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A review by emiged
The Enough Moment: Fighting to End Africa's Worst Human Rights Crimes by John Prendergast, Don Cheadle
4.0
Focusing on three unspeakably evil things happening on a massive scale in Africa (genocide, rape, and child conscription), Mr. Prendergast and Mr. Cheadle highlight "Upstanders," people who are making a difference. These Upstanders include American celebrities as well as practically anonymous individuals in Congo or Uganda. They are students and journalists, politicians and activists, actors and medical professionals, who refused to wring their hands over the atrocities and turn away. They decided to do something, whether raising funds, educating others, or visiting these hot spots personally.
The big revelation to me was how much of the conflict, and by extension these gross human rights violations, is funded through sales of natural resources in the country: gold, tin, tungsten, tantalum. Not only are the mines often worked by forced labor, but the armed militia forces that control the mines smuggle the metals out of the country for sale to companies that use them in the manufacture of electronics. It's likely that the cell phone I use every day and the computer I'm typing on right now contain metals from those mines in Congo. Like blood diamonds that funded the conflicts in Sierra Leone and Liberia years ago, it's essential that the source of these minerals is widely known so consumers can demand better choices from the companies who purchase and use them. If the funding dries up, the wars will be less profitable and harder to continue.
For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
The big revelation to me was how much of the conflict, and by extension these gross human rights violations, is funded through sales of natural resources in the country: gold, tin, tungsten, tantalum. Not only are the mines often worked by forced labor, but the armed militia forces that control the mines smuggle the metals out of the country for sale to companies that use them in the manufacture of electronics. It's likely that the cell phone I use every day and the computer I'm typing on right now contain metals from those mines in Congo. Like blood diamonds that funded the conflicts in Sierra Leone and Liberia years ago, it's essential that the source of these minerals is widely known so consumers can demand better choices from the companies who purchase and use them. If the funding dries up, the wars will be less profitable and harder to continue.
For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.