NY Times journalist, Nicholas D. Kristof, wrote an article published in today’s paper he titled Death by Gadget. It’s a timely article in light of the release of the latest iPhone. Would you believe that by purchasing the iPhone and most electronics, for that matter,  you might be funding one of the deadliest wars in history?

Kristof has this to say about the conflict in Congo:

I’ve never reported on a war more barbaric than Congo’s, and it haunts me. In Congo, I’ve seen women who have been mutilated, children who have been forced to eat their parents’ flesh, girls who have been subjected to rapes that destroyed their insides. Warlords finance their predations in part through the sale of mineral ore containing tantalum, tungsten, tin and gold. For example, tantalum from Congo is used to make electrical capacitors that go into phones, computers and gaming devices.

To read the entire article click here.
Kristof, offers a brief insight into just how serious this conflict in Eastern Congo really is:

A word of background: Eastern Congo is the site of the most lethal conflict since World War II, and is widely described as the rape capital of the world. The war had claimed 5.4 million deaths as of April 2007, with the toll mounting by 45,000 a month, according to a study by the International Rescue Committee.

Watch this video to see Kristof in Congo.

The Congo is considered the worst place in the world to be born into. Girls are raised knowing they will be raped. Boys are raised to be violent and to trust no one. Forty-five thousand deaths in a 30 day time period is mind blowing. That is 1500 people a day.

But the Congo is on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean from those of us in the United States. Should their problems really be our concern? Can we really do anything to stop the chaos that Congolese men, women and children struggle to survive in everyday while we're here in America or in any other country for that matter?

What if we stopped buying electronics containing the conflict minerals, tantalum, tungsten, tin and gold? Could we save lives? Could we stop a war simply by not purchasing electronics? What if the people of the free world used their voice, their freedom to vote and their consumer power to end a war? Can it be done? Should it be done?  

There are plenty of activists groups who are working tirelessly to bring the electronics companies dirty little secret into the light and allow the consumer to vote and make a statement via their purchases. One such group produced the video shown here.

I don’t want to knock the iPhone and I surely don’t judge people for their electronics purchases. In fact, I own a Blackberry and I am watching "one of the most dramatic seasons of the Bachelorette" on a giant flat screen TV right now. I am impressed by the technology of today and the creativity it took to produce it.

But I have to ask myself, are the advantages of our electronics worth a life in Congo? I know my answer to that question, but I want to hear what you think about all this. Is it the consumers responsibility to ensure what we are purchasing was not made at the expense of another? Or is it someone else’s problem like the companies in the electronic industry? Should we be concerned with lives of people we know nothing about?                 

I traveled to the Congo in 2003 and I can tell you that I encountered some Congolese who are not happy with Americans and white people in general. Their anger is deeply rooted in history and is understandable. Should this concern us? Is it our problem?    

As you can see, I have a lot of questions and not a lot of answers. But I’d really like to hear what your thoughts are on this. Thanks to Leonardo DiCaprio’s, Blood Diamond, some exposure was made into the jewelry industry, but what will it take for people to see the damage that our cell phones and WII’s are causing?

Kristof ends his article with a profound statement that I’ll use to end this blog:

We may be able to undercut some of the world’s most brutal militias simply by making it clear to electronics manufacturers that we don’t want our beloved gadgets to enrich sadistic gunmen. No phone or tablet computer can be considered “cool” if it may be helping perpetuate one of the most brutal wars on the planet.