Wow. Seeing the latest episode of Panorama about Coltan makes me feel guilty that I'm about to get a new mobile phone. Ok, I've did more than five years with the thing, and hope to do an equal amount of years with the new one, but still.
In this article of the Truth Seeker , which explains the situation a bit more in detail, there was an interesting paragraph:
Somehow, it's not surprising that this information isn't included in the instruction manual that comes with your cell phone. Perhaps mobile phones should be outfitted with stickers that read: 'Warning! This device was created with raw materials from central Africa. These materials are rare, non-renewable, were sold to fund a bloody civil war and have caused the virtual elimination of endangered species. Have a nice day.' People need to realize that there is a direct link between the gadgets that make their lives more 'convenient' and the frightening reality of the violence, turmoil and destruction that plague our world.
It is so scary that we're oblivious of the root and history of the devices we buy and take for granted. Global thinking my ass. Global ignorance it is. Admit it, we're a spoilt nation and we take a lot of things for granted here.
A funny sidenote in the documentary on Canvas was when the reporter asked some of the 'mysterious' black businessmen who the people were that decided which price had to be paid, what the value of Coltan should be. The two men started laughing and replied:
But it is you, white people, who produce these mobile phones and who need them, that decide how much this is worth and what it should be paid. It is you that create the world market.
True. We should change. I would love the warning sticker on every product: making people aware of what we buy, where we buy it from and why we would need it is a good thing. But of course that would be against every rule of marketing and public relations. The only goal of western corporations is profit, no matter what. But that doesn't mean we have to be so stupid to buy it.
To end with a positive message: we got our final bill of our water consumption in 2007, and the water company owes us 360 euros! Yay! Saving on your water works!
