*The very smartphone or laptop used to read this article, or electric cars driven to decrease carbon footprints, perpetuate slavery and the demand for “human beings crammed into a pit digging by hand,” to mine cobalt, exclaims Siddharth Kara.
From a privileged vantage point, it’s seemingly unfathomable that slavery exists in the 21st Century. According to Harvard professor and accomplished author, Siddharth Kara, chattel enslavement and child labor are ever present in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“I started traveling to the Congo five years ago. I’ve been doing research on slavery and child labor for about 20 years,” states Kara in an interview with Joe Rogan.
In his recent book, “Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives,” he bares all in his unfiltered depiction of the inhumane manner this controversial mineral is mined.
Cobalt, an in-demand mineral at the forefront of renewable energy, is ubiquitous; every smartphone, tablet, laptop, new-gen gadget, and electric vehicle depends on it for battery life.
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“Cobalt is in every single lithium, rechargeable battery manufactured in the world today. Every smartphone, every tablet, every laptop, and crucially, every electric vehicle, relies on it,” Kara elaborates.
He emphasizes the demand and omnipresence of cobalt globally. “You and I, we can’t function on a day-to-day basis without cobalt, and three-fourths of the supply is coming out of the Congo,” claims the author.
The Chinese have a monopoly in the form of 80% ownership of cobalt mines in the DRC, according to Kara. They work in symbiosis with the Congo’s FARDC military, thus granting them free reign to operate, Texaswatcher.com states. The physical presence of the military is to fearfully motivate the people to work.
“They dig in absolutely subhuman, gut-wrenching conditions for a dollar a day,” proclaims Kara. The representatives of these mines combat the negative accusations of alleged work practices, by expressing all cobalt is harvested ethically and legally. The ‘clean cobalt’ defense is a farce. “It’s all marketing,” he states.
Although the spotlight is currently centered on the cobalt topic, the Chinese have accumulated quite a track record for dealings in Africa.
“Before anyone knew what was happening, the Chinese government and Chinese mining companies took control of almost all the big mines, and the local population has been displaced,” mentions Kara.
For decades, they have cleverly garnered a foothold by proverbially dangling money in the faces of have-nots. These lopsided exchanges are arguably in favor of the former.
Chinese video-making companies have solicited African children into chanting self-deprecating phrases on camera in exchange for small monetary portions.
“In February 2020 a shocking video began to circulate on Chinese social media. A group of African children are being instructed, by a voice off-camera, to chant phrases in Chinese. The kids repeat the words with smiles and enthusiasm — but they don’t understand that what they’re being told to say is ‘I am a black monster and my IQ is low,’” reports Celina and Mhango (bbc.com).
Further, spanning the continent, several nations have agreed to loans from Chinese lenders, they would likely default on.
“Africa’s external debt rose fivefold to $696 billion between 2000 and 2020, with Chinese lenders accounting for 12% of that, according to a new report by the London-based think tank (bloomberg.com).”
Whether the narrative is barbaric cobalt mining practices within the Congo or another exploitative theme, it is alarming that the likes occur almost unhindered. Continuous reporting on these matters and subsequent readership indeed expose the predatory and often illegal acts. However, it seems presumptuous to imagine a resolution when much of the world benefits from these byproducts of child labor, slavery, etc., which they likely would not relinquish, despite knowing it is at the expense of the afflicted.
“Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives” in Hardcover January 31, 2023
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