It was an inviting cold Saturday night when some friends and I decided to go out to dinner. We opted for typical Italian food and a genuine dry red wine. Amidst small talks and a fierce debate on who was bound to win the Presidential elections taking place in October here in Brazil, I permitted myself to space out for a moment. What was not my surprise when I caught myself paying attention to an unusual table next to us.

All of a sudden a simple picture of three distinct figures triggered all sorts of thoughts you possibly may imagine.

It was a young girl of about 7 years old absorbed in having an enviable fun thumbing a top modern mobile device, recently given as a birthday present by the two bulky figures of her uncles, who were still trying to get some information on the mobile box.

EXCUSE ME!?!

Does this tiny lady need such thing in such an early age? To what extent do we really need it? Is it a real necessity or have we embraced the idea at full blast on a whim? Are we aware of whom is paying the bitter price for this paradise of endless flow of electronic devices?

Watch out! Draw a limit when on tenterhooks for getting new appealing devices

All that reminded me of Lara’s post on suicides behind the closed doors of electronic factories, Andrei’’s article on ethics, Ahmed and his “Quest for minerals”, Tomas and the sketch he drew on North-South relations, and many other brilliantly written posts from other members of our gang.

But the main worrying thing of this issue goes beyond all that. It is all about conflict minerals. That is what activists call elements like gold, tin and tantalum, used in computers and cell phones.

For instance, Congolese children are staying for several days underground in narrow mine tunnels digging out minerals which are bought by the mobile phone industry and used in the production of our mobile phones.

The Danish filmmaker Frank Poulsen realized that in a way we are all, as consumers, keeping the wheels rolling in a totally unacceptable and illegal mining enterprise in Congo. Every time we communicate through our mobile phone, we are connected with the crimes in Congo.

“Blood in the Mobile” is the name of an upcoming documentary film by Poulsen. Take a look in the trailer.

If we think about what a telephone or a computer costs, compared to what someone who mines the coltan makes, we will realize there is a very, very big gap. Business outlets ought to put things on the table, making rightful contracts which would beneficiate all the workers, as it should be, normally. But no, of course not. The heavyweight companies do not want such a thing.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting travelled to the mine of South Kivu to see who has benefited from the coltan trade – and who has paid the price. I will let the video speak for itself.

Wasn’t all this picture of people ‘begging’ for three dollars a day in muddy holes in Congolese hills enough to convince you?

Well, in this case, for the greens, here you are: mobile phones cause a fairly tiny slice of global emissions, but if you are a chatterbox using your mobile for an hour each day, the total adds up to more than 1 tonne CO² per year – the equivalent of flying from London to New York, one way, in economy class (source: the Guardian).

I focused in mobiles, but coltan and other minerals are used primarily for the production of jet engines, cameras, ink jet printers, pacemakers, game consoles and so on on an endless list.

A United Nations report on minerals in the Congo listed nearly 34 companies from all over the world involved in activities breaching international norms.

The Austrian journalist Klaus Werner (friend of Thomas Seifert of our Brussels meeting, do you remember?) has documented links between multi-national companies like Bayer and the illegal coltan traffic in the worldwide acclaimed The New Black Book of Brand Companies (in German it is ‘Das neue Schwarzbuch Markenfirmen’). 

What about change? Is it galloping?

And above all expectations, people are definitely eager to change.

- Don't tell me that no American consumer is willing to pay a penny a product to save human lives and keep the Congolese blood and suffering out of our computers. - (Ann Shannon, a participant in a recent protest  in the US against Intel Corp.) (Source: NPR)

According to NPR, “the US Senate recently passed a bill blocking the import of conflict minerals, and the House is working on its own version. But some businesses think a legislative solution won't work.

Demonstrators were pushing for swift passage of the Conflict Minerals Trade Act, which has been lumped together with the financial reform package moving through Congress. The trade act would require the U.S. government to map out all mines in Congo. The Commerce Department would then have to figure out which ones are being controlled by militias and which ones are not. That way, protesters say, businesses will have to be responsible for their supply chains”.

So, be watchful! Do not bow to the hype of changing mobiles and computers all the time. Let us halt this trend and walk out on it. Let us also pile pressure upon such industries. Let us show them we are not here to play games, literally.

I got to manage a life without cell phones and I thank god for it. What about YOU?

UPDATE: Have a look at this initiative aimed at raising awareness of this staggering reality.