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July 24, 2008 at 21:09:46

Headlined on 7/24/08:
The Human Cost of Cheap Cell Phones

by Rady Ananda     Page 5 of 7 page(s)

www.opednews.com

 

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And like all unrepentant hit men and war criminals, they belong in prison for the protection of society.

 


1 In this chapter, Congo refers to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the nation once called Zaire, whose capital is Kinshasa – as opposed to the Republic of Congo which borders the DRC and whose capital is Brazzaville.

2 Testimony in a congressional hearing conducted by Representative Cynthia McKinney, April 16, 2001, www.house.gov/mckinney/news/pr010416.htm

3 The International Rescue Committee estimated in 2004 that approximately 3.9 million people have died since 1998 because of the instability: 38,000 deaths occur in Congo every month above what is considered a “normal level” for the country, translating into 1,250 excess deaths every day. Over 70% of these deaths, most due to easily preventable and treatable diseases, occur in the insecure eastern provinces. “Less than two percent of the deaths were directly due to violence,” Richard J. Brennan points out. “However, if the effects of violence – such as the insecurity that limits access to health care facilities – were removed, mortality rates would fall to almost normal levels.” The British medical journal Lancet confirms the IRC statistic of 3.9 million war-related deaths between 1998 and 2004. It also notes that every few months “the mortality equivalent of two southeast Asian tsunamis [referring to the December 2004 catastrophe] ploughs thru its territory.” Lancet declares that the high mortality rates are ongoing: “Preemptive War Epidemiology: Lessons from the Democratic Republic of Congo.” The primary article discussing the procedure by which the IRC and the Lancet came up with their statistics is Benjamin Coghlan, Richard J. Brennan, Pascal Ngoy, et al., “Mortality in the Democratic Republic of Congo: A Nationwide Survey,” Lancet 367 (January 7, 2006), www.thelancet.com

4 In 1961, the US installed Mobutu, who had, with the support of the US and Belgium, assassinated Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of Congo/Zaire after Belgium granted the country independence. Lumumba was a Pan-Africanist and populist, unwilling to ally with either the US or the Soviet Union. After he publicly advocated using Congo’s resources to benefit the Congolese, the diamond corporation DeBeers feared it would lose access to Congo’s diamonds; Lumumba’s stand no doubt hastened his demise. Once Lumumba  was out of the way, acting Prime Minister Adoula approved a deal with DeBeer’s negotiator Maurice Tempelsman and telegrammed the news to US President John F. Kennedy. A 1961 State Department memo headed “Congo Diamond Deal” concluded that the US ought to support the proposal: “How US Foreign Policy over Decades Was Influenced by the Diamond Cartel,” www.minesandcommunities.org/Company/diamonds1.htm. This website contains a partial transcript from an April 6, 2001 discussion held by Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney at which Janine Farel Robersts testified. Roberts’ research appears in Blood-Stained Diamonds: A Worldwide Diamond Investigation (Bristol: Impact Media, 2001). Over the next decades, Mobutu pillaged the country, as the Belgians had before him, depositing billions of dollars in foreign banks. Tempelsman and his staff helped Mobutu run Congo/Zaire and secured funding for Mobutu from the Untied States. Mobutu, however, had begun to limit  Western access to Congo’s resources, and this may also have been a motive for the US to support Kabila, Rwanda, and Uganda in their quest to overthrow Mobutu. Tempelsman is a major donor to the Democratic Party. During the presidency of Bill Clinton, he stayed at the White House several times and went sailing with the Clintons when they vacationed at Martha’s Vineyard: Susan Schmidt, “Tempelsman Plan Got the Ear of US Aides,” Washington Post, August 2, 1997.

5 Madeleine Drohan, Making a Killing: How and Why Corporations Use Armed Force to Do Business (Guilford, Conn.: Lyon’s Press, 2004), pp. 302-3.

6 “Report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of Congo,” 2001, www.un.org/Docs/sc/letters/2001/3573.pdf; Asad Ismi, “Congo: The Western Heart of Darkness,” Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Monitor, October 2001, posted on the Mines and Communities website, www.minesandcommunities.org/Country/congo1.htm

7 Small coltan deposits have been mined from some time in Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, and Zaire, where it is often found as a byproduct of cassiterite in industrial tin mining: Pole Institute, “The Coltan Phenomenon: How a Rare Mineral Has Changed the Life of the Population of War-Torn North Kivu Province in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo,” January 2002, www.pole-institute.org/documents/coltanglais02.pdf

8 All Party Parliamentary Group on the Great Lakes Region and Genocide Prevention, “Illegal Minerals and Conflict,” Parliamentary Briefing, March 2003, www.appggreatlakes.org/cgi-bin/site/index.cgi?back=&pid=27&keywords=&topic=Briefing_Papers. See also the official Rwandan response to the “Report of the Panel of Experts,” 2001, at www.gov.rw/government/04_22_01news_Response_To_UN_Report.htm

9 “Report of the Panel of Experts,” 2001. See also Dena Montague and Frida Berrigan, “The Business of War in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” Dollars and Sense, July-August 2001. The report covers plunder by Congolese and Zimbabwean political, military, and commercial interests, noting this network had transferred as much as US$5 billion of assets from the state mining sector to private companies. From 1998 to 2000, none of these transactions benefited Congo’s treasury. The report notes that the rates of malnutrition and mortality in the government-held areas were a result of diverting resources from state companies such as Gécamines to corrupt Zimbabwean and Congolese officials.

10 “Report of the Panel of Experts,” 2001, on the plunder of Congo, casts doubt on Rwanda’s assertions that it was invading Congo for its own security. The Panel had a letter dated May 26, 2000, in which the Military High Command for RCD-Goma (a Rwandan-backed Congolese militia group) urged its units to maintain good relationships with their Interahamwe “brothers.” A 30-year-old Interahamwe combatant living in Bukavu told United Nations personnel in 2002, “We haven’t fought much with the RPA [Rwandan Patriotic Army] in the last two years. We think they are tired of this war, like we are. In any case, they aren’t here in the Congo to chase us, like they pretend. I have seen the gold and coltan mining they do here, we see how they rob the population.”

11 In an April 16, 2001 hearing Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney investigated charges that Kagame had orchestrated the April 6, 1994 assassination of the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi, shooting down their plane with surface-to-air missiles obtained from the US via Uganda. Cameroonian journalist Charles Onana made similar claims in his book, The Secrets of the Rwandan Genocide.  Kagame sued him for defamation, but a Paris court found in favor of Onana. Sympathy for Tutsis in the West after Rwandan genocide has given Kagame carte blanche to commit egregious human rights abuses in much the same way that the world does not hold Israel accountable for human rights abuses because of Germany’s attempt to slaughter all the Jews during WW II. The Congolese resent this indulgent attitude toward Rwanda. At a guest house in Goma where our delegation stayed, the manager, discovering our intent to understand the roots of violence in the region told us, “The Tutsis are a cruel people.” He then described abuses committed by Tutsis in Rwanda before the genocide.

12 Montague and Berrigan, “The Business of War.”

13 McKinney hearing, April 16, 2001.

14 Ismi, “Congo: The Western Heart of Darkness.”

15 McKinney hearing, April 16, 2001.

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In 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists. Initially focused on elections, she investigated the 2004 Ohio election, organizing, training and leading several forays into counties to photograph the 2004 ballots. She officially served at three recounts, including the 2004 recount. She also organized and led the team that audited Franklin County Ohio's 2006 election, proving the number of signatures did not match official results. Her work appears in three books. Her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a legal investigator for private lawyers, and five years as an editor. She currently serves as a senior editor at OpEdNews. All material offered here is the property of Rady Ananda, copyright 2006, 2007, 2008. Permission is granted to repost, with proper attribution including the original link. "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." Tell the truth anyway.

 

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Georgianne Nienaber is a writer, author, and investigative journalist. She lives in the world. Her articles have appeared in The Huffington Post, SCOOP New Zealand, Glide Magazine, Rwanda's New Times, India's TerraGreen, COA News, ZNET, OpEdNews, The Journal of the International Primate Protection League, Friends of the Congo, Africa Front, The United Nations Publication, A Civil Society Observer, and Zimbabwe's The Daily Mirror. Her fiction exposé of insurance fraud in the horse industry, Horse...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Georgianne NienaberGeorgianne Nienaber is a writer, author, and investigative journalist. She lives in the world. Her articles have appeared in The Huffington Post, SCOOP New Zealand, Glide Magazine, Rwanda's New Times, India's TerraGreen, COA News, ZNET, OpEdNews, The Journal of the International Primate Protection League, Friends of the Congo, Africa Front, The United Nations Publication, A Civil Society Observer, and Zimbabwe's The Daily Mirror. Her fiction exposé of insurance fraud in the horse industry, Horse...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Repeat after me...

It is all about resource proxy wars

It is all about resource proxy wars

It is all about resource proxy wars

It is all about resource proxy wars

I have been to this hospital and it is horrific. You all should go.

You all should go and experience what it is like to never forget.

by Georgianne Nienaber (145 articles, 46 quicklinks, 13 diaries, 337 comments) on Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 9:37:09 PM
 


I have achieved nothing of consequence apart from raising children in a way that they would excel where I failed. And they are on good tracks.
ramsheyiI have achieved nothing of consequence apart from raising children in a way that they would excel where I failed. And they are on good tracks.

The Entire Picture And Overall Costs?

How about the damage to the environment, the massacre of wildlife, the rape of the planet. All of this for greed and nothing but greed. What are fututre generations going to think of us ?

by ramsheyi (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 549 comments) on Friday, July 25, 2008 at 7:17:05 AM
 


I'm an anti-civilizationist and election boycott advocate in San Diego. For reasons not to vote in faith-based elections with secret vote counts for candidates you cannot hold accountable if they fail to represent you, check out the discussions, articles, and videos on my website http://noinnovember.ning.com
Mark E. SmithI'm an anti-civilizationist and election boycott advocate in San Diego. For reasons not to vote in faith-based elections with secret vote counts for candidates you cannot hold accountable if they fail to represent you, check out the discussions, articles, and videos on my website http://noinnovember.ning.com

Thanks Georgianne and Rady!

 

I've never had a cell phone but I do have a computer. How many people died so that I could post this comment? Well, it had better be a darned good comment then. I just joined Friends of the Congo and sent them a donation.

I hope everyone reading this will do the same--it is the very least that we can do to begin to atone for the needless misery and death that fuels our materialistic lifestyles.

Some animal rights activists say that anyone who wants to eat an animal should have to kill that animal themself. Maybe anyone who wants a cell phone should have to kill an African child themself before being allowed to buy it.

There are some people on Care2 who constantly question why I describe myself as an anti-civilizationist. They should visit a few African villages untouched by war, and then visit the DRC to see what civilization brings with it.

Anyone else remember a 1947 seven song from Danny Kaye and the Andrews Sisters called "Bongo Bongo Bongo"? Google it, read the lyrics, and listen to it again. They had it right. We've known it all along.

 

 

by Mark E. Smith (21 articles, 30 quicklinks, 100 diaries, 1325 comments) on Friday, July 25, 2008 at 4:00:07 PM
 


In 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists. Initially focused on elections, she investigated the 2004 Ohio election, organizing, training and leading several forays into counties to photograph the 2004 ballots. She officially served at three recounts, including the 2004 recount. She also organized and led the team that audited Franklin County Ohio's 2006 election, proving the number of signatures did not match official results. Her work appears in three books. ...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Rady AnandaIn 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists. Initially focused on elections, she investigated the 2004 Ohio election, organizing, training and leading several forays into counties to photograph the 2004 ballots. She officially served at three recounts, including the 2004 recount. She also organized and led the team that audited Franklin County Ohio's 2006 election, proving the number of signatures did not match official results. Her work appears in three books. ...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Bongo bongo bongo, I don't wanna leave the Congo

http://www.lyricstime.com/the-andrews-sisters-civilization-bongo-bongo-bongo-lyrics.html 

Civilization (Bongo, Bongo, Bongo)
The Andrews Sisters with Danny Kaye
- written by Bob Hilliard and Carl Sigman
- as recorded September 27, 1947 in Los Angeles by The Andrews Sisters
with Danny Kaye and Vic Schoen & His Orchestra.

Each morning, a missionary advertises neon sign
He tells the native population that civilization is fine
And three educated savages holler from a bamboo tree
That civilization is a thing for me to see

So bongo, bongo, bongo, I don't wanna leave the Congo, oh no no no no
Bingo, bangle, bungle, I'm so happy in the jungle, I refuse to go
Don't want no bright lights, false teeth, doorbells, landlords, I make it clear
That no matter how they coax him, I'll stay right here

I looked through a magazine the missionary's wife concealed (Magazine? What happens?)
I see how people who are civilized bung you with automobile (You know you can get hurt that way Daniel?)
At the movies they have got to pay many coconuts to see (What do they see, Darling?)
Uncivilized pictures that the newsreel takes of me

So bongo, bongo, bongo, he don't wanna leave the Congo, oh no no no no

Bingo, bangle, bungle, he's so happy in the jungle, he refuse to go
Don't want no penthouse, bathtub, streetcars, taxis, noise in my ear
So, no matter how they coax him, I'll stay right here

They hurry like savages to get aboard an iron train
And though it's smokey and it's crowded, they're too civilized to complain
When they've got two weeks vacation, they hurry to vacation ground (What do they do, Darling?)
They swim and they fish, but that's what I do all year round

So bongo, bongo, bongo, I don't wanna leave the Congo, oh no no no no
Bingo, bangle, bungle, I'm so happy in the jungle, I refuse to go
Don't want no jailhouse, shotgun, fish-hooks, golf clubs, I got my spears
So, no matter how they coax him, I'll stay right here

They have things like the atom bomb, so I think I'll stay where I "ahm"
Civilization, I'll stay right here!

LISTEN to a version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MTGDncw5fo

by Rady Ananda (127 articles, 290 quicklinks, 37 diaries, 1130 comments) on Friday, July 25, 2008 at 4:58:05 PM
 


Georgianne Nienaber is a writer, author, and investigative journalist. She lives in the world. Her articles have appeared in The Huffington Post, SCOOP New Zealand, Glide Magazine, Rwanda's New Times, India's TerraGreen, COA News, ZNET, OpEdNews, The Journal of the International Primate Protection League, Friends of the Congo, Africa Front, The United Nations Publication, A Civil Society Observer, and Zimbabwe's The Daily Mirror. Her fiction exposé of insurance fraud in the horse industry, Horse...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Georgianne NienaberGeorgianne Nienaber is a writer, author, and investigative journalist. She lives in the world. Her articles have appeared in The Huffington Post, SCOOP New Zealand, Glide Magazine, Rwanda's New Times, India's TerraGreen, COA News, ZNET, OpEdNews, The Journal of the International Primate Protection League, Friends of the Congo, Africa Front, The United Nations Publication, A Civil Society Observer, and Zimbabwe's The Daily Mirror. Her fiction exposé of insurance fraud in the horse industry, Horse...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Dian Fossey

First, thanks for helping out Friends of Congo.

Dian Fossey's favorite song was Bongo Bongo. She had an old reel-to-reel (battery powered) that she would crank up in her tent at Karisoke. Dian understood very well what was happening, and if you analyze her writings carefully, she predicts the current situation in Congo and elsewhere in Africa. Most people don't realize that conservation organizations of that time were in overdrive to discredit her, right up to the highest levels of the State Department. The movie, Gorillas in the Mist, is a complete fabrication, and National Geographic as well as conservation organizations "consulted" on the production to ensure that the truth was not told.

Unfortunately, conservation organizations have wrapped themselves in her name and a distorted version of Dian's vision. Her biggest fear was that the gorillas would be brokered for multi-national interests.

by Georgianne Nienaber (145 articles, 46 quicklinks, 13 diaries, 337 comments) on Friday, July 25, 2008 at 7:50:29 PM
 


I am a professional life-extensionist and liberty promoter who practices what I and husband, Paul Wakfer, encourage. More detail about both of us - philosophically and physically - at http://morelife.org/personal/

When the comment time period has closed at OpEdNews.com, readers are welcome to post their comments/questions at MoreLife Yahoo after meeting the posting requirements of that group, sent to all new members upon joining. All archived messages, however, are available to anyo...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Kitty Antonik WakferI am a professional life-extensionist and liberty promoter who practices what I and husband, Paul Wakfer, encourage. More detail about both of us - philosophically and physically - at http://morelife.org/personal/

When the comment time period has closed at OpEdNews.com, readers are welcome to post their comments/questions at MoreLife Yahoo after meeting the posting requirements of that group, sent to all new members upon joining. All archived messages, however, are available to anyo...

to see more of bio, click on member name

The bottom-line problem...

The bottom-line problem is not the that companies (multi- or single country) seek and mine coltan from areas of Congo and elsewhere in Africa, but rather that governments own or confiscate the land and then deal with the companies, or take over the mining operations themselves, sometimes even using forced rather than hired workers. There is no private property in that part of the world - or if there is it is only for those who are part of the government or friends of those who are part of it. There are no individuals as property owners negotiating with others who own companies, each for their own mutual benefit, with the coltan being the value sought by the companies and money or other trade value sought by the landowners. While the governments in industrialized countries are delayed a bit by trappings of legality before confiscating property they covet for some purpose, those in power in most of Africa just use assorted means of physical violence to accomplish the same thing. There is no free-market in this, or actually any, part of the world but its consequences are the most colorful here - if one thinks of the color of blood resulting from the inevitable violence of such a situation.

Shining the light on situations of societal chaos for multitudes to see is one of the major values of the Internet and many who write articles here. However, even pointing out that governments are the crux of the problem is insufficient unless one understands that a society of rulers and ruled is not necessary for social order, no matter the color of the individuals or the language they speak.  A self-ordering society of individuals trading to mutual benefit can exist. Individual self-order without rule by others is the social system whose members are humans, who have become fully adult. Just as people can become physical adults, so can they become social adults - if only they are allowed (and even required in the sense that they will not achieve their desires unless they do) to socially mature sufficiently. "One for All and All for One", with the "One" always included in the "All", is a very reasonable way to view the proper society for human beings. Understanding the social interaction methodology by which more individuals would progress to become fully socially mature adults requires a paradigm shift in thinking about human interactions.


**Kitty Antonik Wakfer

MoreLife for the rational - http://morelife.org
Reality based tools for more life in quantity and quality
Self-Sovereign Individual Project - http://selfsip.org
Self-sovereignty, rational pursuit of optimal lifetime happiness,
individual responsibility, social preferencing & social contracting

by Kitty Antonik Wakfer (22 articles, 4 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 128 comments) on Friday, July 25, 2008 at 6:52:05 PM
 

 

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