How The Mobile Phone in Your Pocket is Helping to Pay For The Civil War in Congo
by Mike Pflanz
GOMA - After two hours, drenched in sweat, he tugs on a cord tied to his waist and is pulled back to the surface, carrying with him a 30 kilogram sack of raw columbium-tantalite ore.
[More than 80 per cent of the world's coltan is in Africa, and 80 percent of that lies in territory controlled by Congo's various ragtag rebel groups, armed militia and its corrupt and underfunded national army.]More than 80 per cent of the world's coltan is in Africa, and 80 percent of that lies in territory controlled by Congo's various ragtag rebel groups, armed militia and its corrupt and underfunded national army.
Few people have heard of this rare mineral, known as coltan, even though millions of people in the developed world rely on it. But global demand for the mineral, and a handful of other materials used in everything from cellphones to soup tins, is keeping the armies of Congo's ceaseless wars fighting.
Read More...
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/11/09-2
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Mobile phones "Warning! This device was created with raw materials from central Africa
Perhaps, he suggests, mobile phones should be outfitted with stickers that
read:
"Warning! This device was created with raw materials from central Africa.
These materials are rare, nonrenewable, were sold to fund a bloody war of
occupation, and have caused the virtual elimination of endangered species.
Have a nice day."
People need to realize, he says, that there is a direct link between the
gadgets that make our lives more convenient and sophisticated-and the
reality of the violence, turmoil, and destruction that plague our world.
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Project%20Censored/CensoredNews_2007.html
Confessions of an Eco Sinner: Long-distance calling
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/3326551/Confessions-of-an-Eco-Sinner-Long-distance-calling.html
From Mast Sanity/Mast Network
--------
How electronics-fueled market for tin funds war in Congo
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/8056/
Informant: jensenmk
From ufpj-news
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Congo
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Coltan
GOMA - After two hours, drenched in sweat, he tugs on a cord tied to his waist and is pulled back to the surface, carrying with him a 30 kilogram sack of raw columbium-tantalite ore.
[More than 80 per cent of the world's coltan is in Africa, and 80 percent of that lies in territory controlled by Congo's various ragtag rebel groups, armed militia and its corrupt and underfunded national army.]More than 80 per cent of the world's coltan is in Africa, and 80 percent of that lies in territory controlled by Congo's various ragtag rebel groups, armed militia and its corrupt and underfunded national army.
Few people have heard of this rare mineral, known as coltan, even though millions of people in the developed world rely on it. But global demand for the mineral, and a handful of other materials used in everything from cellphones to soup tins, is keeping the armies of Congo's ceaseless wars fighting.
Read More...
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/11/09-2
--------
Mobile phones "Warning! This device was created with raw materials from central Africa
Perhaps, he suggests, mobile phones should be outfitted with stickers that
read:
"Warning! This device was created with raw materials from central Africa.
These materials are rare, nonrenewable, were sold to fund a bloody war of
occupation, and have caused the virtual elimination of endangered species.
Have a nice day."
People need to realize, he says, that there is a direct link between the
gadgets that make our lives more convenient and sophisticated-and the
reality of the violence, turmoil, and destruction that plague our world.
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Project%20Censored/CensoredNews_2007.html
Confessions of an Eco Sinner: Long-distance calling
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/3326551/Confessions-of-an-Eco-Sinner-Long-distance-calling.html
From Mast Sanity/Mast Network
--------
How electronics-fueled market for tin funds war in Congo
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/8056/
Informant: jensenmk
From ufpj-news
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Congo
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Coltan
rudkla - 9. Nov, 18:02
