Auschwitz, Congo and Plausable Deniability
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
There is a saying that evil prospers while good men do nothing. History has proven this to be the case. So its disappointing to see the plausible deniability approach surfacing whenever I mention the link between 45,000 dead per month in the Congo War and our technological consumerism.
No, I have to say what really does disappoint me is that whenever we’re confronted with an issue that is too large for a single day solution by a single person we’re very likely to turn our backs. It happened during the Holocaust – good men looked away. Out of fear. Out of apathy. What can I do against the machine? And if I were asking people to throw away their stereo or mobile phone then I’d see that defence might have some force… but I’m not. People are only being asked to consider before they shop for luxury items, or to think twice before upgrading the office hardware.
What I’m asking people, particularly in the tech community, is to pass the word around – its not cool to just run out and buy up that latest gizmo using tantulum capacitors – UNLESS you know for sure that the supply chain does not include Congo minerals or the stolen minerals from surrounding countries in that part of Africa. These companies can source coltan elsewhere, but then your phone will be a little more expensive. That’s it.
