One part of the documentary "Blood Coltan" that I found profound was when they talked about the amount of rape and the severity of the attacks in the Congo. The minister Jean Boscol (not sure about spelling) and Christine (can't spell last name) spoke about the rapes that happen constantly all across the Congo, mostly around the mining areas. Christine was helping some of the victims by giving them ten dollars a month to survive. They also talked about how brutal and violent these rapes can be and how some of the victims are actually kept as sex slaves for months or even years.

This portion of the film paticulary digusted me because they did not sugercoat what was happening at all. They talked about how some of these women were raped with bayonets and other weapons and injured or killed in this way. When you hear this you wonder how people could commit these kind of acts and this is where it ties back into the Coltan. These sorts of acts don't happen in first world countries (or at least extremely rarely and not in the same manner) because there is not the same type of poverty, desperation and lack of a morally grounded society. Because you have children mining the coltan, rebels killing them to steal it, soldiers extorting the miners and forigeners taking off with the majority of the profits, a society has been established in which people don't think to consider other's rights as human beings. I believe that due to the terrible circumstances in places like The Congo many of the people living in the worst areas are morphed into the type of person who can do these things by their surrondings. It is not in most people's nature to violently rape women but the way they have been nurtured by their living situation and the violence around them they have become someone who can do these things.

Another part of the film that peaked my interest was when the french journalist investigates the companies who are buying the coltan in countries like Belgium. He asked them questions about whether or not they knew where the coltan was coming from and if they knew that they may be supporting conflicts in The Congo. He also asked one man about the UN inquiries into his coltan dealings. The man replied that he was cleared of any penalities and one of the companies they contacted replied that they were certain that the coltan they bought was not from conflict areas.

This whole aspect of the documentary is specifically interesting to me because it enters into a grey area in between international law and morality. As we are well aware there is a difference between morality and the law. As the owner of one of the coltan distributers in The Congo said, it is hard to determine where exactly the coltan being purchased is from because of the nature of how coltan is collected. Because coltan is collected through such a long supply chain that consists of many different people, groups or organizations is can be very difficult to trace. That leads us to the people buying the coltan abroad and whether they are responsible for funding civil war and contributing to the dire situation in The Congo. It is most defintely a fact that these companies are contributing to the situation, however, how do we address this? If these companies cannot trace the coltan to where it comes from then they are not doing anything illegal under international law. They may not be acting in what most people would consider a moral manner but morality can be ambigious. You cannot make a company change it's protocols based on ethics, you need to use the law because that is what these corporations listen to. There is a huge demand for the coltan because there is a huge demand for the electronics that are a product of it. The demand is not going to go down anytime soon for coltan so the only question that remains is how to change the system so that workers in the mines are being properly compensated, not extorted and that monies from any part of the supply chain are not funding warlords and rebels who cause so much conflict in The Congo. Would an embargo on coltan really work? We cannot possibly know the answer to this but something needs to happen to make an attempt to alter the situation.

The documentary explains and depicts how the use of a mineral called coltan, is leading to wars and massacres in the Congo. According to the documentary, the tiny electronic circuits in our mobile devices need a precious mineral called coltan to work. Coltan is a natural resource that is only found in the Congo and coltan is being mined at the cost of hundred thousands of bloodshed. There are internal wars among the villagers, as well as the external conflict with the foreigners that steal the coltan from the Congolese. Although there are countless deaths and rapes because of coltan, since these problems do not affect the mobile companies directly, most are indifferent towards this horrible situation.

The documentary also expresses that the companies are indirectly funding the war and massacres, by buying the coltan minerals. The coltan mineral trade pays for permanent war, and although the illegally mined coltan is the cause of the many problems in Africa, companies are ignorant of these problems and are doing next to nothing to help prevent it. It is very important for people to become aware of the horrors associated with coltan mining. Just as the documentary stated, even if the mobile companies state that they do not support coltan mining, people should be aware that just because the companies state this, doesn't mean that they actually follow it. If more people become aware of these “blood coltans,” and help to stop the illegal mining and exploitation of natural resources, as well as the indirect funding of the wars and massacres, perhaps the horrors of coltan mining might start to mitigate.

Similarly, in a powerful speech given by Bandi Mbubi, we come to realize the horrors of coltan mining. Mbubi states that over 5 million people have died since 1996 due to the quest to acquire coltan minerals. It is clear that the purchase of coltan “fuels the ongoing war in the Congo,” and I find it very powerful that Mbubi expresses the idea of mobile phone as both an instrument of freedom and oppression.

Just like Mbubib states, “we need to continue mounting pressure on the phone companies to change their [coltan] sourcing processes.” It doesn’t make sense that countless people of the Congo have to suffer rape, torture, slavery, and oppression, in order to sustain the mobile/ technology industry. People should work harder to raise awareness of the ‘blood coltans” and keep demanding fair trade phones.

After watching Blood Coltan, the most surprising fact is that 4 million people died in the Congo. There are many killings, massacres, and kidnappings that happen here. The people that live there cannot even speak about the militia because they are not allowed. The soldiers rip off the workers and make them pay to pass out of the mines. It is shocking to me that the people that work in the mines have no idea what coltan is even used for. Adolescents are slaved for work. For many, the mine is the only way to earn a living, for very young children as well. Another saddening truth is that the miners receive about ten dollars for several days work. The work is hard and difficult and for minimal pay.

The most difficult part of the documentary to watch was when the women described their experiences as sex slaves. It was upsetting to hear about the woman that was raped and then pregnant with a child. Rape is a method of mass destruction. Some forty or more men rape the women. This rape happens in the Congo because of the mining men’s needs. Women, children, men, and babies are raped. It is heartbreaking to hear and disturbing to think about. They also described the different ways people die including the beating of children’s heads, cutting their throats, or the “lucky way,” being shot in the head. This documentary is eye-opening to all the problems happening in the Congo and most people’s ignorance to the situation.

Another appalling fact to me is how involved the UN is in the Congo. Even though they are there, they are powerless compared to the militia. They have tried to set an embargo on militia, which was a failure. Traxys was on the list the UN composes as a company helping the financing of the civil wars in the Congo. This mineral trade is helping pay for the wars. It does not surprise me that no one would comment to the documentary because of the vulnerability of the situation. Nokia and Motorola do not supply evidence that they are not accepting coltan from the Congo, which leads me to believe they are using the coltan from the Congo. This documentary taught me about the issues going on in the Congo and the consequences of our consumerism.

The documentary Blood Coltan shows the clear and disgusting link between usage of the mineral coltan and funding warlord regimes in the Congo. Similar to farming conditions shown in The Dark Side of Chocolate, children are kidnapped and forced to work – only with coltan mining it seems much worse. Coltan funds warring factions who rape, steal, and kill as they please without consequence.

Warlords, such as General Kunda, are able to keep their militaries funded because export companies eagerly choose to turn a blind eye. Similar to the mentality of chocolate wholesale buyers in The Dark Side of Chocolate, coltan buyers rest easily in their belief that their suppliers are keeping an eye on the mining conditions. Middle distribution companies, such as Olive Group, are eager to find any source of coltan as they find themselves unable to keep up with world demand (even while adorning their offices with signs that say “Jesus is the secret to my success” – doubtful). These distribution companies are the “suppliers” who are supposed to be “keeping an eye on things” so Nokia and Motorola execs can proudly assure everyone that they have asked their suppliers not to buy Congolese coltan.

As I watched Blood Coltan, I found myself hoping some new technological breakthrough would reduce our dependency on coltan. This is a conflicted hope, because this shouldn’t be the answer - I know coltan can be a viable source of income to the Congo if they could control the income without risking their lives in the process. After looking around the web, it turns out coltan is not simply a nice component in cell phones, as the documentary seemed to suggest, its use is pervasive and won’t be going away any time soon. Coltan is a portmanteau of columbite–tantalite; web searches for “tantalite” turn up a lot more information as companies are quick to distance themselves from “coltan.” Presently, tantalite capacitors are used in many capacities: Playstations, computers, and cell phones are quick examples, but car electronics and wind turbines are less obvious.

Tantalite seems to be everywhere there is electricity because it can withstand tremendous heat, while conducting electricity well, in a very small area, and there are few viable alternatives based on the price. If, instead of giving up on coltan, we paid a fair price for the raw metal, the outcome may be the same as abandoning its use. Looking around the web for alternative types of capacitors (and not being an engineer at all so this is merely a guess) it looks like ceramic capacitors are only being overlooked because they are more expensive. If we allowed ceramic and coltan to evolve and find their appropriate price in the market, all sides could win. A fair price would be found eventually, which sounds a lot like letting the free market do its work… so why isn’t that happening?

Coltan is a common mineral used to create tantalum capacitors for electronic devices such as cellphones, TVs, and computers. While the use of Coltan has many positive effects on developed nations, it devastates the nations that contain the precious metal. The supply is controlled by violent military regimes and the local people are subjugated to difficult working conditions. The documentary, Blood Coltan, shows that the money industrialized nations spend on Coltan directly funds oppressive regimes in nations such as Congo. Child labor is a commonplace practice in the Coltan mines of Congo, women are raped, and workers are even extorted by the local militia men in order to get back home.

These conditions are perpetuated by tech companies that are fixed with reducing their bottom line and increasing profits in order to keep shareholders happy. While efforts have been made to import Coltan from mines that have acceptable working conditions, companies turn a blind eye to where the bulk of the Coltan supply comes from. For this reason, warlords such as General Kunda are able to buy more guns to enforce their regime and tighten their grip on the Coltan trade. While small efforts have been made to avoid Congolese Coltan, much more must be done in order to have a significant impact on the wealth of the warlords.

I found it shocking that many of the soldiers that were subjugating the people of Congo were actually from Rwanda. Even more disturbing is the fact that some of these soldiers were involved in mass genocide and had international warrants out for their arrest. This proves that the UN involvement in Congo is ineffective since the militia groups hold all of the power. This power imbalance is likely to continue as long as the demand for Colbalt remains high. More pressure needs to be put on companies to find alternatives to Colbalt through research. Perhaps it is possible to create a synthetic form of Colbalt in a laboratory as is possible with diamonds.

The issue with the Coltan trade is similar to that of the cocoa bean trade. The Dark Side of Chocolate demonstrated that nations with abundant natural resources are not always prosperous. In nations with resources that have few access points, the resources are controlled by violent regimes and militia groups causing a small fraction of the population to get rich while the rest works under slave-like conditions. In the documentary on Coltan it is interesting to see large houses in poor areas that do not have any booming industries. These “Coltan houses” are the result of a highly controlled industry that benefits only a few at the expense of the masses. This problem can only be solved if the demand for the material diminishes worldwide and other industries are able to develop to support more widespread economic prosperity.

I enjoyed watching the Ted video on the issue of tantalum mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It brought this very important issue to my attention, and I never realized how much suffering has occurred as a result of cell phone and computer production. Companies like Apple and Nokia can really take a stand and insure that the sourcing of the tantalum is mined according to fair trade standards. I was happy to hear that Nokia recently released a statement about their policies on acquiring the tantalum, and also there is a petition for Apple to make a fair trade phone. It is important that Bandi Mbubi is spreading awareness about this issue, because I had no idea about the war going on in DRC.

I cannot believe that over 5 million people have been killed since 1996 in this war over the tantalum trade. This statistic shocked me, and the injustice must be stopped. The fact that children are being killed and women raped is devastating to hear. The tantalum trade is destroying the country. The cell phone business is booming at the expense of DCR citizens.

Bandi made an excellent point when he said that cell phones enable us to spread awareness about this issue and get people to pressure cell phone companies to change their business practices. Cell phones are the problem, but in this case also the solution.

The documentary, "Blood Coltan," explained how the natural resource, coltan is being mined and stolen from the Congo and sold to large cell phone manufacturers. The documentary depicted the harsh conditions that miners (many of whom are children) are subjected to in the process of extracting the mineral from mines and quarries.

As several students mentioned before, the most horrifying part of the documentary was Christine’s description of the rapes that occur as a result of mining. She recounted several stories of the women who had been brutally raped and assaulted by the rebel militia running the mines. She went on to explain that everyone in the village is in danger of the gruesome rapes including men, boys, young girls, and even babies. Not only do the inhabitants of the Congo live in serious danger of rapes and murders, but Christine stated that many of the men in the village are kidnapped and forced to work the mines as slaves until they grow too tired to work, at which point they will be burnt alive, beat to death, or shot in the head.

After hearing Christine’s stories of the brutal attacks taking place in the Congo, I had to really consider the value of a cell phone. As Bandi Mbubi stated in his TED Talk, cell phones have changes the world, and enabled people to connect with loved ones in different countries on different continents. However, it is impossible to look at the condition of the Congo without realizing that changes need to be made in the production of cell phones. As with the chocolate industry, cell phone companies bring in millions and millions of dollars in profit every year. There is no reason for children to be slaving away in mines to keep the cost of coltan at an absolute minimum so that cell phone company executives can walk away with million dollar bonuses. The unnecessarily high salaries of company executives should be invested in helping the United Nations restore a stable government in the Congo and overthrow rebel warlords.

This documentary really made me think about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and what it means for US citizens versus what it means for the citizens of the Congo. Article 4 states that every human being has the freedom from slavery. In America, this seems so obvious that it is hard to imagine a place in today’s world where people are still being subjected to slave labor, but in the Congo there is a very real danger of slavery. Article 23, which touches on people’s right to work, however, rings very true in both the United States and the Congo, but for very different reasons. When I think about my right to work as an American citizen, I take it to mean that I have the right to choose my career and earn a fair wage, and as a child, child labor laws protected me. In the Congo, none of these basic human rights are being granted. It was stated in the documentary that any able-bodied person in the village is expected to work in the mines because it is the only source of income in the area. It is hard to imagine a young child being forced to do the same work as an adult because otherwise their family wouldn’t be able to afford to eat. It is also hard to imagine being forced to work for your entire life in one job because there is absolutely no other option. Then, on top of those issues, the militia responsible for guarding the mine extorts a portion of the miner’s income as soon as they leave. To make matters even worse, the Congolese people’s lives are being ruined to extract a mineral that they will never even benefit from, as very few of them own or have access of a cell phone.

One of the most revealing and shocking scenes in the video for me was when the documentary makers visit the territory of Kunda, the rebel leader. I think that this section of the film is especially telling because it delves further into the root of the problem when it comes to violence in the Congo. Kunda believes that he is justified in carrying out a religious mission to regain lands and punish those who do not share his views. It was so sad to see the Hutu child prisoners being kept under Kunda’s watch, because the viewer knows they are not responsible for any of the conflict in the region, but are being punished for it nonetheless.

What is upsetting is that the mineral trade helps pay for this injustice to continue. The problem is, however, that as long as there is a demand for cell phones and a lack of regulation, the trade will go on. As long as these powerful economic interests are present in the Congo, violence and unrest will keep occurring.

I think that another problem that becomes evident through this is the power of self-interest that suppresses action. This is showed in several ways throughout the film. For example, rebel leaders use the UN logo to transport coltan across border lines, and the UN is aware of it but does not take action because of their economic interests, and the complications that would result from taking sides in the region. In addition, exporters can essentially name their own price for the mineral, and say that the do not know if the money funds the rebellion or not, just as long as they are making a profit. Mobile phone companies are also defensive and do not want to admit responsibility, even though most of their phones are manufactured in China, from where the coltan cannot be traced.

I think that taking responsibility along the supply chain will be crucial in improving the coltan trade, and allow for steps to be taken towards Mbubib’s vision of a fair trade cell phone. It is necessary for exporters, middlemen, manufacturers, and phone companies alike to know where the coltan comes from and ensure that no atrocities were committed in the process. I also recognize the challenge in this, however, because phone companies, for example, are reluctant to get involved and possibly take charge of the mining processes due to the political situation and the dangers of dealing with the rebel leaders.

Hi all. After watching "Blood Coltan," it seriously has changed the way I will look at my phone. This phone is the living emblem of the continuing struggle in the Congo. Right now, innocent children are forced to bear arms. Women are raped, tortured, and enslaved.
One part that impacted me was when the journalist asked the Congolese what the coltan was for. He was about 15 years old, and was working in a mine with other children, some much younger. Apart from knowing coltan is a mineral, he had no idea what its use was, which is quite sad. If he only knew that this mineral was fueling the world with its most demanded product. This shows me how education is key for not only the individual's interest, but for the economic, political, and social well-being of a country. Sure, as Bandi Mbubi shows, coltan has brought the wealth of the Congo to $34 trillion, but the money is in the hands of the rebels.
Another impacting moment for me was listening to John Boscoe. I have had a shaky time keeping my relationship with the church, but I almost felt at home when listening to him. As if apart from feelings of evil, Boscoe made me feel welcomed and relieved that there are some good people there trying to help. It is so important for these people to understand what is going on in their country. That is also why I am so happy that women Christine is helping those innocent victims of rape and gives the women $10 a month. The rape crimes were appalling and looking at those abused women made me want to look away from the screen and ask myself how a person could be so evil to oppress those innocent women, who will forever be scarred.
And so I learned something new today. Shown in the light of TED speaker Mbubi, this phone is both a symbol of freedom and oppression. As many lives this phone helps by sharing information at the touch of our fingertips, it is also fueling this war in areas with coltan mines that arm 30,000 children and rape, torture, and enslave women and children.
This parallels much with "The Dark Side of Chocolate" in a sense that the phone manufacturers are liable for this situation. How is the head of Nokia not aware of the code of conduct on his company website? As the man in Belgium, who was accused by the UN for selling coltan from the Congo, today when you buy a shipment, you can't tell who was directly involved. That is why we must, as Mbubi advises, petition to make a conflict-free iPhone and create awareness of the situation that is going on right now!

They say give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. In the Congo’s, in my opinion, all they are trying to do is survive and this is the only way they know how to do it, without choices. The kids are mining, this is what they were taught sadly because they don’t have no movie theaters to go to, no schools to get a good education, no parents who could guide them because they too are the burden bearers of the environment. There is no structure, no organized government and all I can ask is…can we change this? And How? If we are the country that people look to for help when it comes to making sure the people are safe, what are we doing wrong that all this is still happening even in 2013? I know we have our problems here in America, there is still poverty here, we are still killing each other unnecessarily even raping our own woman, but nothing compares to what is happening in other parts of the world including Africa. I think Luke said it best, these are “terrible circumstances”, these people are living in an underdeveloped country where there is corruption and the ones that get rich are the ones who are exploiting slavery, rape, etc. I wonder is this the way that corporations want these people to live, this way of living which sadly allows them to keep the prices they pay for Cocoa, Coltan or any other commodity item they use in their final product and then profit from it. These are just (2) of the items we do know about besides diamonds. They can’t continue to turn the other way and pretend none of this is happening!

What do we do now? Do we attempt to make a difference? Sometimes one must wonder if we have the will power to stop living the way we are living, with fancy cars, jewelry, mobile phones,etc and we pull all our money out of the banks, can this cripple corporations and teach them a lesson that WE THE PEOPLE are the gasoline to their business that make it run every day, because honestly I don’t think they have a clue. If there is no demand, there will be no supply and a business will die!

Joe...

While I am aware of many goods that are a cause of outrageous social injustices, I am disappointed in my lack of knowledge about the materials that go into objects I use every day, my laptop and my iPhone. In the documentary Blood Coltan, journalists bring to light the source of the mineral coltan. This mineral is used in electronic products such as cell phones. It is sourced in African countries, namely the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

What first struck me is the danger associated with mining coltan in the Congo. What I was most interested to learn regards the portion of the video which identifies the guerilla and militia groups which control the mines. These groups come from neighboring Rwanda. After the Rwandan Genocide in the 1990s, the targeted group fled to the Congo and then became dominating militias. It is shocking to see that people would inflict pain and enslavement upon others as a demonstration of power and a desire for money and their own group of people experienced painful atrocities.

The second component of the documentary which struck me is the connection it makes to consumerism and large technology corporations. During one scene the journalists ask the coltan distributors who set the prices for coltan. The distributor responds that it’s the world market that sets the price. Consumer demand for goods causes the mining and distribution of coltan. Businesses respond to these demands and produce and sell their goods. This makes me wonder where corporate social responsibility comes into play. In the documentary coltan distributors identify that the supply chain of coltan is so long and diluted because of the nature of production, making it difficult to identity the source. I asked myself why the production of this is not standardized or better controlled, but the political climate of the Congo makes it difficult to implement fair laws and protectionist policy. To follow my initial thought, I asked myself why companies do not make better decisions regarding the materials they use. However, it is sadly economics and the way consumerism operates.

If some products can be certified as fair trade, could technological goods be certified as fair trade? Bandi Mbubi asks this question during the presentation of his TED talk, “Demand a Fair Trade Cell Phone.” He points out that technology is vital to the improvement of our society, but it also participates in its destruction. He demands a fair trade cell phone. I think this is possible if both consumers and producers make that commitment.

Hi everyone,

I remember learning about this issue in high school, I maybe even watched this documentary. Its amazing to me how so much of what we use in our daily lives seems to have hidden dangers. Unfortunately, like the Dark Side of Chocolate, this issue has been going on for several years and seems to be far from a solution. I started googling this and was finding articles on the coltan war from 2000, and here we are in 2013 still reading about it! I read an article from 2012, that says 5.4 million people have died in this war. So much needs to happen to see a change, and I wonder what would even be a starting point for the solution. What is so devastating also, is that the DRC has so many natural resources that it could really be a prospering country in Africa, if it had a more stable government, yet the people of the DRC have not prospered whatsoever from there natural resources.

Something that struck me in this documentary was people and young children work such rough labor for days to only make $10, if that. Apparently many people who used to be farmers have turned to coltan miners.

And of course what struck me the most, was actually seeing the women's shelter and hearing the stories of rape. It is so incredibly devastating that this

Here is an interesting website to look at: http://www.warchild.org.uk/issues/congo-conflict-minerals, they have info on the issue going on in the DRC and then issues in other countries as well

I found it interesting that there are more products than I could have imagined that need to be apart of a fair trade initiative. This week we learned about Coltan, which is a natural mineral in the Democratic of Republic of Congo. This natural mineral is what the circuits in all of our electronics, especially cellphones, are made of.

This first video I watched was "Blood Coltan". This was a more serious and eye-opening documentary that listed a lot of crazy facts that were very heart-breaking. One fact discussed in the movie was the idea that a fairly decently-sized "small" container filled with Coltan would give a person $10, but it would take them days to collect such an amount. This was not the only thing that surprised me but also the scene when the Congo military was taking some people's Coltan in order for them to pass the checkpoint. It is awful to think that a country that is trying to maintain a front of togetherness among guerilla's who want to tear them apart are influencing even the most "responsible" people. This part of the movie definitely shocked me and made me question how much the government actually wants to fix the problems within their country.

On-the-other-hand when I watched the TED Talk by Mr. Mbubi I thought it was really interesting the conflicting feelings that he had with his cellphone. The Coltan problem was one of the many reasons that he had left his country and sought asylum in Britain. While this phone brings him so much sadness, it also gives him so much happiness as it does for us. Mbubi explained that his phone is a way for his sons to keep in contact with his parents, as well as get to know them when they are currently not able to see them at the present moment. His point that the evolution of technology although has caused so much strife and bloodshed in many countries, it has also connected and brought together many families, friends, and people around the world. This Talk definitely made me think about the initiatives we need to take in order to add cellphones and Coltan into the fair trade initiative and hopefully we can have a future with more consideration of others who make our products and what they give up in order for us to succeed.

I'm extremely overwhelmed by this documentary. I think what makes this so difficult to take in is the fact that there are so many issues at hand. While we could easily point the finger at the corporations in the case of "The Dark Side of Chocolate", I really don't think this is the case now. There are so many political issues that are going on in Congo and the surrounding area that I think that "Blood Coltan" can be related more to human rights violations than poor business practices. That being said, I think that because of the fact that "Blood Coltan" is set in a war zone, unjust business practices can easily be swept under the rug.

First and foremost, I think that one of the most disturbing topics that came up was rape. In both the "Blood Coltan" and "Demand a Fair Trade Cell Phone", they specifically say that rape is a weapon of war. Additionally, one of the women that they interviewed in "Blood Coltan" even goes on to say that they should invent a new word for the rapes that occur in the congo and in the mining areas. This concept in itself was particularly bothersome to me, and I think is a direct result of both the mining going on and the result of war and cultural conflicts.

Secondly, I found the pastor's speech to be compelling. He states that the natural resources found in the congo are a curse/impairment from God. He goes on to say that foreigners steal from the people of Congo and feed the corruption and violence that goes on. The pastor suggests that instead of fueling the conflict, western countries should do their part by stopping the violence in the Congo. This got me thinking, is it really the western countries duty to solve the political issues with Congo? We can all do our part in promoting a fair trade cell phone, but how can we stop the continuing cultural conflicts that so many have failed to do before?

In the Blood Coltan documentary, I was particularly struck by the continuing issues in the Hutu-Tutsi conflict that have persisted since the original genocide in the 1990s. Through the actions of the militia and the rebels, the documentary definitely affirmed that the conflict was nowhere near over and remained a central part in the darker parts of Rwandan culture.

However, I was most influenced by how far ‘Blood Products’ have spread. For instance, before the class I was unaware that the smartphone industry had blood ties. I originally thought that the blood-stained industries lied mostly in the food and organic products sector, but apparently issues with fair trade span much farther than cocoa beans, Coke, and coffee - which was particularly discomforting to me.

Further, I was touched by the dichotomy in Bandi Mbubi’s message in his Ted Talk. Even though he experienced a lot of strife under the Blood Coltan system, Mbubi also acknowledged the connective powers of the smartphone industry, as well as the inherent good and power of other telecommunications equipment that require such rare earth minerals. I thought it was admirable that he sought to bridge the connection between progress and social awareness through suggesting a fair-trade mobile phone, as opposed to other activists who might advocate boycotting the technology altogether.

One of the most jarring things about this documentary is the chaos that takes place in the country. There are so many political issues that it is extremely difficult to maintain a legal infrastructure. What makes matters more complicated is the fact that the Democratic Republic of Congo is such a resource-rich nation. The first thing that impacted me the most was the constant struggle between the rebels and the Congolese army. There are constant struggles for territory and land. The worst part is that with so much unrestricted wealth there is likely to be an enormous amount of corruption. It seems like an insurmountable struggle for the Congo to have a strong, legal economy and a safe nation. Foreign involvement magnifies this problem since it takes advantage of violent struggle for resource that yields a very low price.

The second most striking thing about this documentary is the amount of violence and crime that has resulted from the coltan mines. Women in the film spoke about rape being used as a tool for intimidation and submission. There was very little chance for them to escape since they were under constant threat of violence. The worst part is that even when they were cooperating, the rebels would sometimes still hurt them to show off their power. The women also spoke about being killed if you were deemed too exhausted to work. “They would just slit your throat. That’s how you died.” It’s so chilling to even imagine, but that’s the reality. It has been the reality for thirteen years after millions of Congolese have died as a result of these violent crimes.


I am very conflicted about how to feel in terms of the political issues taking place in the Congo. On the one hand, it is horrible that the government has very little control of the country and that these crimes are allowed to perpetuate. However, what are we, as members of our local community, to do about this problem? Many, including the gentleman who did the TED talk, argue that as consumers we should stop funding coltan technology. However, I really don’t think that is a sustainable solution. For one, I am positive that companies will continue to purchase coltan, especially in emerging economies such as China and India where local technology companies are beginning to manufacture en masse. Secondly, these electronic products are part of our daily reality and are the tools that are allowing us to learn about these things in the first place. I believe this is an issue that the Congolese people must resolve themselves, there is no sustainable way a country can straighten out its deep-rooted issues with constant foreign aid.

The violence is something that we can impact. I believe that we need to urge our representatives to enforce the UN conditions that have been set in regards to child labor, mining, and extortion. Also, we should pressure companies to build a sustainable way to extract these resource that will improve the conditions for workers and enable them to create an economy as oppose to just draining their land. It’s difficult, but I think this is where the best chance for change is present.

In the documentary “Blood Coltan” it is clearly shown how abundance of a certain natural resource can lead to destruction of a nation rather than developing it. Coltan is a dull black metallic ore from which the elements niobium and tantalum are extracted. Coltan is used primarily for the production of tantalum capacitors, used in many electronic devices. Coltan is important in the production of cell phones. Thus it can be understood the importance of extraction of coltan because of its use in cell phones and other devices and the demand that it creates in countries that manufactures these devices. Congo is one of the countries that produces coltan and the issues in the documentary that are discussed are about Congo.

The documentary shows how rebel group make the native people there to work so that they can extract coltan to sell it to the world market so that the money earned can be used to buy more weapons. It is shown that how women are treated there by the rebel groups, how they use brutal force to make people work as slaves and extract coltan. Coltan is difficult to mine because it takes around three days to march into the forests to dig out the ore.The government is handicapped and is unable to do anything. Also Rawanda has made it difficult for the Congolese to extract this ore

The United Nations has done certain surveys and they have tried to stop the illegal mining of coltan but the rebels always come up with different trics to tackle the UN. The companies like nokia and Motorola have denied to comment on any of this. They say that coltan that they use is not imported from Congo.

To stop this illegal activity the countries and companies that import this mineral from Congo should understand the seriousness of the situation and stop importing it from controversial areas so that the war lords who get financed this thing become financially weak. To end the misery of the people it is important to take these steps.

One part of the documentary "Blood Coltan" that I found profound was when they talked about the amount of rape and the severity of the attacks in the Congo. The minister Jean Boscol (not sure about spelling) and Christine (can't spell last name) spoke about the rapes that happen constantly all across the Congo, mostly around the mining areas. Christine was helping some of the victims by giving them ten dollars a month to survive. They also talked about how brutal and violent these rapes can be and how some of the victims are actually kept as sex slaves for months or even years.

This portion of the film paticulary digusted me because they did not sugercoat what was happening at all. They talked about how some of these women were raped with bayonets and other weapons and injured or killed in this way. When you hear this you wonder how people could commit these kind of acts and this is where it ties back into the Coltan. These sorts of acts don't happen in first world countries (or at least extremely rarely and not in the same manner) because there is not the same type of poverty, desperation and lack of a morally grounded society. Because you have children mining the coltan, rebels killing them to steal it, soldiers extorting the miners and forigeners taking off with the majority of the profits, a society has been established in which people don't think to consider other's rights as human beings. I believe that due to the terrible circumstances in places like The Congo many of the people living in the worst areas are morphed into the type of person who can do these things by their surrondings. It is not in most people's nature to violently rape women but the way they have been nurtured by their living situation and the violence around them they have become someone who can do these things.

Another part of the film that peaked my interest was when the french journalist investigates the companies who are buying the coltan in countries like Belgium. He asked them questions about whether or not they knew where the coltan was coming from and if they knew that they may be supporting conflicts in The Congo. He also asked one man about the UN inquiries into his coltan dealings. The man replied that he was cleared of any penalities and one of the companies they contacted replied that they were certain that the coltan they bought was not from conflict areas.

This whole aspect of the documentary is specifically interesting to me because it enters into a grey area in between international law and morality. As we are well aware there is a difference between morality and the law. As the owner of one of the coltan distributers in The Congo said, it is hard to determine where exactly the coltan being purchased is from because of the nature of how coltan is collected. Because coltan is collected through such a long supply chain that consists of many different people, groups or organizations is can be very difficult to trace. That leads us to the people buying the coltan abroad and whether they are responsible for funding civil war and contributing to the dire situation in The Congo. It is most defintely a fact that these companies are contributing to the situation, however, how do we address this? If these companies cannot trace the coltan to where it comes from then they are not doing anything illegal under international law. They may not be acting in what most people would consider a moral manner but morality can be ambigious. You cannot make a company change it's protocols based on ethics, you need to use the law because that is what these corporations listen to. There is a huge demand for the coltan because there is a huge demand for the electronics that are a product of it. The demand is not going to go down anytime soon for coltan so the only question that remains is how to change the system so that workers in the mines are being properly compensated, not extorted and that monies from any part of the supply chain are not funding warlords and rebels who cause so much conflict in The Congo. Would an embargo on coltan really work? We cannot possibly know the answer to this but something needs to happen to make an attempt to alter the situation.

After seeing the long process of obtaining the mineral Coltan, I was impacted when the documentary showed a minor exchanging his small tin of Coltan for a mere ten dollars which took several days work for him to gather. Children laboring under unfair and unsafe conditions, adult soldiers unfairly taxing minor workers, and many other factors that contribute to the situation extremely unsettling to see exist.

I was in shock that humans live this way. The images shown throughout the documentary, including the weapons, soldiers, women, massacred bodies, minors, workers, villages and more, were so shocking to me that I was and still am in disbelief. It is unfathomable for me to understand how hundreds of years ago humans in different locations progressed into such extremely different civilizations based on just a few different factors, mainly geographical, I presume.

Another impactful scene in the documentary was when two African men talked about how the white man sets the price. With the Western demand for the Coltan, it sets the economic standard that trickles down to the reality of minors being in such comprising positions. With this moment, I felt an overwhelming sense of guilt on the part of the Western civilization. Here we are in the US, addicted to our cellphones and smartphones, using the terms “crackberry” because we can’t seem to live without the technology in our pockets every moment of the day. While in the eastern Congo, people have the “option” to either work or die so that they can supply the Coltan that is needed to produce cell phones.

With this, on a grander scale, it makes me shudder at the thought of what is needed to make and the entire process of manufacturing all of our products that are demanded by the West. Who else is suffering because of our desires? At the skeleton of this awful situation, I do believe that it is good that the West demands a supply from other countries that have the natural resources needed to manufacture because it creates jobs and a flourishing economy. However, when this source of business is combined with corrupt “government” like in the Congo, ethics and morality seem to be lost, creating a desensitized in-humane way of life. And it is disgusting.

“Blood Coltan” reminded me a lot of the documentary that we watched last week in class (The Dark Side of Chocolate), but in a different way. While “The Dark Side of Chocolate” focused almost completely on how the economic side of chocolate brought about the human trafficking and unethical working conditions, I felt as if “Blood Coltan” focused more on how the politics affect the people within the Coltan mines in the Congo. I could see how Patrick Forestrier was trying to expose the slavery and educate viewers of where the products used to make our modern technology, comes from. That being said, while I do not believe the documentary was all that it could be, I did find his approach interesting in how he focused partly on the issue of rape in the culture and the rebel army.

One part that stood out to me in the documentary, was when Forestrier interviewed Christine, the woman in charge of the rape clinic for the victims of the surrounding area. In America, rape is mainly thought to affect the female population and to only majorly be an issue to a certain population. What struck me in the documentary was when Christine said, “There are rituals of babies and old women, no one is spared, not even the boys.” Although this section isn’t focusing on the economic disparity and unethical conditions caused by the popularity of Coltan, rape has increased dramatically due to the mining work as the “men have needs, and they take women and girls to satisfy those needs.” It is tragic that the forces are able to take families to be mining slaves whether to work in the mines until they are exhausted and killed (the men) or to work as sex slaves for the rebel forces as is the case of the women. I do see Coltan as a player into this, but I have to say that I believe the situation should be looked at more politically. It is a complicated situation, but I believe that the situation should be looked at more militarily and politically than blaming the technology companies and consumers for purchasing these products.

That being said, I found Bandi Mbubi’s Ted Talk where he demands for a fair trade cell phone, very interesting. If we are invested in fair trade clothes, food, accessories, and other items, why not extend the policy towards cell phones and other technology. Mbubi’s point that the Congo “consistently scores dreadfully in global, health, and poverty rating but remarkably the UN global environmental program estimated the wealth of the country to be over 24 trillion dollars.” How is it, that such a wealthy and resource heavy county has dreadful ratings in everything else? I agree with Mbubi that it is time to start questioning and looking into where we get our technology. Clothing, food, diamonds, etc.. have been around for a long time, so the world has had time to check and understand how things are made and provided. Although technology like cellular devices have not been around for very long, they are making an impact in places like the Congo where the exporting of Coltan is providing for Laurent Nkunda’s rebel cause. The congolese will continue to stay strong and in the Congo region, until their source of money runs dry, which is now being provided by the Coltan in the mines which they control.

Companies will not change their approach to exporting of Coltan, until consumers raise their voices, as Coltan is at the lowest price in this area, and the highest profit they can make for themselves and their stockholders, the better. We can share what we learned from this documentary to family and friends and educated each other about the products we use and rely on daily. We can do many other things to try and change the way of life in Congo. But I also do not think that it all falls onto the consumers and the customers. It is important that the Congo government makes more of an effort to protect its people, with potential UN involvement. The way that the rebel forces are using the Congo people should be considered a war crime, and there should be more media coverage and world wide attention to what is happening in this area of the world. Yes, we should most definitely push for a fair-trade technological products and as consumers and companies, stop funding the rebel forces and unethical human treatment in the Congo. There is much more that goes into stopping this than simple consumer intervention, but anything makes a difference. It doesn’t hurt to try...