#cobalt red

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

Have you read Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth Kara (2023)?

yes

no

I've read parts of it

I've never heard of it

Voting ended onMar 25

[quixoticanarchy]

“This system of severity of exploitation of poor people of color at the bottom of global supply chains goes back centuries. Few people sitting for breakfast in England in the 1700s knew that their tea was sweetened by sugar harvested under brutal conditions by African slaves toiling in the West Indies. The slaves remained far removed from the British breakfast table until a band of abolitionists placed the true picture of slavery directly in front of the English people. Stakeholders fought to maintain the system. They told the British public not to trust what they were told. They espoused the great humanity of the slave trade—Africans were not suffering, they were being “saved” from the savagery of the dark continent. They argued that Africans worked in pleasing conditions on the islands. When those arguments failed, the slavers claimed they made changes that remedied the offenses taking place on the plantations. After all, who was going to go all the way to the West Indies and prove otherwise, and even if they did, who would believe them?

The truth, however, was this—but for the demand for sugar and the immense profits accrued through the sale of it, the entire slavery-for-sugar economy would not have existed. Furthermore, the inevitable outcome of stripping humans of their dignity, security, wages, and freedom can only be a system that results in the complete dehumanization of the people exploited at the bottom of the chain.

Today’s tech barons will tell you a similar tale about cobalt. They will tell you that they uphold international human rights norms and that their particular supply chains are clean. They will also assure you that conditions are not as bad as they seem and that they are bringing commerce, wages, education, and development to the poorest people of Africa (“saving” them). They will also assure you that they have implemented changes to remedy the problems on the ground, at least at the mines from which they say they buy cobalt. After all, who is going to go all the way to the Congo and prove otherwise, and even if they did, who would believe them?

The truth, however, is this—but for their demand for cobalt and the immense profits they accrue through the sale of smartphones, tablets, laptops, and electric vehicles, the entire blood-for-cobalt economy would not exist. Furthermore, the inevitable outcome of a lawless scramble for cobalt in an impoverished and war-torn country can only be the complete dehumanization of the people exploited at the bottom of the chain.

So much time has passed; so little has changed.”

— from Cobalt Red, Siddharth Kara

[yuccachild]

"Please tell the people in your country, a child in the Congo dies everyday so that they can plug in their phones."

-Siddharth Kara's translator "Augustin" in Cobalt Red

[houseofpurplestars]

Idk but i think one of the best things you can do is read this book

Cobalt Red How The Blood Of The Congo Powers Our Lives ( 2023) : Siddartha Kara : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Cobalt Red How The Blood Of The Congo Powers Our Lives ( 2023)

[binxbartholomewbones]

A must read.

[safirefire]

Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives By Siddharth Kara

I finished this audiobook weeks ago and have been trying to figure out what to say about it but honestly I think you should just read/listen to it. Kara does an incredibly deep dive into the mining, selling, distributing, and (lack of) regulation of cobalt mining in the Congo. The brutal mining conditions lead to so much death and physical harm that mostly go unreported. Companies that use cobalt release meaningless human rights statements that they do not adhere to. The mining, processing, and selling processes are so separate and siloed that big companies that use cobalt always point fingers and blame someone else down the line and no one gets held accountable. Women face high rates of sexual violence and the pay disparity for women (and girl) miners is abysmal. Boys have to mine to provide for their families especially as their fathers and brothers get injured mining. The mining itself is destroying the environment and damaging the water, food, and health of Congolese people in mining districts. This book was very informative and the irony of typing this out and listening to it on an iPhone is not lost on me. Be very conscious of the technology you use and buy, especially the replacement rates. There’s absolutely no need to trade in phones for a newer model every year. The genocide of Congolese people that Leopold of Belgium started has never really ended. We need to all find where we can get involved with antiracist work because racism is the foundation of imperialism and capitalism.

Link to audiobook and description included in images above

[andreai04]

Until this moment, I thought that the ground in the Congo took its vermillion hue from the copper in the dirt, but now I cannot help but wonder whether the earth here is red because of all the blood that has spilled upon it.

That is the lasting image I take from the Congo—the heart of Africa reduced to the bloodstained corpse of a child, who died solely because he was digging for cobalt.

Our daily lives are powered by a human and environmental catastrophe in the Congo.

Although conditions for the Congo's cobalt miners remain exceedingly bleak, there is nevertheless cause to be hopeful. Awareness of their plight is growing and, with it, hope that their voices will no longer call out into an abyss but into the hearts of the people at the other end of the chain, who are able to see at last that the blood-caked corpse of that child lying in the dirt is one of their own.

Nothing looks the same after a trip to the Congo. The world back home no longer makes sense. It is difficult to reconcile how it even inhabits the same planet. Neatly arranged mountains of vegetables at grocery stores seem vulgar. Bright lights and flushing toilets seem like sorcery. Clean air and water feel like a crime. The markers of wealth and consumption appear violent. Most of it was built, after all, on violence, neatly tucked away in history books that tend to sanitize the truth.

There is grief, and then there is soul-wrenching misery. There is loss, and then there is life-destroying calamity. One encounters the limits of what human hearts can endure all too often in the Congo. The land is filled with monsters, and the beast that dwells beneath Kasulo is a thousand-headed hydra, mouths agape at the surface, waiting for its prey to enter.

When a tunnel collapses in Kasulo, most bodies are never recovered. The family members are unable to give their loved ones a proper funeral. They are compelled instead to walk each day upon their dead. That is the reality that no one up the chain wants us see. That is the truth that is meant to be forever buried here. The cruel design of a tunnel collapse makes sure of it, and everyone knows it. Perhaps they count on it—the impenetrable silence that obscures the vast tally of severed lives upon which great fortunes are built.

Meaningful solutions cannot be devised if they are devoid of direct input from those the solutions are meant to assist.

[elfspectations]

Book Review: Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddarth Kara

Wanna be angry and sad? Have I got the book for you! This is happening right now, people are being exploited for their labor and lots of other people are either turning a blind eye, or worse they are complicit, because they don't care.

Lots of people have a hard time caring about other people they will likely never meet half-way across the world. How do I know? Everyone in my real life I tried to talk to about this book gave me a weird list of reasons they couldn't or wouldn't read it like:

- "that just sounds too sad"

- "I have my own problems"

and my personal cringy favorite:

- "you're such a good person for caring about other people"

I didn't do anything! I'm not a good person for reading a book! I'm not a good person for crying because the book made me sad because human beings (children included!) are dying for less than a dollar a day working in mines where they are getting radiation poisoning and they have no PPE.

This book made me furious. Concepts like colonialism and slavery never left, they just changed names. All of us in the comfortable West on our smart phones and laptops, where some of our governments are pushing legislation to force us to drive electric cars because it's "cleaner for the environment" even though not all electricity is derived from clean sources because some places still burn coal for electricity (there's probably a different book for that!), so these rechargeable car batteries are coming to the consumer already with blood on our hands. Great job capitalism! Let's hit the showers!

It's tough to give a book like this a rating, but I'm giving it a 5/5. It's a heavy read and there's not really a solution to this problem currently. The author is trying to raise awareness of these issues but acknowledges that lasting change will probably have to come from within because outside regulations have been sidestepped repeatedly.

☆☆☆☆☆