tied directly to this conflict because they are made with minerals (the ores that produce tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold) from the DR Congo. Profit from the mineral trade allows some of the same armed militias who were responsible for the Rwandan genocide to commit mass atrocities against Congolese civilians today.
Recently, I watched the documentary Blood in the Mobile for the first time. This was not the first time I had seen a documentary with this heavy and depressing subject matter, mind you, nor was it the first time I had heard about conflict-minerals. In college, the focus of my major was the Darfur genocide and genocide prevention. For four years, I was consumed with learning everything I could on this subject and watched countless documentaries on Darfur. I’ve also seen the documentary The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo about three times, and was appalled to see how mass rape is being used as a weapon of war in the DR Congo. My heart cries out for these young women and girls who have been so emotionally and physically violated and whose communities and families are being destroyed.
However, watching Blood in the Mobile was different. Something hit the core of my being. As I watched young boys descending down into the dark cave-like mine, my heart sunk. A heaviness and an enraged fury grew inside me as I saw director Frank Poulsen talk to the apathetic Nokia representatives. Most of all, I think this documentary had such a profound emotional affect on me because it showed so vividly how the cell phone in my purse and the laptop on my desk are responsible for the horrors that I was seeing on the screen. This documentary affected me differently than all of the others because it revealed how I am directly connected to this conflict. I am – we all are – DIRECTLY responsible for the ongoing deaths of hundreds upon thousands of civilians every single day.
Blood in the Mobile also provoked other thoughts and questions about a separate yet related issue. What about the environmental impact of the mineral mining? What about "conflict-charcoal?" Poulsen mentions in his film that before the mines and people were there, it was all jungle. During my senior year of college, I co-wrote a 25-page analytical essay on the crisis in Virunga National Park near the city of Goma in the DR Congo. Virunga National Park in the DR Congo and the surrounding parks are home to half of the world’s remaining 720 mountain gorillas. The park is being deforested at an unprecedented rate for the production of charcoal as a tragic consequence of the region’s illegal, yet lucrative, charcoal trade. Due to the DR Congo’s conflict-charcoal, the rare mountain gorilla faces extinction. For more information about this complex issue, watch National Geographic's Gorilla Murders documentary and read National Geographic's Who Murdered the Virunga Gorillas? report.
Charcoal, or makala, is the main energy source for the hundreds of thousands of civilians living in North Kivu and its provincial capital, Goma. This form of energy is used by 98 percent of households for cooking, heating, and boiling water to make potable. One 150-pound sack of hardwood charcoal provides fuel to a Congolese family for a whole month. According to the park's Chief Warden Emmanuel de Merode, the illegal charcoal trade in Goma alone is worth an estimated 30 million U.S. dollars per year. So this begs the question: where is this money going? I would have to think that the charcoal trade also funds the war in the same way in which the mineral trade funds it. After all, it is the same region, the same war, and the same rebel militias who are involved in the mineral and charcoal trade. Mercy Corps, along with other NGOs and individuals, echo my claims regarding conflict-charcoal, and those on the ground undoubtedly bare witness to this connection. This article in particular emphasizes how profits from the charcoal trade indeed are fueling the war in eastern Congo. If we are to help the Congolese people, then we must be aware of and address all aspects of the war in the DR Congo, for issues of human rights and the environment are deeply interconnected.
I’ve mentioned the problem, so now let’s talk about part of the solution. Well, that’s easy. The solution is YOU! About a month or so ago, I convinced my dad and brother to purchase a Motorola cell phone (since the company’s score is Green: On the Right Track), rather than an Apple i-Phone (since the company’s score is Yellow: Room for Improvement). They chose a Motorola phone instead of an Apple phone because I had explained to them how we as electronics consumers do have the power to make a difference and create positive change in the DR Congo. Following my dad and brother’s purchase, I sent a message to Motorola thanking the company for its positive efforts and leadership, and also sent one to Apple thanking the company for its initial efforts and encouraging the company to become more of a leader on this issue. I want to stress, however, that due to all of the recent and persistent consumer pressure, Apple has made great progress in taking the necessary steps to become a leader on this issue and to source its minerals ethically. Soon, we will see Apple in the Green category alongside Motorola and the other companies that are on the right track to becoming certified conflict-free. Lastly, in the messages my dad, brother and I sent to Motorola and Apple, we urged both companies to produce certified conflict-free products. Just as with the blood diamonds of Sierra Leone in the past and voting with your dollar today regarding organic versus conventional food, we as electronics consumers literally hold the power in our hands to end the war and mass atrocities in the DR Congo. In addition to this, we have the power to tell the electronics companies that we’ve had ENOUGH of murder and rape and that we implore them to make conflict-free products. I believe we all have a moral obligation to use our voices and speak up for our fellow human beings in the Congo. No phone or computer or camera is worth the suffering and bloodshed of our fellow human beings.
Now it’s your turn to be a powerful force for good in the world. When your current laptop or cell phone breaks, what choice will you make? Will you compassionately consult RAISE Hope for Congo’s Conflict Minerals Company Rankings list and choose a company in the Green category, and a certified conflict-free product when it becomes available? Will you think of the Congolese people and decide to purchase a refurbished laptop, cell phone or i-Pod? Refurbished products actually are the best choice because no new minerals went into the production of the product since the product already is made. Or will you apathetically choose to buy from whichever company you like the best, and give the Congolese people no consideration? I sincerely hope you choose empathy and life instead.
What You Can Do Right Now to Help End War in the Congo
1) Educate yourself, knowledge is power! Learn more on RAISE Hope for Congo’s website.
Watch these short videos: Come Clean 4 the Congo
Conflict Minerals 101
Introducing the New i-Pad
Browse through more videos on RAISE Hope for Congo's website
2) Call the Securities and Exchange Commission (1-888-542-4146) and tell it to stand up for human rights by issuing strong conflict minerals regulations. For more information, click here.
3) Buy a refurbished electronic device, or one from a company in the Green category. When a certified conflict-free product becomes available, buy it!
4) Send a message to an electronics company and urge them to make certified conflict-free products
5) Buy the Blood in the Mobile and/or The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo documentaries and host a film screening at your home, school, church, etc.
6) Start Conflict-Free Campus Initiative (CFCI) and STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition on your campus and make your school go conflict-free
7) Support the anti-genocide and conflict-free movement. Call 1-800-GENOCIDE and tell your representatives that you want peace in Congo now
8) Go to your local Apple store and change the current homepage on all of the computers in the store to RAISE Hope for Congo’s website
9) Donate to and/or volunteer/intern/work with the Enough Project's RAISE Hope for Congo campaign as well as other organizations working for peace in Congo
10) Study abroad or volunteer in another more stable African country and build a sustainable peace from the ground up
11) Share this blog with your friends and family to raise awareness
12) Change your voice mail recording on your cell phone to one that briefly mentions how our cell phones and other electronic devices are fueling the war in the DR Congo and what we as consumers can do
Click on Conflict-minerals, then Start a topic to post a comment or question:
Our cell phones, computers and other electronic devices are tainted with blood; they are directly connected to the mass atrocities occurring in the Democratic Republic of Congo today and are fueling the war. Since 1996, the war has killed nearly 6 million civilians and displaced at least 2 million. Additionally, an estimated 7,000 females (grandmothers, women, and children) were raped in 2009 alone. It is no wonder that this conflict is the deadliest war since World War II and has earned the nickname "Africa's World War." Our laptops, cell phones and other electronic devices are tied directly to this conflict because they are made with minerals (the ores that produce tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold) from the DR Congo. Profit from the mineral trade allows some of the same armed militias who were responsible for the Rwandan genocide to commit mass atrocities against Congolese civilians today.
Recently, I watched the documentary Blood in the Mobile for the first time. This was not the first time I had seen a documentary with this heavy and depressing subject matter, mind you, nor was it the first time I had heard about conflict-minerals. In college, the focus of my major was the Darfur genocide and genocide prevention. For four years, I was consumed with learning everything I could on this subject and watched countless documentaries on Darfur. I’ve also seen the documentary The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo about three times, and was appalled to see how mass rape is being used as a weapon of war in the DR Congo. My heart cries out for these young women and girls who have been so emotionally and physically violated and whose communities and families are being destroyed.
However, watching Blood in the Mobile was different. Something hit the core of my being. As I watched young boys descending down into the dark cave-like mine, my heart sunk. A heaviness and an enraged fury grew inside me as I saw director Frank Poulsen talk to the apathetic Nokia representatives. Most of all, I think this documentary had such a profound emotional affect on me because it showed so vividly how the cell phone in my purse and the laptop on my desk are responsible for the horrors that I was seeing on the screen. This documentary affected me differently than all of the others because it revealed how I am directly connected to this conflict. I am – we all are – DIRECTLY responsible for the ongoing deaths of hundreds upon thousands of civilians every single day.
Blood in the Mobile also provoked other thoughts and questions about a separate yet related issue. What about the environmental impact of the mineral mining? What about "conflict-charcoal?" Poulsen mentions in his film that before the mines and people were there, it was all jungle. During my senior year of college, I co-wrote a 25-page analytical essay on the crisis in Virunga National Park near the city of Goma in the DR Congo. Virunga National Park in the DR Congo and the surrounding parks are home to half of the world’s remaining 720 mountain gorillas. The park is being deforested at an unprecedented rate for the production of charcoal as a tragic consequence of the region’s illegal, yet lucrative, charcoal trade. Due to the DR Congo’s conflict-charcoal, the rare mountain gorilla faces extinction. For more information about this complex issue, watch National Geographic's Gorilla Murders documentary and read National Geographic's Who Murdered the Virunga Gorillas? report.
Charcoal, or makala, is the main energy source for the hundreds of thousands of civilians living in North Kivu and its provincial capital, Goma. This form of energy is used by 98 percent of households for cooking, heating, and boiling water to make potable. One 150-pound sack of hardwood charcoal provides fuel to a Congolese family for a whole month. According to the park's Chief Warden Emmanuel de Merode, the illegal charcoal trade in Goma alone is worth an estimated 30 million U.S. dollars per year. So this begs the question: where is this money going? I would have to think that the charcoal trade also funds the war in the same way in which the mineral trade funds it. After all, it is the same region, the same war, and the same rebel militias who are involved in the mineral and charcoal trade. Mercy Corps, along with other NGOs and individuals, echo my claims regarding conflict-charcoal, and those on the ground undoubtedly bare witness to this connection. This article in particular emphasizes how profits from the charcoal trade indeed are fueling the war in eastern Congo. If we are to help the Congolese people, then we must be aware of and address all aspects of the war in the DR Congo, for issues of human rights and the environment are deeply interconnected.
I’ve mentioned the problem, so now let’s talk about part of the solution. Well, that’s easy. The solution is YOU! About a month or so ago, I convinced my dad and brother to purchase a Motorola cell phone (since the company’s score is Green: On the Right Track), rather than an Apple i-Phone (since the company’s score is Yellow: Room for Improvement). They chose a Motorola phone instead of an Apple phone because I had explained to them how we as electronics consumers do have the power to make a difference and create positive change in the DR Congo. Following my dad and brother’s purchase, I sent a message to Motorola thanking the company for its positive efforts and leadership, and also sent one to Apple thanking the company for its initial efforts and encouraging the company to become more of a leader on this issue. I want to stress, however, that due to all of the recent and persistent consumer pressure, Apple has made great progress in taking the necessary steps to become a leader on this issue and to source its minerals ethically. Soon, we will see Apple in the Green category alongside Motorola and the other companies that are on the right track to becoming certified conflict-free. Lastly, in the messages my dad, brother and I sent to Motorola and Apple, we urged both companies to produce certified conflict-free products. Just as with the blood diamonds of Sierra Leone in the past and voting with your dollar today regarding organic versus conventional food, we as electronics consumers literally hold the power in our hands to end the war and mass atrocities in the DR Congo. In addition to this, we have the power to tell the electronics companies that we’ve had ENOUGH of murder and rape and that we implore them to make conflict-free products. I believe we all have a moral obligation to use our voices and speak up for our fellow human beings in the Congo. No phone or computer or camera is worth the suffering and bloodshed of our fellow human beings.
Now it’s your turn to be a powerful force for good in the world. When your current laptop or cell phone breaks, what choice will you make? Will you compassionately consult RAISE Hope for Congo’s Conflict Minerals Company Rankings list and choose a company in the Green category, and a certified conflict-free product when it becomes available? Will you think of the Congolese people and decide to purchase a refurbished laptop, cell phone or i-Pod? Refurbished products actually are the best choice because no new minerals went into the production of the product since the product already is made. Or will you apathetically choose to buy from whichever company you like the best, and give the Congolese people no consideration? I sincerely hope you choose empathy and life instead.
What You Can Do Right Now to Help End War in the Congo
1) Educate yourself, knowledge is power! Learn more on RAISE Hope for Congo’s website.
Watch these short videos: Come Clean 4 the Congo
Conflict Minerals 101
Introducing the New i-Pad
Browse through more videos on RAISE Hope for Congo's website
2) Call the Securities and Exchange Commission (1-888-542-4146) and tell it to stand up for human rights by issuing strong conflict minerals regulations. For more information, click here.
3) Buy a refurbished electronic device, or one from a company in the Green category. When a certified conflict-free product becomes available, buy it!
4) Send a message to an electronics company and urge them to make certified conflict-free products
5) Buy the Blood in the Mobile and/or The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo documentaries and host a film screening at your home, school, church, etc.
6) Start Conflict-Free Campus Initiative (CFCI) and STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition on your campus and make your school go conflict-free
7) Support the anti-genocide and conflict-free movement. Call 1-800-GENOCIDE and tell your representatives that you want peace in Congo now
8) Go to your local Apple store and change the current homepage on all of the computers in the store to RAISE Hope for Congo’s website
9) Donate to and/or volunteer/intern/work with the Enough Project's RAISE Hope for Congo campaign as well as other organizations working for peace in Congo
10) Study abroad or volunteer in another more stable African country and build a sustainable peace from the ground up
11) Share this blog with your friends and family to raise awareness
12) Change your voice mail recording on your cell phone to one that briefly mentions how our cell phones and other electronic devices are fueling the war in the DR Congo and what we as consumers can do
Click on Conflict-minerals, then Start a topic to post a comment or question:
