Demand a fair trade cell phone | Bandi Mbubi | TEDxExeter
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0:18 - 0:20Good morning.
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0:20 - 0:22I want to talk to you today
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0:22 - 0:25about a difficult topic
that is close to me, -
0:25 - 0:29and closer than you might realize to you.
-
0:30 - 0:35I came to the UK 21 years ago,
as an asylum-seeker. -
0:36 - 0:37I was 21.
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0:38 - 0:42I was forced to leave
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, -
0:42 - 0:45my home, where I was a student activist.
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0:46 - 0:49I would love my children to be able
to meet my family in the Congo. -
0:53 - 0:57But I want to tell you
what the Congo has got to do with you. -
1:01 - 1:05But first of all,
I want you to do me a favor. -
1:05 - 1:10Can you all please reach into your pockets
and take out your mobile phone? -
1:19 - 1:21Feel that familiar weight...
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1:23 - 1:26how naturally your finger
slides towards the buttons. -
1:26 - 1:29(Laughter)
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1:30 - 1:32Can you imagine your world without it?
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1:34 - 1:37It connects us to our loved ones,
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1:37 - 1:40our family, friends and colleagues,
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1:40 - 1:43at home and overseas.
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1:47 - 1:50It is a symbol of an interconnected world.
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1:56 - 2:02But what you hold in your hand
leaves a bloody trail, -
2:02 - 2:05and it all boils down to a mineral:
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2:06 - 2:10tantalum, mined in the Congo as coltan.
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2:11 - 2:14It is an anticorrosive heat conductor.
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2:16 - 2:21It stores energy in our mobile phones,
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2:21 - 2:24PlayStations and laptops.
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2:24 - 2:30It is used in aerospace
and medical equipment as an alloy. -
2:32 - 2:36It is so powerful
that we only need tiny amounts. -
2:38 - 2:41It would be great
if the story ended there. -
2:42 - 2:45Unfortunately, what you hold in your hand
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2:45 - 2:51has not only enabled incredible
technological development -
2:51 - 2:54and industrial expansion,
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2:54 - 2:59but it has also contributed
to unimaginable human suffering. -
3:03 - 3:06Since 1996,
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3:06 - 3:12over five million people have died
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. -
3:13 - 3:19Countless women, men and children
have been raped, tortured or enslaved. -
3:22 - 3:24Rape is used as a weapon of war,
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3:24 - 3:29instilling fear
and depopulating whole areas. -
3:34 - 3:38The quest for extracting this mineral
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3:38 - 3:43has not only aided, but it has fueled
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3:43 - 3:47the ongoing war in the Congo.
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3:48 - 3:51But don't throw away your phones yet.
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3:56 - 4:02Thirty thousand children are enlisted
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4:02 - 4:06and are made to fight in armed groups.
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4:08 - 4:13The Congo consistently scores dreadfully
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4:13 - 4:16in global health and poverty rankings.
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4:18 - 4:19But remarkably,
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4:19 - 4:26the UN Environmental Programme
has estimated the wealth of the country -
4:26 - 4:31to be over 24 trillion dollars.
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4:42 - 4:48The state-regulated mining
industry has collapsed, -
4:48 - 4:52and control over mines has splintered.
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4:52 - 4:58Coltan is easily controlled
by armed groups. -
5:03 - 5:08One well-known illicit trade route
is that across the border to Rwanda, -
5:08 - 5:12where Congolese tantalum
is disguised as Rwandan. -
5:12 - 5:15But don't throw away your phones yet,
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5:15 - 5:18because the incredible irony
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5:19 - 5:22is that the technology
that has placed such unsustainable, -
5:23 - 5:26devastating demands on the Congo
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5:26 - 5:32is the same technology that has brought
this situation to our attention. -
5:33 - 5:38We only know so much about the situation
in the Congo and in the mines -
5:38 - 5:43because of the kind of communication
the mobile phone allows. -
5:45 - 5:47As with the Arab Spring,
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5:48 - 5:52during the recent elections in the Congo,
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5:52 - 5:58voters were able to send text messages
of local polling stations -
5:58 - 6:01to the headquarters
in the capital, Kinshasa. -
6:03 - 6:06And in the wake of the result,
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6:08 - 6:12the diaspora has joined
with the Carter Center, -
6:13 - 6:16the Catholic Church and other observers,
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6:16 - 6:20to draw attention
to the undemocratic result. -
6:23 - 6:28The mobile phone has given
people around the world -
6:28 - 6:32an important tool towards gaining
their political freedom. -
6:33 - 6:38It has truly revolutionized the way
we communicate on the planet. -
6:40 - 6:45It has allowed momentous
political change to take place. -
6:47 - 6:51So, we are faced with a paradox.
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6:53 - 6:57The mobile phone
is an instrument of freedom -
6:57 - 7:00and an instrument of oppression.
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7:03 - 7:09TED has always celebrated
what technology can do for us, -
7:09 - 7:12technology in its finished form.
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7:13 - 7:20It is time to be asking questions
about technology. -
7:21 - 7:22Where does it come from?
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7:23 - 7:24Who makes it?
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7:26 - 7:27And for what?
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7:28 - 7:31Here, I am speaking directly to you,
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7:31 - 7:33the TED community,
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7:33 - 7:37and to all those who might
be watching on a screen, -
7:37 - 7:40on your phone, across the world,
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7:40 - 7:42in the Congo.
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7:43 - 7:47All the technology is in place
for us to communicate, -
7:47 - 7:51and all the technology is in place
to communicate this. -
7:51 - 7:53At the moment,
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7:53 - 7:57there is no clear fair-trade solution.
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7:58 - 8:01But there has been
a huge amount of progress. -
8:02 - 8:06The US has recently passed legislation
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8:07 - 8:11to target bribery
and misconduct in the Congo. -
8:13 - 8:17Recent UK legislation
could be used in the same way. -
8:20 - 8:26In February, Nokia unveiled its new policy
on sourcing minerals in the Congo, -
8:27 - 8:33and there is a petition to Apple
to make a conflict-free iPhone. -
8:35 - 8:42There are campaigns spreading
across university campuses -
8:42 - 8:45to make their colleges conflict-free.
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8:48 - 8:49But we're not there yet.
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8:50 - 8:56We need to continue
mounting pressure on phone companies -
8:56 - 8:59to change their sourcing,
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8:59 - 9:03their sourcing processes.
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9:07 - 9:11When I first came to the UK, 21 years ago,
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9:13 - 9:14I was homesick.
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9:15 - 9:19I missed my family
and the friends I left behind. -
9:20 - 9:23Communication was extremely difficult.
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9:25 - 9:29Sending and receiving
letters took months -- -
9:29 - 9:31if you were lucky.
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9:31 - 9:32Often, they never arrived.
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9:34 - 9:39Even if I could have afforded
the phone bills home, -
9:39 - 9:42like most people in the Congo,
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9:42 - 9:45my parents did not own a phone line.
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9:46 - 9:49Today, my two sons --
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9:53 - 9:55David and Daniel,
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9:55 - 9:59can talk to my parents
and get to know them. -
10:00 - 10:03Why should we allow
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10:03 - 10:10such a wonderful, brilliant
and necessary product -
10:10 - 10:14to be the cause of unnecessary suffering
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10:14 - 10:15for human beings?
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10:17 - 10:22We demand fair-trade food
and fair-trade clothes. -
10:22 - 10:26It is time to demand fair-trade phones.
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10:27 - 10:30This is an idea worth spreading.
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10:30 - 10:31Thank you.
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10:31 - 10:38(Applause)
- Title:
- Demand a fair trade cell phone | Bandi Mbubi | TEDxExeter
- Description:
-
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.
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. - Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 10:50
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The English transcript was updated on 3/1/2017.