This isn”t just about cell phones; It”s about the unspoken price that technology exacts from far-away lands and peoples.
Since 1996, in the Republic Of The Congo, between six and seven million people have died as a consequence of western corporate powers using their muscle to influence conflicts in the region in order to gain control of the mineral rights.The natural resources there include the standard fare diamonds,tin, copper and gold but more importantly,the emerging necessities of coltan, niobium, and cobalt. The first two minerals are necessary to the continued production of cell phones and advanced electronic technologies and 80 percent of the world”s reserves are located in the Congo. Cobalt is essential to the chemical, aerospace, nuclear and defense industries. From my reading and research the fact emerges that much of the genocide in Rwanda was a direct result of the wars to decide who controlled these resources, yet our media hardly mention the reasons behind this catastrophe.
It is a common theme throughout “Third World” reporting and commentary. We [citizens of the technologically modern world] are encouraged to believe that these are poor peoples, to be pitied, fighting among themselves for power and control of their meager lives and livelihood. In reality, it is business as usual for corporations arming and supporting any despot who will allow them to ravage natural resources and replenish the necessities that drive the consumer-rich “First World”. In some cases, these corporations have their own armies to “discipline” unruly “natives” and preserve the “stability” of the region. Sound familiar?
It appears that each of our last three presidents has had invested interests in allowing these modern holocausts. As our lives become more convenient and sophisticated we should remember that somewhere there are lands and peoples paying a much larger price for our standard of living than we can imagine.
James Blue Wolf
Nice
