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A review by helenaraddock
Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth Kara
4.0
This book is a devastating but extremely important read. While thematically imperfect, it reveals the human rights abuses & corporate greed behind the Congo’s cobalt mining operation, which is essentially modern-day slavery.
Cobalt miners--also known as "artisanal miners"--include men, teenagers, women (many of whom are pregnant), and shockingly, children (as young as 6 years old!!!!), who earn an unimaginable dollar or two per day. These children do not go to school, and many die due to sickness, injury, and the collapse of tunnels. Women and young girls constantly face sexual harassment and assault. These individuals are exploited & do not live with dignity or, seemingly, experience true joy. Most face constant risk of death, an unimaginable way to live (can you even call it living?). Hundreds of thousands have been forcibly displaced because their villages were bulldozed over to make room for large mining concessions. Moreover, the mining industry has devastated the natural landscape of the DRC. As the author notes, millions of trees have been cut down, the air around mines makes it difficult to breathe, and the water is largely toxic
Cobalt is a critical part of every lithium-ion rechargeable battery; thus, every person (myself included) who uses a laptop, smartphone, tablet, or drives an EV, is implicated in this horrific abuse. We are all complicit, and, as the author points out, no one/no company (including Apple, Tesla, etc.) is willing to accept responsibility or do anything to change this devastating situation. I wish this book offered more insights into possible large-scale solutions & insights into how everyday individuals can help. What can I do?
"Please tell the people in your country, a child of the Congo dies every day so that they can plug in their phones."
"At no point in their history have the Congolese people benefited in any meaningful way from the monetization of their country’s resources. Rather, they have often served as a slave labor force for the extraction of these resources at minimum cost and maximum suffering."
"This was the final truth of cobalt mining in the Congo: the life of a child buried alive while digging for cobalt counted for nothing. All the dead here counted for nothing. The loot is all."
Cobalt miners--also known as "artisanal miners"--include men, teenagers, women (many of whom are pregnant), and shockingly, children (as young as 6 years old!!!!), who earn an unimaginable dollar or two per day. These children do not go to school, and many die due to sickness, injury, and the collapse of tunnels. Women and young girls constantly face sexual harassment and assault. These individuals are exploited & do not live with dignity or, seemingly, experience true joy. Most face constant risk of death, an unimaginable way to live (can you even call it living?). Hundreds of thousands have been forcibly displaced because their villages were bulldozed over to make room for large mining concessions. Moreover, the mining industry has devastated the natural landscape of the DRC. As the author notes, millions of trees have been cut down, the air around mines makes it difficult to breathe, and the water is largely toxic
Cobalt is a critical part of every lithium-ion rechargeable battery; thus, every person (myself included) who uses a laptop, smartphone, tablet, or drives an EV, is implicated in this horrific abuse. We are all complicit, and, as the author points out, no one/no company (including Apple, Tesla, etc.) is willing to accept responsibility or do anything to change this devastating situation. I wish this book offered more insights into possible large-scale solutions & insights into how everyday individuals can help. What can I do?
"Please tell the people in your country, a child of the Congo dies every day so that they can plug in their phones."
"At no point in their history have the Congolese people benefited in any meaningful way from the monetization of their country’s resources. Rather, they have often served as a slave labor force for the extraction of these resources at minimum cost and maximum suffering."
"This was the final truth of cobalt mining in the Congo: the life of a child buried alive while digging for cobalt counted for nothing. All the dead here counted for nothing. The loot is all."