Blood Cell Phones

[RyanX]

_http://www.mehrnews.com/en/newsdetail.aspx?NewsID=808715

You’re chatting on your cell phone and you don’t even realize that five million people had to die so you could make that call.

Of course, you’ll say, “How can that be so?”

It very well can be so and it is so.

Over 5.4 million people have died as a result of the ten-year war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, making it the bloodiest war since World War II, and one of the driving factors behind the war is the pursuit of the rare metallic ore columbite-tantalite, also known as coltan.

Niobium and tantalum are extracted from the coltan ore, and tantalum is an essential component in cell phones, computers, DVD players, computer games, and many other electronic devices.

Of course, coltan is not the only cause of the war in the eastern Congo.

Government officials of Rwanda have said that they felt compelled to militarily intervene because militias operating along the border with Congo have been threatening their national security.

But it has been reported that the Rwandan Army has earned about $500 million over the past two years from its control of Congolese coltan mines, so it is clear that Rwanda’s military activities in the eastern Congo are not just security measures.

Meanwhile, the neocolonial powers seeking to control Africa have a vested interest in maintaining instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Congo is one of the continent’s key countries. As long as the Congo is down, Africa cannot rise up.

In addition, corporations that profit from the exploitation of the mineral resources of the country have always been comfortable with instability and underdevelopment in Congo, as evidenced by their activities during the decades of the Mobuto Sese Seko kleptocracy.

However, despite all these other factors, reducing or eliminating the illegal trade in coltan would definitely help efforts to end the war in the eastern Congo.

And this can be done by taking a cue from recent history.

The trade in blood diamonds financed wars in Africa for years, most notably the civil war in Sierra Leone with its horrific atrocities, but finally the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme was devised in 2000 and entered into force in 2003.

In the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, certificates are issued that identify the origins of diamonds to certify that diamonds being sold in markets in member states are not blood diamonds.

Clearly, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme can be used as a model to solve the blood coltan problem.

If a process to issue certificates verifying that consignments of coltan and tantalum have not financed a conflict can be devised, people can be assured that they are not buying cell phones or other electronic devices manufactured with blood coltan.

And this certification process could help end the conflict in the Congo, which would be a great victory for the Congo, Africa, and all of humanity.

 

[sankara]

The certification process is interesting but Congo, Africa an the World need JUSTICE. It would never be enaugh to say: "Ok, we did some wrong but now it's gonna be better, we have the certification, so, sorry guys for this war...

Furthermore, the other main deadly issue with cell phones are the radiations (antennas and cell phone).

Cell phone have been made public mainly because of it's use for population control. I clearly remember when the agrement was sihned between the phone operators and the authority. Charles Pasqua (Sarkosy's mentor) really made it clear. It has never been tested before seriously! ten years ago I had documents issued by the phone company, aknowledging the nocivity of the cell phones...They knew it would be a major health problem, but they did their best to slow the process of information. So we have never really use our FREE WILL in the implementation of that 'bloody' technology...
This is the sad truth.
So maybe we could have tried to refine the telepathic stuff...

 

[Erna]

It is true about the coltan. The fact that the Congo is the only place where it exists, is the Congo's curse, rather than it's blessing.

I have recently finished Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart by Tim Butcher:

_http://www.joburg.co.za/website/Reviews/Book/070801/070801.htm#2

This book is a very important book for anyone trying to grasp (if only slightly) the internal and external influences resulting in the Congo of our day. When reading it, I sometimes just put the book on my chest and stared at the ceiling trying to fathom what I had just read. The writer of this book travelled through areas where Westeners haven't travelled through for decades, and is therefore the only recent account of what transpires in the interior.

It's important to understand that the Congolese government only barely has control over Kinshasa, and that the rest of the country, which is the size of Western Europe, is a lawless place where different rebel groups run the show with impunity. There is so much about this book that I want to share, but I'll do a proper review in the Book section later on. Western corporations' complicity to the instability have endured since Lumbumbashi's (the first elected president after independence) assassination on America and Belgium's orders, through Mobuto Sese Seko's reign, up to today with Joseph Kabila. When Che Guevera fought in the Congo to overthrow Mobuto Sese Seko, he described Laurent Kabila, Joseph Kabila's father as "nothing but a drunk".

The amount of players (Western, Asian & African) in the fight for minerals just boggles the mind. It's a place where death is always a heartbeat away.

 

[domi]

It's important to understand that the Congolese government only barely has control over Kinshasa, and that the rest of the country, which is the size of Western Europe, is a lawless place where different rebel groups run the show with impunity. There is so much about this book that I want to share, but I'll do a proper review in the Book section later on. Western corporations' complicity to the instability have endured since Lumbumbashi's (the first elected president after independence) assassination on America and Belgium's orders, through Mobuto Sese Seko's reign, up to today with Joseph Kabila. When Che Guevera fought in the Congo to overthrow Mobuto Sese Seko, he described Laurent Kabila, Joseph Kabila's father as "nothing but a drunk".

The amount of players (Western, Asian & African) in the fight for minerals just boggles the mind. It's a place where death is always a heartbeat away.

Actually it was Lumumba that was assasinated. Lubumbashi is a city.

 

[Erna]

Yes, apologies, I always call him after the town, Lubumbashi (Congo's 2nd city which was named after him)  :)