Coltan

Author: Michael Nest
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 074563771X
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 270

Book Description
A decade ago no one except geologists had heard of tantalum or 'coltan' - an obscure mineral that is an essential ingredient in mobile phones and laptops. Then, in 2000, reports began to leak out of Congo: of mines deep in the jungle where coltan was extracted in brutal conditions watched over by warlords. The United Nations sent a team to investigate, and its exposé of the relationship between violence and the exploitation of coltan and other natural resources contributed to a re-examination of scholarship on the motivations and strategies of armed groups. The politics of coltan encompass rebel militias, transnational corporations, determined activists, Hollywood celebrities, the rise of China, and the latest iGadget. Drawing on Congolese and activist voices, Nest analyses the two issues that define coltan politics: the relationship between coltan and violence in the Congo, and contestation between activists and corporations to reshape the global tantalum supply chain. The way production and trade of coltan is organised creates opportunities for armed groups, but the Congo wars are not solely, or even primarily, about coltan or minerals generally. Nest argues the political significance of coltan lies not in its causal link to violence, but in activists' skillful use of mobile phones as a symbol of how ordinary people and transnational corporations far from Africa are implicated in Congo's coltan industry and therefore its conflict. Nest examines the challenges coltan initiatives face in an activist 'marketplace' crowded with competing justice issues, and identifies lessons from coltan initiatives for the geopolitics of global resources more generally.

Coltan

Author: Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
ISBN: 1846942101
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 245

Book Description
The board members of US company Dall & Houston receive a death threat from an alleged Islamic terrorist called Aarohum Al Rashid: unless they return the one billion dollars that they reaped from their direct involvement in the Iraq war, they will be killed off one by one. The plot addresses current global issues like the war for the control of coltan supplies, a mineral so valuable that it has become essential to new technology in the developed world. A great novel, charged with action, intrigue and first-class story telling.

Coltan

Author: Michael Nest
Publisher: Polity
ISBN: 0745649319
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Book Description
In this book, Michael Nest unravels this complex story to offer a clear and compelling analysis of the relationship between coltan and violence in the Congo, and the battle between activists and corporations to reshape the global tantalum supply chain.

Coltan, Congo and Conflict

Author: Artur Usanov
Publisher: The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies
ISBN: 9491040812
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 87

Book Description
This report evaluates the links between coltan trade and violence in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and examines the potential for recent legislation to break such links and reduce conflict.

Conflict Minerals, Inc.

Author: Christoph N. Vogel
Publisher: Hurst Publishers
ISBN: 1787388808
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 223

Book Description
In the twenty-first century, the relationship between violent conflict and natural resources has become a matter of intense public and academic debate. As a result of fervent activism and international campaigning, the flagship case of ‘conflict minerals’ has captured global attention. This term groups together the artisanal tin, tantalum (coltan), tungsten and gold originating from war zones in Central Africa. Known as ‘digital minerals’ for their use in high-end technology, their exploitation and trade has been singled out in numerous media and United Nations reports as a key driver of violence, provoking an unprecedented popular outcry and prompting transnational efforts to promote ‘conflict-free’, ethical mining. Focusing on the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Conflict Minerals, Inc. is the first comprehensive analysis of this phenomenon. Based on meticulous investigation and long-term fieldwork, this book analyses why the campaign against ‘unethical’ mining went awry, and radically disrupted eastern Congo’s political economy. It dissects the evolution of the conflict minerals paradigm, the policy responses it triggered and their impact on artisanal miners. Vogel demonstrates how Western advocacy and policy have relied on colonial frames to drive change, and how White Saviourism perpetuates structural violence and inequality across global supply and value chains.

The Eyes of the World

Author: James H. Smith
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226816060
Category : BUSINESS & ECONOMICS
Languages : en
Pages : 361

Book Description
Orientations -- Prologue: an introduction to the personal, methodological, and spatiotemporal scales of the project -- The eyes of the world: themes of movement, visualization, and (dis)embodiment in Congolese digital minerals extraction (an introduction) -- Mining worlds. War stories: seeing the world through war ; The magic chain: interdimensional movement in the supply chain for the "Black Minerals" ; Mining futures in the ruins -- The eyes of the world on Bisie and the game of tags ; Bisie during the time of movement ; Insects of the forest ; The battle of Bisie ; Closure ; Game of tags: auditing the digital minerals supply chain ; Conclusion: chains, holes, and wormholes.

Consuming the Congo

Author: Peter Eichstaedt
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 1569769001
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 260

Book Description
Describes the "conflict minerals" mined in the Congo amidst armed conflict and human rights abuses including gold, diamonds, coltan, tin, and tungsten used in cell phones, computers, and other electronics. Explores the slave labor, violence, and disease killing millions of Congolese mining these resources, and offers ways one can help.

Gorilla Dawn

Author: Gill Lewis
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1481486578
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 432

Book Description
-Originally published in Great Britain in 2015 by Oxford University Press.---Verso.

Blue Gold

Author: Elizabeth Stewart
Publisher: Annick Press
ISBN: 1554516366
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 199

Book Description
Coltan, or “blue gold,” is a rare mineral used in making cell phones and computers. Across continents, the lives of three teen girls are affected by the “blue gold” trade. Sylvie’s family had to lee the Democratic Republic of the Congo after her father was killed by a rogue militia gang in the conlict for control of coltan. The refugee camp where she now lives is deplorable, and Sylvie yearns for a way out—to save not only herself, but her remaining family. Laiping labors in a Chinese factory, soldering components for cell phones. She had left her small village to make her fortune, but the factory conditions are crushing, and the constant pressure to send money home adds to her misery. Yet when Laiping tries to improve her situation, she sees what happens to those who dare question the electronics company’s policies. Fiona is a North American girl who, in one thoughtless moment, takes a picture on her cell phone she comes to regret. In the aftermath, she learns not only about trust and being true to oneself, but the importance of ighting for what is right. All three teens are unexpectedly linked by these events. Elizabeth Stewart conducted extensive research to authentically capture the experiences of all three girls. The result is an intense and powerful story about their struggles to create better lives for themselves in the face of the world’s increasing appetite for coltan.

West Africa

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Africa, West
Languages : en
Pages : 804

Book Description