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My work on behalf of children around the world extends past the posts I do for @familyprotection... several months ago I wrote a series called Raping Africa exposing child trafficking and forced child labor throughout much of the continent. Several of the articles centered around child labor in the Congo and now it appears that civil unrest has once again revisited this mineral rich nation where children are forced to do most of the labor.
To fully understand what's going on, it's important to understand how politics is dome in "post-colonial" Africa. The truth of the matter is that a new form of colonialism exists with the UN and multinational corporations at the helm... it's almost become a one-size-fits-all paradigm for global exploitation. Using the Congo as an example, this is how it works throughout much of Africa.
The Congo is rich in natural resources- in particular cobalt, a necessary ingredient for lithium ion batteries (like the ones in your cell-phone and electric cars). Multinational corporations covet these natural resources and fear that if Africa should develop and industrialize they lose their bottom line... so they fund radical "rebel" groups to cause civil unrest. Then the UN- the most corrupt institution on the face of the earth- steps in and sends in "peacekeepers"... in the case of the Congo, thugs from the Rwandan Army. Then the UN brokers "free democratic elections" that are anything but. The UN selects a "president," inevitably a strongman favorable to the multinationals who pay them off and only ballots from the party of the anointed candidate are counted and he, unsurprisingly, wins by a landslide. Having their puppet firmly in place, backed by the "peacekeepers," the multinationals are free to exploit Africa for its wealth of resources. When conditions for the people deteriorate so badly that they can no longer tolerate them- as is the case in the Congo once again- they fight back.
The tragic side of this is that nothing ever seems to change that is beneficial to the people. Their country continues to be raped of its mineral resources and the children are forced into what amounts to modern day slavery. Children are kidnapped from loving homes (people in Africa love their children too- something we tend to overlook) and forced to work 12 hour days in the mines... in dangerous and deplorable working conditions. Many of the mines are no more than holes 40 or 50' deep and no more than 3' wide- too small for an adult. The children are lowered on ropes into 130-140 degree temperatures to search for the cobalt. If they refuse to work, they have a hand or foot cut off, or a family member is killed. I guess the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child doesn't extend to little black kids who can readily exploited to help fund their corruption. This video shows some of the conditions that the children are forced to work in.
In addition to exposing the corruption of the UN and multinational corporations that support them, this also shows the utter hypocrisy of the wonderful caring people in the environmental movement. The batteries that electric cars require to run use much of the cobalt mined in the Congo. I suppose in the grand scheme of things, sacrificing a few black kids in Africa is a small price to pay to create the illusion of "saving Mother Earth." After all, none of us knows them and they can survive with only one hand or foot... and remember, Elon Musk and Richard Branson have a lot of money invested- as does Apple- we'd hate to see their profit margin threatened just to save a few African kids that none of us knows anyway.
Lamentably, this has become a familiar pattern throughout Africa... children yanked from loving homes and either trafficked to Europe to be exploited there, or into forced labor camps at home... all in the name of "progress." Enjoy your Smart Phone...
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GIF by @papa-pepper
