Can You Hear Me Now?

Look at your cell phone (or mobile, if you prefer). Your iPod, your laptop or PC, on & on. All of these wonders (sometimes irritants), need valuable minerals to work. These minerals are mined in Congo (DRC) &, yes, you guessed it--there's a crisis related to this fact. You recall "conflict" diamonds? (GG's editor prefers "blood diamonds" because it's less sanitized. & much more truthful.) Well, the folks at the Enough Project are right to label coltan, among other ores, as "conflict minerals."

All of us who buy, or use, these products have a responsibility to know how they are produced. Considering that GG Central is blogging with oncoming illness, we quote from an Enough press release below about John Prendergast's appearance last evening at American University with Joel & Benji Madden. We decided to stay home & keep our germs out of circulation. We know we go on & on, week after week, about the Enough Project but they really are organized, smart, & effective.

The good folks at Enough have done all the difficult work. We just have to click a few links & do a few small things. There's no way all the nice people who read this blog & email such lovely messages want to unwittingly contribute to the war in Congo by their use of electronic devices. And no one is asking you to do without them. Below is the press release referring to last night's event.

"The Enough Project at the Center for American Progress and American University’s School of International Service will sponsor a discussion on the crisis in central Africa and the multimillion dollar trade in ‘conflict minerals’ that fuels the conflict with Joel and Benji Madden of the rock group Good Charlotte, along with John Prendergast, co-chair of Enough, on Wednesday, February 4, at 7pm.

The free event, in Room One of American’s Ward Building at 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW, will focus on how ‘conflict minerals’ - mined in Congo and used universally in small electronic devices like cell phones – are fueling a deadly war in central Africa, and how students and activists can become advocates for this issue.

Joel Madden, a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and his brother and fellow band member, Benji Madden, traveled to Central African Republic with UNICEF last fall to witness the devastating impact that conflict and poverty has had on the region. The Madden brothers have been involved as ‘Enough Envoys’ for the RAISE Hope for Congo campaign since last fall, raising awareness about the crisis at their concerts, creating public-service announcements, and educating lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Enough, a project to end genocide and crimes against humanity at the Center for American Progress, launched the RAISE Hope for Congo: Protect and Empower Congo’s Women campaign last fall to build a movement of activists who can advocate for an end to the widespread sexual violence against women and girls plaguing the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo, located in central Africa, and raise awareness about the role that mining for natural mineral resources plays in fueling the crisis. The conflict has been marked by cycles of escalation, and the international response has been wholly inadequate."

So there you have it. You will be hearing a lot more about Congo & minerals in the coming weeks & months. So you might just want to pre-emptively shut us up & visit the Enough Project link (or their Raise Hope for Congo)! It's a plan.

Mille grazie, baci!

GG the good-hearted cat & her editor

(1-photograph Where are You Now? by drburtoni)
(2-photograph from In Search of Congo's Coltan by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele/Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting)