Demand a fair trade cell phone
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0:01 - 0:03I want to talk to you today
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0:03 - 0:06about a difficult topic
that is close to me, -
0:06 - 0:09and closer than you might realize to you.
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0:11 - 0:16I came to the UK 21 years ago,
as an asylum-seeker. -
0:17 - 0:18I was 21.
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0:19 - 0:23I was forced to leave
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, -
0:23 - 0:26my home, where I was a student activist.
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0:29 - 0:33I would love my children to be able
to meet my family in the Congo. -
0:36 - 0:40But I want to tell you
what the Congo has got to do with you. -
0:41 - 0:45But first of all,
I want you to do me a favor. -
0:45 - 0:51Can you all please reach into your pockets
and take out your mobile phone? -
0:54 - 0:56Feel that familiar weight ...
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0:58 - 1:02how naturally your finger
slides towards the buttons. -
1:02 - 1:04(Laughter)
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1:05 - 1:07Can you imagine your world without it?
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1:07 - 1:10It connects us to our loved ones,
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1:10 - 1:13our family, friends and colleagues,
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1:13 - 1:16at home and overseas.
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1:16 - 1:19It is a symbol of an interconnected world.
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1:20 - 1:26But what you hold in your hand
leaves a bloody trail, -
1:26 - 1:29and it all boils down to a mineral:
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1:30 - 1:34tantalum, mined in the Congo as coltan.
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1:34 - 1:37It is an anticorrosive heat conductor.
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1:38 - 1:44It stores energy in our mobile phones,
PlayStations and laptops. -
1:45 - 1:51It is used in aerospace
and medical equipment as an alloy. -
1:51 - 1:55It is so powerful
that we only need tiny amounts. -
1:56 - 1:59It would be great
if the story ended there. -
2:00 - 2:04Unfortunately, what you hold in your hand
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2:04 - 2:10has not only enabled incredible
technological development -
2:10 - 2:12and industrial expansion,
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2:12 - 2:17but it has also contributed
to unimaginable human suffering. -
2:18 - 2:21Since 1996,
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2:21 - 2:26over five million people have died
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. -
2:27 - 2:34Countless women, men and children
have been raped, tortured or enslaved. -
2:35 - 2:38Rape is used as a weapon of war,
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2:38 - 2:43instilling fear
and depopulating whole areas. -
2:43 - 2:47The quest for extracting this mineral
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2:47 - 2:52has not only aided, but it has fueled
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2:52 - 2:56the ongoing war in the Congo.
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2:57 - 3:00But don't throw away your phones yet.
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3:01 - 3:05Thirty thousand children are enlisted
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3:05 - 3:08and are made to fight in armed groups.
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3:10 - 3:14The Congo consistently scores dreadfully
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3:14 - 3:17in global health and poverty rankings.
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3:19 - 3:20But remarkably,
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3:20 - 3:26the UN Environmental Programme
has estimated the wealth of the country -
3:26 - 3:31to be over 24 trillion dollars.
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3:36 - 3:40The state-regulated mining
industry has collapsed, -
3:40 - 3:44and control over mines has splintered.
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3:44 - 3:47Coltan is easily controlled
by armed groups. -
3:48 - 3:53One well-known illicit trade route
is that across the border to Rwanda, -
3:53 - 3:57where Congolese tantalum
is disguised as Rwandan. -
3:58 - 4:01But don't throw away your phones yet,
-
4:01 - 4:04because the incredible irony
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4:04 - 4:07is that the technology
that has placed such unsustainable, -
4:07 - 4:10devastating demands on the Congo
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4:10 - 4:16is the same technology that has brought
this situation to our attention. -
4:17 - 4:22We only know so much about the situation
in the Congo and in the mines -
4:22 - 4:26because of the kind of communication
the mobile phone allows. -
4:28 - 4:31As with the Arab Spring,
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4:31 - 4:34during the recent elections in the Congo,
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4:34 - 4:40voters were able to send text messages
of local polling stations -
4:40 - 4:43to the headquarters
in the capital, Kinshasa. -
4:45 - 4:48And in the wake of the result,
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4:50 - 4:54the diaspora has joined
with the Carter Center, -
4:54 - 4:57the Catholic Church and other observers,
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4:57 - 5:01to draw attention
to the undemocratic result. -
5:02 - 5:08The mobile phone has given
people around the world -
5:08 - 5:12an important tool towards gaining
their political freedom. -
5:13 - 5:18It has truly revolutionized the way
we communicate on the planet. -
5:19 - 5:23It has allowed momentous
political change to take place. -
5:25 - 5:29So, we are faced with a paradox.
-
5:31 - 5:35The mobile phone
is an instrument of freedom -
5:35 - 5:38and an instrument of oppression.
-
5:40 - 5:46TED has always celebrated
what technology can do for us, -
5:46 - 5:49technology in its finished form.
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5:49 - 5:55It is time to be asking questions
about technology. -
5:55 - 5:56Where does it come from?
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5:57 - 5:58Who makes it?
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6:00 - 6:01And for what?
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6:03 - 6:06Here, I am speaking directly to you,
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6:06 - 6:08the TED community,
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6:08 - 6:12and to all those who might
be watching on a screen, -
6:12 - 6:15on your phone, across the world,
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6:15 - 6:16in the Congo.
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6:17 - 6:22All the technology is in place
for us to communicate, -
6:22 - 6:25and all the technology is in place
to communicate this. -
6:29 - 6:31At the moment,
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6:31 - 6:34there is no clear fair-trade solution.
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6:35 - 6:38But there has been
a huge amount of progress. -
6:39 - 6:42The US has recently passed legislation
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6:42 - 6:46to target bribery
and misconduct in the Congo. -
6:46 - 6:50Recent UK legislation
could be used in the same way. -
6:52 - 6:58In February, Nokia unveiled its new policy
on sourcing minerals in the Congo, -
6:58 - 7:05and there is a petition to Apple
to make a conflict-free iPhone. -
7:06 - 7:11There are campaigns spreading
across university campuses -
7:11 - 7:14to make their colleges conflict-free.
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7:14 - 7:16But we're not there yet.
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7:16 - 7:23We need to continue
mounting pressure on phone companies -
7:23 - 7:25to change their sourcing processes.
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7:27 - 7:30When I first came to the UK, 21 years ago,
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7:30 - 7:32I was homesick.
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7:33 - 7:37I missed my family
and the friends I left behind. -
7:38 - 7:41Communication was extremely difficult.
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7:41 - 7:45Sending and receiving
letters took months -- -
7:45 - 7:47if you were lucky.
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7:47 - 7:48Often, they never arrived.
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7:50 - 7:56Even if I could have afforded
the phone bills home, -
7:56 - 7:58like most people in the Congo,
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7:58 - 8:01my parents did not own a phone line.
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8:02 - 8:05Today, my two sons --
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8:08 - 8:10David and Daniel,
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8:10 - 8:15can talk to my parents
and get to know them. -
8:18 - 8:21Why should we allow
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8:21 - 8:28such a wonderful, brilliant
and necessary product -
8:28 - 8:32to be the cause of unnecessary suffering
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8:32 - 8:33for human beings?
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8:35 - 8:39We demand fair-trade food
and fair-trade clothes. -
8:40 - 8:44It is time to demand fair-trade phones.
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8:44 - 8:47This is an idea worth spreading.
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8:48 - 8:49Thank you.
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8:49 - 8:55(Applause)
- Title:
- Demand a fair trade cell phone
- Speaker:
- Bandi Mbubi
- Description:
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Your mobile phone, computer and game console have a bloody past — tied to tantalum mining, which funds the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Drawing on his personal story, activist and refugee Bandi Mbubi gives a stirring call to action. (Filmed at TEDxExeter.)
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 09:21
Krystian Aparta commented on English subtitles for Demand a fair trade cell phone | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Demand a fair trade cell phone | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Demand a fair trade cell phone | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Demand a fair trade cell phone | ||
Geneviève Cocke declined English subtitles for Demand a fair trade cell phone | ||
Geneviève Cocke commented on English subtitles for Demand a fair trade cell phone | ||
maria noriega edited English subtitles for Demand a fair trade cell phone | ||
maria noriega edited English subtitles for Demand a fair trade cell phone |
Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was updated on 11/6/2015.