The war in congo has produced more casulaites than any other conflict since world war II. The violent state of the country robbed the congonese of everything. There is no health care, functioning government, or security, even the congonese army is corrupt. The conflict is between different rebel groups seeking riches from the congo. The DRC is the most mineral rich country in Africa, it is estimated that 64% of the world's coltan reserves are located in the DRC, while 34% of the world's cobalt and 10% of the world's copper reserves are found in the country's Katanga province. Originally Uganda and Rawanda combined with rebel groups to benefit from these riches, currently the eastern part of the country is not under government control and the conflict seems endless. There are daily murders at mines by government brigades and the few workers make less than a pound a day. It seems like the only ones who benefit from the situation in the DRC are coltane hungry countries.
One of those coltane hungry countries is Canada, and as a country with power and influence we have a responsibility to the world to protect human rights. So why are we fueling mass civilain deaths by buying coltane from the Congo. Is it the only convientent and readily available source of Coltane? Is there such a demand for this precious resource that we can sleep at nite with our bloodberries without a sense of guilt? Do we need it so bad that we can watch hundreds of innocent lives be sacrificed everyday? Canada is a land of contradictions, our companies buy the Coltane and fuel the fighting, shortly after we send peacekeepers to apparently stop the fighting. What is going on here? Perhaps a man by the name of Machiavelli could tell us. The government knows they are doing wrong but the peacekeepers they send make it appear that we are doing right. If we were ideally interested in the restoration of the Congo we would contribute much more to the UN mission. Our current contributions are minuscule and barely worth a mention but anytime a politician is asked about Congo they speak with grandeur about the peacekeeping going on. I say stop keeping us happy with you lies and show us some results. It is the responsibility of the government to bring morals to business this is why we elect them. The businesses would have to spend a ridiculous amount of money ensuring there workers are not slaves and that there resource is coming from a respectable work environment. This would be bad for us as consumers because if they spent the money enforcing this our cellphone prices would spike. Here is where our country contradicts a country of capitalism cannot work with a country of human rights and democracy. Canada must draw the line somewhere and innocent lives being lost as a result of big business has crossed the line of human rights. It is simple, Even if cellphone prices spike we must make sure innocent lives are not being lost.
One of those coltane hungry countries is Canada, and as a country with power and influence we have a responsibility to the world to protect human rights. So why are we fueling mass civilain deaths by buying coltane from the Congo. Is it the only convientent and readily available source of Coltane? Is there such a demand for this precious resource that we can sleep at nite with our bloodberries without a sense of guilt? Do we need it so bad that we can watch hundreds of innocent lives be sacrificed everyday? Canada is a land of contradictions, our companies buy the Coltane and fuel the fighting, shortly after we send peacekeepers to apparently stop the fighting. What is going on here? Perhaps a man by the name of Machiavelli could tell us. The government knows they are doing wrong but the peacekeepers they send make it appear that we are doing right. If we were ideally interested in the restoration of the Congo we would contribute much more to the UN mission. Our current contributions are minuscule and barely worth a mention but anytime a politician is asked about Congo they speak with grandeur about the peacekeeping going on. I say stop keeping us happy with you lies and show us some results. It is the responsibility of the government to bring morals to business this is why we elect them. The businesses would have to spend a ridiculous amount of money ensuring there workers are not slaves and that there resource is coming from a respectable work environment. This would be bad for us as consumers because if they spent the money enforcing this our cellphone prices would spike. Here is where our country contradicts a country of capitalism cannot work with a country of human rights and democracy. Canada must draw the line somewhere and innocent lives being lost as a result of big business has crossed the line of human rights. It is simple, Even if cellphone prices spike we must make sure innocent lives are not being lost.
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