#cobalt mining

[mahoganygold213]

[youthincare]

Forced evictions, decimated villages, children can't attend school

Apple, Google, Tesla and Microsoft are among firms named in a lawsuit seeking damages over deaths and injuries of child miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

DR Congo produces 60% of the world's supply of cobalt.

The mineral is used to produce lithium-ion batteries used to power electric cars, laptops and smartphones.

[torque-witch]

Death’s Head Divination is collaborating with Slow Mornings Co. to bring you a silly sticker design + ways you can support your local communities and global issues as we move forward through uncertain times 🌿

SMC’s “C(r)apitalism” slogan centers the idea that capitalism causes harm through extracting resources from both people and the planet to fuel a system that benefits only the few at the top. Survival within it is necessary while we work to divest and destroy it though. Thus we need to focus on mutual aid networks, free resources, community care and slowing down despite our common struggle.

The sticker itself represents how quickly technology becomes irrelevant under this system (who remembers Blackberries?) while contributing to pollution and exploitation. While we both recognize stickers aren’t an answer to environmentalism, they are accessible ways to support creators directly and get messages out to your communities.

Following this though, we would like to donate $1 of every sticker sale to Friends of the Congo - a 501(c)(3) advocacy organization that partners with Congolese to bring change to the DRC, where cobalt extraction for phones and computers is rampant and exploitative.

Additionally, we have launched a submission form where you can add your local community’s free and accessible resources to a growing directory for everyone to use. This could include free fridges, libraries, inclusive places of worship, food banks, shelters, businesses, online events, inclusive legal and health resources, etc. This includes within the US and globally, wherever you live.

Submission Form

C(r)apitalism Sticker Pre-Order

Donate to Friends of the Congo

[slacktivist]

There are only a handful of people who really "benefit" from exploiting labour and non-renewable resources. The global economic system reinforces the power that this handful of people have, even if they were a group that never crossed paths.

Your salary is negotiated in a vaccum, while the cost of living is relative. The price of all goods are determined to maximize company profit, but the return on those profits are decided by those with the most power and therefore incentive to benefit the most. The return is completely subjective to the person who has that power, and those who are close to that power are incentivised through financial and survivor bias, to reinforce the person who holds the power.

Complacency is greedy. There are people who make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, sometimes millions. For doing absolutely nothing. Have you ever thought that being a manager isn't a 'real job'? That's because in most cases, it isn't a job. It's a formal stepping stone to reinforce hierarchies where people are incentivised to reach a higher salary. It literally exists to justify your inadequacy to change your social caste.

Europe, the new western world, the new global north has been built upon these structures for centuries, and it has been "science" and western philosophy that has justified the pervasiveness of "global economics" . Competition is not exploitation. Competition is incentive. Greedy individuals have successfully stunted technological growth by outsourcing exploitation at a global scale and forceably shaping the world using their power, influence, and propaganda. If you think your favorite tourist destination is innocent in this, you are hopelessly wrong .

[safirefire]

Criticism of Cobalt Red

I don’t know what Kara had to do to get Cobalt Red approved for publication but the glaring lack of meaningful critique of the American government is obvious. I know the author is an award winning antislavery advocate so this is not an insult of him, but an observation of what is missing. This book is being praised by American news outlets with little backlash against companies like Apple or Tesla. Cobalt Red details how the Chinese government exploits Congolese people and reading between the lines you can see American and other European imperialist powers probably operate the same way. But it’s interesting that the majority of the critique of governments is about Chinese exploitation and Congolese corruption when it’s also explicit that the majority of consumers of cobalt products are American.

[battleangel]

📱YOUR iPHONE 15 IS CAUSING A GENOCIDE IN CONGO📱

Please buy refurbished & used phones!

[reasoningdaily]

https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/12/17/19/us-tech-giants-sued-over-cobalt-mine-child-labor-deaths

US tech giants sued over cobalt mine child labor deaths

NEW YORK - Five US tech giants including Apple, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet have been named in a lawsuit over the death of child laborers in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Impoverished but mineral-rich DR Congo is the world's largest producer of the rare metal, which is crucial for making batteries used in mobile phones and electric vehicles.

The case was lodged Sunday in the name of 14 unidentified victims, who are members of the families of children killed in tunnel collapses, as well as children maimed as they worked.

It lists Apple, Google's parent company Alphabet, Dell, Microsoft and Tesla as defendants and was submitted by the International Rights Advocates (IRA) campaign group to a Washington tribunal.

A boom in the technological sector has led to a huge increase in the demand for cobalt, IRA wrote in its statement, adding the tech companies were aware the DR Congo's mining sector relies on children. 

Child miners work for $2-3 a day "under stone age conditions for paltry wages and at immense personal risk", it said.

BMW along with German chemical giant BASF and Samsung announced a joint project to ensure "responsible" cobalt mining in DR Congo earlier this year.

The mining industry has said it wants to adopt standards of good governance to improve working conditions.

The London Metal Exchange, the global center for trading in industrial metals, recently adopted new ethical standards to ensure better traceability of raw materials, including cobalt.

And earlier this year, the World Gold Council issued "Responsible Gold Mining Principles", although the guidance is non-binding.

[sekwar]

everyone stop what they're doing and feast your eyes on this real powerpoint presentation that happened. i wasn't there to see it in person but thank god it got recorded. i cannot emphasize just how important this is gonna be for the future of everything. all hail ZAMN!

also art is happening. i just accepted a big opportunity that i will talk about once it comes out oooooooooo

[larimar]

davidsuzukifdn

Just one more reason to switch to 100% renewables. We're on the brink of a massive win for renewables in Canada 

[mamiwatafilm]

Is all fair in love and war on climate change? A supernatural force is awakened when eccentric electric car entrepreneur Alan Murdoch & two scientists travel to Congo - where their cobalt mining operations thrive on child and slave labor - to steal the mythical cobalt magnet that will help harvest an endless supply of cobalt from the ocean.

[feminegra]

Humanitarian Disaster in Congo Continues as the World Continues to Look Away

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is currently experiencing one of the world’s most devastating humanitarian crises, yet it remains largely ignored by the global media and international community. Despite the severity of the situation, the focus of global attention seems to be elsewhere, notably on conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. This silence is deafening, particularly for those on…

[theremina]

“Righteous anger is usually not about oneself. It is about those whom one sees being harmed and whom one wants to help. In short, righteous anger is a tool of justice, a scythe of compassion, more than a reactive emotion. Although it may have its roots deep in our fight-or-flight desire to protect those in our family or group who are threatened, it is a chosen response and not simply an uncontrollable reaction. And it is not about one's own besieged self-image, or one's feelings of separation, but of one's collective responsibility, and one's feeling of deep, empowering connection.”

― Archbishop Desmond Tutu

[shirokaneki]

So in response to this here where I got "debunked" (youll see it in the notes since I got blocked I cant reblog the full version" here's some facts about China's involvment in the cobalt mining and how that plays into the genocide in congo. Please note this does not, take away from other countries like Europe's involvement, but since people hide the facts abd block you when you criticise, China, let's talk about that!

Please note that the source listed on Wikipedia about who owns the mines is from 2011, and therefore out of date. You can see this by clicking the source button on the cobalt mining wiki. And the claim that canada owns the most is across ALL mines in africa, not just cobalt. This is why Wikipedia is not a reliable source! Remember any CCP bootlicker can edit this!

China's investment of Africa rises by 20.5% annually. Therefore, China's investment of Africa has risen by 246% since 2011, even more if we consider that we are at the end of 2023.

https://www.mining-technology.com/marketdata/ten-largest-cobalts-mines/?cf-view Here's a list of the of the top 10 biggest cobalt mines. China is listed as owning number 3! Now, even if it was number 3, this would still be really bad even if it WAS just number 3. But let's look more into the number one share company, who is owned by the eurASIAN resource group. The investment in the top two biggest mining companies...? 72 billion from China for the eurasian resource group. They have a shit load of shares in the biggest mine! https://www.eurasianresources.lu/en/news/Eurasian%20Resources%20Group%20welcomes%20China%E2%80%99s%20$72%20billion%20inv

Now let's look at the second largest company. That's right, China Moly has given them a 2.5 billion investment! They literally own the second biggest! And as you can see in the list, they own third too! https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-moly-spend-25-bln-double-copper-cobalt-output-congo-mine-2021-08-06/

They also own number 8 the ruashi mine

I'm sure if I went down the list they would have more but I think you get the picture; the mines that produce the most cobalt are owned by China meaning they dominate the cobalt industry.

Here's another source stating china owns most of them.

But sure, the black people are lying about the exploitation of their country!

[sadapples]

in case you didn’t know, there is a silent genocide happening in Congo right now

This compilation introduces and explains it pretty well. Please educate yourself and spread awareness, this is actually horrific and yet it’s not getting nearly enough attention.

[reasoningdaily]

"Cobalt Red": Smartphones & Electric Cars Rely on Toxic Mineral Mined in Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo produces nearly three-quarters of the world's cobalt, an essential component in rechargeable batteries powering laptops, smartphones and electric vehicles. 

But those who dig up the valuable mineral often work in horrific and dangerous conditions, says Siddharth Kara, an international expert on modern-day slavery and author of _Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives_. 

In an in-depth interview, he says the major technology companies that rely on this cobalt from DRC to make their products are turning a blind eye to the human toll and falsely claiming their supply chains are free from abuse, including widespread child labor.

 "The public health catastrophe on top of the human rights violence on top of the environmental destruction is unlike anything we've ever seen in the modern context," says Kara. "The fact that it is linked to companies worth trillions and that our lives depend on this enormous violence has to be dealt with."