Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - Re: [permaculture] The Dark Side of Cell Phones

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Kai Vido <kaivido@yahoo.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] The Dark Side of Cell Phones
  • Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2007 14:15:33 -0800 (PST)

...A look at the dark side of cell phones:

http://www.seeingisbelieving.ca/cell/kinshasa/

*****************

Cellphones fuel Congo conflict
Cellphones may have revolutionized the way we communicate, but in
Central Africa their biggest legacy is war.

Nearly 3 million people have died in Congo in a four-year war over
coltan, a heat-resistant mineral ore widely used in cellphones, laptops
and playstations. Eighty percent of the world's coltan reserves are in
the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The mountainous jungle area where the coltan is mined is the
battleground of what has been grimly dubbed "Africa's first World War,"
pitting Congolese forces against those of six neighbouring countries
and numerous armed factions.
The victims are mostly civilians. Starvation and disease have killed
hundreds of thousands and the fighting has displaced 2 million people
from their homes.
Often dismissed as an ethnic war, the conflict is really over natural
resources sought by foreign corporations -- diamonds, tin, copper,
gold, but mostly coltan.
At stake for the multitude of heavily armed militias and governments is
a cut of the high-tech boom of the 1990s, which sent the price of
coltan skyrocketing to peak at US$400 per kilo. Coltan -- short for
colombo-tantalite -- is refined into tantalum, a "magic powder"
essential to many electronic devices.
The war started in 1998 when Congolese rebel forces, backed by Rwanda
and Uganda, seized eastern Congo and moved into strategic mining areas,
attacking villages along the way.
The Rwandan Army was soon making an estimated US$20 million a month
from coltan mining.
A May 2002 report from the United Nations Security Council said the
huge coltan profits are fueling the war and allowing "a large number"
of government officials, rebels and foreigners "to amass as much wealth
as possible."
The fighting rages on despite peace treaties signed in the summer of
2002. The peace process was started after the assassination of
Congolese President Laurent Kabila in January 2001 and pressure from
South Africa. But not all sides signed on. While foreign troops have
officially withdrawn, internal factions remain at war.
Digging for "Black Gold"
The war over coltan has transformed Congo in more subtle ways, too.
Farmers displaced from their land have little option but to join
coltan-mining brigades. Mined much like gold, coltan is found by
digging large pits in riverbeds, with armies of miners scraping away
dirt to get to the coltan underground.

Using large washtubs, they slosh the water and mud allowing the coltan
to settle to the bottom because of its heavy weight. Reports say a
third of the region's children are giving up school to dig for coltan.
The rebel camps have also created a huge market for prostitution, and
with it, AIDS. An estimated 2 million people are HIV-infected in Congo.
Reports of rampant human-rights abuses pour out of the rebel-controlled
mining region. Local men, women and children are forced into mining,
fighting and sex work, threatened with torture, rape and murder.
The coltan makes its way out of the mines to "trading posts" which are
taxed or controlled by the rebels. Foreign traders then buy the mineral
and ship it abroad, mostly through Rwanda.
All of it winds up bought by just three companies - Cabot Inc. of the
United States, Germany's HC Starc and China's Nigncxia - the only firms
with processing plants to turn coltan into the coveted tantalum powder.
The "magic powder" is then sold to Nokia, Motorola, Compaq, Alcatel,
Ericsson and Sony for use in a wide assortment of everyday products.
Tantalum traders claim it is impossible to accurately trace the source
of coltan. Unlike diamonds, tantalum dust is hard to "fingerprint."
(Outcry over the bloody diamond wars of Sierra Leone, Angola and
Liberia led to diamonds being "fingerprinted" with micro stamps, such
as Canada's polar bear image, guaranteeing a war-free product.)
Fingerprinting tantalum dust is not as simple, but legitimate and
sufficient sources of coltan do exist in Canada, Australia, Brazil,
Thailand, Malaysia and China.
Concern over the Congolese war has prompted some industry players to
claim they are now more diligent about where their coltan comes from.
But no international boycott or embargo of Congolese coltan is yet in
place. In any case, it is also unclear how a boycott would be
physically enforced.

Save the Gorillas
Human-rights groups in Europe have launched campaigns on Congo, but so
far they have not perked up Western ears.
Ironically, it may be the endangered Congolese gorilla population that
finally gets the West to show concern about Congo and its devastating
conflict.
Actor Leonaro Di Caprio and other celebrities have spoken out against
the destructive impact of coltan mining on the environment and the
mountain gorilla. Di Caprio is working with the Dian Fossey Gorilla
Fund, which has launched an international campaign to hold the
high-tech industry accountable for the effects of coltan mining on
gorillas.
To date, no high-tech company has made any major commitments to respect
the cause.
In November 2002, representatives of the Dian Fossey fund were
scheduled to travel to South Africa on a mission to help resolve the
crisis in the Congo.
Other groups like Television Trust for the Environment -- which is at
the forefront of educating people on links between environmental
degradation, poverty and war -- are also campaigning for more global
action on Congo.
For good daily coverage of the Congo situation, visit the website of
the UK's BBC network .
For more information on the campaign for peace in Congo, please return
to our website in Spring 2003 (Season III), when we launch a campaign
to support peace and accountability in the region.



--- J Newman <jn@jnweb.com> wrote:

> Lawrence, For an anlysis of the validity of these suggestions, see
> http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/cellphones.asp
>
> Jeffrey Newman
>
> JN Web Design
> http://www.jnweb.com/
> Phone: 1 250 791-9206
> Fax: 1 250 791-9207
> E-Mail: jn@jnweb.com
> ICQ: 9879310
>
> 108 Mile Ranch BC, Canada.
>
> >
> > 1. Cell Phones (Lawrence F. London, Jr.)
> >
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >Message: 1
> >Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2007 12:54:37 -0500
> >From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>
> >Subject: [permaculture] Cell Phones
> >To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
> >Message-ID: <45EDAADD.8030603@intrex.net>
> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
> >
> >
> >THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW YOUR CELL PHONE COULD DO!
> >
> >
> >There are a few things that can be done in times of grave
> emergencies. Your
> >mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for
> survival.
> >Check out the things that you can do with it:
> >
> >FIRST:
> >Emergency The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you
> find
> >yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile; network and there
> is an
> >emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network
> to
> >establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this
> number 112
> >can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out!
> >
> >THIRD:
> >Hidden Battery Power Imagine your cell battery is very low.
> >To activate, press the keys *3370# Your cell will restart with this
> reserve
> >and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve
> will
> >get charged when you charge your cell next time.
> >
> >FOURTH:
> >How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone? To check your Mobile phone's
> serial
> >number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 # A 15
> digit code
> >will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset.
> Write it
> >down and keep it somewhere safe.
> >Should your phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider
> and give
> >them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even
> if the
> >thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You
> probably
> >won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole
> it can't
> >use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point
> in
> >people stealing mobile phones.
> >
> >FIFTH:
> >Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411
> >information calls when they don't have to. Most of us do not carry a
> >telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even
> more of
> >a problem. When you need to use the 411 information option, simply
> dial:
> >1-800-FREE-411, or 1-800-373-3411 without incurring any charge at
> all.
> >Program this into your cell phone now.
> >
> >
> _______________________________________________
> permaculture mailing list
> permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture
>





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page