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,
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0:06 - 0:10and closer than you might realize to you.
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0:10 - 0:14I came to the U.K. 21 years ago
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0:14 - 0:17as an asylum-seeker.
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0:17 - 0:19I was 21.
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0:19 - 0:23I was forced to leave the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
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0:23 - 0:28my home, where I was a student activist.
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0:28 - 0:31I would love my children to be able to meet my family
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0:31 - 0:36in the Congo.
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0:36 - 0:41But I want to tell you what the Congo has got to do with you.
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0:41 - 0:45But first of all, I want you to do me a favor.
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0:45 - 0:48Can you all please reach into your pockets
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0:48 - 0:53and take out your mobile phone?
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0:53 - 0:58Feel that familiar weight,
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0:58 - 1:02how naturally your finger slides towards the buttons.
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1:02 - 1:04(Laughter)
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1:04 - 1:07Can you imagine your world without it?
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1:07 - 1:09It connects us to our loved ones,
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1:09 - 1:13our family, friends and colleagues,
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1:13 - 1:15at home and overseas.
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1:15 - 1:20It 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,
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1:26 - 1:30and 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 - 1:38It is an anticorrosive heat conductor.
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1:38 - 1:42It stores energy in our mobile phones,
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1:42 - 1:45Playstations and laptops.
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1:45 - 1:49It is used in aerospace and medical equipment
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1:49 - 1:51as alloys.
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1:51 - 1:53It is so powerful
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1:53 - 1:56that we only need tiny amounts.
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1:56 - 2:00It would be great if the story ended there.
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2:00 - 2:04Unfortunately, what you hold in your hand
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2:04 - 2:09has not only enabled incredible technological development
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2:09 - 2:12and industrial expansion,
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2:12 - 2:16but it has also contributed to unimaginable
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2:16 - 2:18human suffering.
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2:18 - 2:24Since 1996, over five million people have died
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2:24 - 2:27in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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2:27 - 2:30Countless women, men and children
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2:30 - 2:35have been raped, tortured or enslaved.
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2:35 - 2:38Rape is used as a weapon of war,
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2:38 - 2:40instilling fear
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2:40 - 2:43and depopulating whole areas.
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2:43 - 2:47The quest for extracting this mineral
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2:47 - 2:51has not only aided, but it has fueled,
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2:51 - 2:57the ongoing war in the Congo.
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2:57 - 3:00But don't throw away your phones yet.
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3:00 - 3:04Thirty thousand children are enlisted
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3:04 - 3:10and 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 - 3:18in global health and poverty rankings.
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3:18 - 3:23But remarkably, the U.N. Environmental Programme
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3:23 - 3:26has estimated the wealth of the country
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3:26 - 3:35to be over 24 trillion dollars.
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3:35 - 3:40The state-regulated mining industry has collapsed,
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3:40 - 3:42and control over mines
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3:42 - 3:43has splintered.
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3:43 - 3:47Coltan is easily controlled by armed groups.
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3:47 - 3:51One well-known illicit trade route
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3:51 - 3:53is that across the border to Rwanda,
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3:53 - 3:58where Congolese tantalum is disguised as Rwandan.
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3:58 - 4:01But don't throw away your phones yet,
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4:01 - 4:04because the incredible irony is that
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4:04 - 4:07the technology that has placed such unsustainable,
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4:07 - 4:10devastating demands on the Congo
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4:10 - 4:13is the same technology
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4:13 - 4:16that has brought this situation to our attention.
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4:16 - 4:20We only know so much about the situation in the Congo
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4:20 - 4:22and in the mines
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4:22 - 4:24because of the kind of communication
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4:24 - 4:28the mobile phone allows.
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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 - 4:38voters were able to send text messages
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4:38 - 4:41of local polling stations to the headquarters
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4:41 - 4:45in the capital, Kinshasa,
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4:45 - 4:50and in the wake of the result,
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4:50 - 4:53the diaspora has joined with the Carter Center,
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4:53 - 4:57the Catholic Church and other observers
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4:57 - 5:02to draw attention to the undemocratic result.
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5:02 - 5:07The mobile phone has given people around the world
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5:07 - 5:13an important tool towards gaining their political freedom.
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5:13 - 5:16It has truly revolutionized the way
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5:16 - 5:19we communicate on the planet.
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5:19 - 5:22It has allowed momentous political change
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5:22 - 5:24to take place.
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5:24 - 5:26So
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5:26 - 5:30we are faced with a paradox.
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5:30 - 5:35The mobile phone is an instrument of freedom
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5:35 - 5:40and an instrument of oppression.
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5:40 - 5:42TED has always
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5:42 - 5:46celebrated what technology can do for us,
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5:46 - 5:49technology in its finished form.
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5:49 - 5:51It is time
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5:51 - 5:55to be asking questions about technology.
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5:55 - 5:57Where does it come from?
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5:57 - 6:00Who makes it?
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6:00 - 6:03And 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 - 6:11and to all those who might be watching on a screen,
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6:11 - 6:15on your phone, across the world,
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6:15 - 6:17in the Congo.
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6:17 - 6:22All the technology is in place for us to communicate,
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6:22 - 6:28and all the technology is in place to communicate this.
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6:28 - 6:30At the moment,
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6:30 - 6:35there is no clear fair trade solution,
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6:35 - 6:39but there has been a huge amount of progress.
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6:39 - 6:42The U.S. has recently passed legislation
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6:42 - 6:46to target bribery and misconduct in the Congo.
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6:46 - 6:51Recent U.K. legislation could be used in the same way.
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6:51 - 6:55In February, Nokia unveiled its new policy
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6:55 - 6:58on sourcing minerals in the Congo,
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6:58 - 7:00and there is a petition to Apple
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7:00 - 7:06to make a conflict-free iPhone.
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7:06 - 7:08There are campaigns
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7:08 - 7:11spreading across university campuses
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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 - 7:20We need to continue mounting pressure
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7:20 - 7:23on phone companies
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7:23 - 7:27to change their sourcing processes.
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7:27 - 7:30When I first came to the U.K. 21 years ago,
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7:30 - 7:32I was homesick.
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7:32 - 7:38I missed my family and the friends I left behind.
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7:38 - 7:41Communication was extremely difficult.
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7:41 - 7:45Sending and receiving letters took months,
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7:45 - 7:50if you were lucky. Often they never arrived.
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7:50 - 7:52Even if I could have afforded
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7:52 - 7:55the phone bills home,
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7:55 - 7:58like most people in the Congo,
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7:58 - 8:02my parents did not own a phone line.
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8:02 - 8:07Today, my two sons
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8:07 - 8:10David and Daniel
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8:10 - 8:17can talk to my parents and get to know them.
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8:17 - 8:21Why should we allow
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8:21 - 8:28such a wonderful, brilliant and necessary product
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8:28 - 8:31to be the cause of unnecessary suffering
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8:31 - 8:34for human beings?
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8:34 - 8:38We demand fair trade food
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8:38 - 8:39and fair trade clothes.
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8:39 - 8:44It is time to demand fair trade phones.
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8:44 - 8:49This is an idea worth spreading. Thank you.
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8:49 - 9:01(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.