Blood Phones

[Madeline]

Op-Ed Columnist - Death by Gadget in Congo - NYTimes.com

What say you?

 

[RadiomanATL]

 

[Madeline]

Okie dokie, then. Gonna boycott?

 

[RadiomanATL]

Okie dokie, then. Gonna boycott?

I don't own an iPhone or a smartphone, so it's pretty easy for me to boycott.

 

[2Parties]

The New York Times gets lamer by the day...

 

[Madeline]

Okie dokie, then. Gonna boycott?

I don't own an iPhone or a smartphone, so it's pretty easy for me to boycott.

Apple is not the only manufacturer with sourcing issues, Radioman.

 

[RadiomanATL]

Okie dokie, then. Gonna boycott?

I don't own an iPhone or a smartphone, so it's pretty easy for me to boycott.

Apple is not the only manufacturer with sourcing issues, Radioman.

Yeah, but I don't own any smartphone.

 

[Madeline]

The New York Times gets lamer by the day...

What is lame about trying to disincentivise rape and murder?

 

[Madeline]

An ugly paradox of the 21st century is that some of our elegant symbols of modernity — smartphones, laptops and digital cameras — are built from minerals that seem to be fueling mass slaughter and rape in Congo.

I'm not a techy person, Radioman, but it seems likely all of us can apply pressure.

 

[2Parties]

The New York Times gets lamer by the day...

What is lame about trying to disincentivise rape and murder?

If I want to purchase something that is being fought over it's not my fault or problem dumbasses are being dumbasses and killing people because of it.

I'm not going to stop buying donuts at a local donut shop because of a war between him and his competitor. I don't care if they are idiots. I want my donut.

 

[RadiomanATL]

An ugly paradox of the 21st century is that some of our elegant symbols of modernity — smartphones, laptops and digital cameras — are built from minerals that seem to be fueling mass slaughter and rape in Congo.

I'm not a techy person, Radioman, but it seems likely all of us can apply pressure.

*Shrug*

People will fight and kill over everything. Doesn't matter if it's minerals that go in the latest widget, or agricultural rights, or whatever.

Most of the strife in Africa can be traced back to tribal animosities. The minerals are just an excuse.

 

[editec]

Op-Ed Columnist - Death by Gadget in Congo - NYTimes.com

What say you?

Screw that.

How about BLOOD CHOCOLATE?

Most of it is the result of exploited children, ya know.

There are about 600,000 cocoa farms in Cote d'Ivoire (Child Labor Coalition). Estimates of the number of children forced to work as slaves on these farms are as high as 15,000 (Save the Children Canada). In addition to the very illegality of trafficking and hiring children workers, the implicated cocoa farmers subject the children to inhuman living conditions. Besides overworking them, the farmers do not pay the children nor feed them properly-often times they are allowed to eat corn paste as their only meal. The denigration also includes locking the children up at night to prevent escape. Although it is only one of many occurrences of bonded labor, Aly Diabate's experience on a cocoa farm still illustrates how this torture strips away the dignity of children.

source

 

[Madeline]

I did not know this, editec. There is a sorrowful lot of evil in this world.

 

[JBeukema]

Op-Ed Columnist - Death by Gadget in Congo - NYTimes.com

What say you?

With a name like 'Blood phones', the goths are going to be buying two or three each...

 

[IanC]

The africans seem to find a reason to butcher and maim in just about anything. I wonder how many have died over control of western aid? Albino body parts, penis snatching, AIDS cures, its all unfathomable. But true.

 

[Epsilon Delta]

I’ve never reported on a war more barbaric than Congo’s, and it haunts me. In Congo, I’ve seen women who have been mutilated, children who have been forced to eat their parents’ flesh, girls who have been subjected to rapes that destroyed their insides. Warlords finance their predations in part through the sale of mineral ore containing tantalum, tungsten, tin and gold. For example, tantalum from Congo is used to make electrical capacitors that go into phones, computers and gaming devices.

The good thing about this sort of campaign is that it could force companies (or force the government to force companies) to state whether their products have these "blood minerals" or not. Companies can use the fact that they don't use minerals that fuel mass rape as a comparative advantage against others by getting the consumer (that consumer with a conscience that is) to buy their shit instead, and eventually others are going to jump on board. This always takes time but its definitely starting catch on, especially in universities, where people are starting to talk about it a lot.

Obviously, if left totally alone companies would just find it cheaper and easier for nobody to know about it. But the more people who know, the more civil society activity, the more pressure both political and economic and governments and corporations respectively. So props to the columnist.