I recently got a new cell phone. The one I had before my purchase was about two years old — a fact that I am rather proud of, considering everyone else’s apparent need to constantly update their communication devices, enabling them to not only make calls but also do the dishes, plan outfits, and predict the future.
Despite my phone’s age, I still — like the majority of people in high school — used it every day, multiple times a day. Without my cell phone, I would sleep through my first block, eat lunch by myself, and be completely detached from my friends and family; I use my cell phone to stay connected to people and things that are important to me, from school to work to my friends.
When I bought my new cell phone, I did not only maintain my connection with my social life. I made a connection to an issue that at first glance is completely unrelated to me or anyone who lives in the U.S: The current humanitarian conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo — which has been called the most deadly conflict since the Holocaust and has claimed over 5.4 million lives — is so far away from me that Google Maps can’t even give me directions to get there. How could it possibly affect my everyday life?
The conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo does not, in fact, affect my everyday life. I could go about my day-to-day activities without thinking for a moment about the thousands of reported cases of raped women — from as young as three to as old as 83 — and the countless cases that go undocumented. I could wake up, eat breakfast, and walk into my first class perfectly fine without the approximately 1.3 million people who have been displaced from their homes in the Congo ever crossing my mind.
No, the conflict in the Congo does not affect my everyday life: my everyday life affects the conflict in the Congo.
My cell phone purchase will not only enable me to keep my social life in tact, it will enable rebel groups in the Congo to continue systematically raping women and destroying villages in order to gain access to Congo’s mineral-rich land. These minerals — mainly tungsten, tin, gold, and tantalum — are found in all modern day electronics. Tungsten is the mineral that enables phones to vibrate. From tantalum we get coltan, which allows portable electronics to hold their charge. Tin facilitates the lighting of laptop and cell phone screens by soldering their circuit boards.
Rebel groups assert themselves into Congolese villages, systematically raping women and children to take control of the community. They take over the mines and illegally export minerals that, after changing hands countless numbers of times, end up in portable electronics like my new cell phone, your iPod, and the laptop on which I am currently writing this piece. There are so many middlemen involved in the acquisition of these minerals that it they are difficult — but not impossible — to trace.
It may seem as though making conflict-free electronics — iPods, cell phones, and laptops that don’t fuel the deadly humanitarian crisis in the Congo — is impossible. However, it is important to remember that since it is our iPods, cell phones, and laptops that are fueling this conflict, we can help to end this conflict. We can pressure our government to impose regulations on companies to ensure that our electronics aren’t aiding militant rebel groups in gang raping thousands of women. As consumers we can pressure companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Samsung to provide us with conflict-free products, and hold them accountable for not doing so. Not only do we have the ability to make conflict-free electronics a reality, but we — as the people who thrive on the products that enable the conflict — have the responsibility to do so.
For more information about conflict minerals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, visit www.enoughproject.org.
