Zero Hedge
The chances of your phone’s battery being made using cobalt from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are, as Statista’s Martin Armstrong notes in this chart using data cited in Statista’s DossierPlus ‘Mining Industry in Africa‘ shows, very high.
The country, ranked 166 out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (with a score of just 20 out of a possible 100), and with an estimated one million people living in modern slavery as of 2018, also happens to be the world’s largest producer of the metal key to lithium-ion battery production.
The use of child labor in the mining of cobalt in DRC is well documented, with the U.S. Department of Labor estimating that 40,000 children, some as young as 6 years old, work in the mines there.
Via https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/your-phone-runs-cobalt-dr-congo
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“The use of child labor in the mining of cobalt in DRC is well documented, with the U.S. Department of Labor estimating that 40,000 children, some as young as 6 years old, work in the mines there.”
I wonder what would happen if the main media would print something like this in their headlines!
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Not in our lifetime, Aunty, that’s for sure.
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Not in our lifetime. When then?
Just wondering! 🙂
How on earh can this kind of child labour be ignored in our day and age?
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I guess this is all part and parcel of post industrial capitalism, Aunty. It’s not pretty.
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Capitalists aren’t really interested in equality amd fairness for all humans. How can we fight a system like this? We, who profit from this system, do not like to give away any of our prosperity.
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Reblogged this on AuntyUta and commented:
More people should become aware of this kind of child labour! Whay do you think?
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Here in New Zealand, we’re working on setting up our own systems to meet people’s needs outside of the corporate system. We’re starting with health, because the New Zealand health system isn’t working for us, but are in coalition with other groups working on food and education systems because those aren’t working, either.
The name of the grassroots health group I work with is The People’s Health Alliance and we work closely with The People’s Health Alliance Australia. Here is their website: https://www.pha-australia.org/
The name of our coalition is NZ Rising. From looking at the PHA Australia website, it looks like they are part of a wider Australian coalition called Reignite Democracy: https://www.reignitedemocracyaustralia.com.au/
You might want to check them out.
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