Thread by @AukeHoekstra

Yesterday there was another (Dutch) documentary about the abysmal situation of most miners in Congo (some of them children). I think drawing attention to this is good but the format and answers where misguided and counterproductive.
npostart.nl/waarde-van-de-…

The formula of the program is the usual:
1) Appeal to emotion and stoke revulsion at child labour to get people outraged
2) Interview experts who have 'dirt'
3) Appoint some super indirect random scapegoats that you can get on camera and have a 'brave' interviewer confront them

I know: it's the outrage that counts. Truth and solutions are of secondary interest. But let's look at those too.
The solution the programs seems to suggest is: never buy from people implicated in child labour or corruption.

(Actually it is worse. The program scapegoats people who support companies that buy from battery manufacturers that buy from mining companies that can't prove they've evicted all poor people who might bring their children when they dig on their mining sites.)

To set the scene: Congo is almost a failed state. This in turn is a consequence of the atrocities during the reign of King Leopold II of Belgium. If you want to look for scapegoats: there should be a special place in hell for him and his henchmen. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrocitie…

The government is famously corrupt.
u4.no/publications/d…

~80% of the Cobalt production in Congo comes from large scale mining (LSM) that use machines and the rest from artisan mines (ASM) where people dig with simple tools. But these ASMs provide ~10 times more jobs, especially to the poorest.
reliefweb.int/sites/reliefwe…

These ASM sites are basically poor people digging up stuff with shovels. Some parents bring their kids along because they don't have food, let alone daycare.

Now the easiest way to pacify @Twan_Huys and @Nieuwsuur who made the program is for companies like Glencore to put a big fat gate around their property to keep the AMSs out. All human rights organisations agree this would be terrible.

A better option is to work with local populations to slowly build trust and local cooperatives. But one of the very few parties that has so far been able to achieve any improvements is Trafigura, a company you can find much more dirt on than Glencore. reliefweb.int/sites/reliefwe…

But that's basically colonialism where corporations get almost all the money and poor people get the scraps in turn for backbreaking labor.

In my ideal world efficient mining that gives profits to the people of Congo would make everybody rich without working in ASMs at all.

That would require a functioning government that was actually trying to provide wealth to its people. And we have to help build that first.

So I'm sorry: I see no simple solution. But I'm doubtful that shouting at Tesla and Apple "YOU ARE EVIL!!" helps much. What do you think?

My bad: the presenter was correct but the program is called #waardevandeaarde and is broadcast by @kroncrv.