What Is Happening in the Congo, Why it Is a Genocide, and What You Can Do To Help

(Originally published February 13, 2024)

In Congo, there is a genocide in plain sight largely ignored by the world and the reason for it is located in the items we use daily. 

Mines are popping up everywhere and expanding, taking with them safety, suitable work, and freedom from those who inhabited the lands where the mines now stand. The mines largely profit colonialist wims, white (and nonBlack POC) owned conglomerates that do not care about the harm the violent means they use to make money does to Congolese people even when alternatives are available.

What is happening to the Congolese people? 

The Congo has some of the largest mined quantities of minerals such as copper and cobalt. Mining companies worldwide (such as those with roots in China, the United States, and Europe) are invested in over-mining Congo. 

How they do this is through use of the Congolese army and mercenaries to make space for the growth of the mines. This space is usually garnered by loss of resources and force. Some Congo neighborhoods have the mines take space away from other jobs as they grow, others are forcibly evicted from their homes and even have their neighborhoods pillaged to the ground by the Congolese Republican Gaurd in a quest to make space for the mines. No matter the case, the only thing left for people to survive in many cases is to work for the mines. In a lot of situations, people (especially children) are not even given a choice; being abducted and taken to the mines to work for excruciatingly low or no pay.  There are instances where either during the destruction of neighborhoods or while at the mines people will face sexual assault and rape by the army and the militias. 

On top of the horror they face to their homes and bodies through direct physical violence, there is also environmental violence. Many of the minerals being mined are toxic in direct contact and cause bodily harm to those who work the mines. The mines are also prone to collapsing, crushing those inside. The process of mining these minerals also pollutes the air and combined with the trees cut down to expand the mines leads to bad air quality. 

The irony of all this is that part of the reason for the severity of mining these minerals is a quest for 'sustainable energy'. Minerals such as cobalt are used to make rechargeable batteries, like the kind for electric cars. Obviously, when we look at the human cost AND cost to the environment to get the minerals we see that the green energy they can provide is null. Just like with diamonds, it is possible to create these minerals in labs, which would actually be much more environmentally friendly and humane but labs are not being utilized in a manner to replace these mines.

Congolese people are losing their homes, neighborhoods, personal agency and in many cases their lives to the occupation of Congo by these mines.

What role do colonial powers play in this?

Just as with the Sudanese genocide, we should take a look back at history and then work our way up to see how this genocide happened and how this is a case of antiBlack supremacy. 

The Congolese have historically suffered outside powers simultaneously killing them and forcing them to create goods while they're dying. 

We can look to the reign of 'King' Leopold during the late 19th into the early 20th century, for instance.  Belgian royalty who murdered millions of Congolese in a holocaust. He is estimated to have been responsible for 50 million deaths in the Congo through his enslavement of the people, forcing them to cultivate many items, such as Ivory and eventually rubber. If metrics were not met the penalty was death, If colonizers felt like it they would kill with impunity, and just like the UAE of today which play a part in the Sudanese and Congolese genocide Leopold's regime was not against weaponizing members of the people he was oppressing to help him hurt them. 

You might wonder how the UAE plays a part in this suffering; The UAE (United Arab Emirates) has solidified a deal with the Congolese government to mine the land for the next twenty-five years. This gives them use of the Congo's own forces to take the land (and everything else) of the Congolese. 

Beyond the UAE many other nations worldwide, such as the US, are very aware of the inhumane acts these mining conglomerates use that garner the minerals used in our tech. They do little to stop them. 

When we look at how the major players of Black harm diasporically fit into this atrocity It is clear that this genocide that harms Black people is a direct result of white (and arab) supremacist colonial action. 

What role does the government of Congo play in this genocide?

In another similarity to the Sudanese genocide, the government of Congo is also responsible for their country's suffering. These mines that are in the Congo have not appeared without Congolese official acceptance.

As shown with their agreements with the UAE the Congolese government is on board with the mining in Congo. 

President Tshisekedi talks about the mining as proof of the nation being a "climate solution country" but the human lives of the Congolese should never be a formality of that and it is striking that he can look at such slaughter and destruction yet still pretend everything is okay. At most, he has called for a look at previously agreed-upon contracts with mining companies but that is a far cry from stopping their operations and acknowledging what is happening to the Congolese people as a genocide. 

Why Is little being done about this genocide?

This is a genocide whose product is what many of us require to live every day. For many people it feels weird to fight against the genocide knowing the creations made with cobalt and the other minerals of the Congo are at this point a requirement for a living and safety. I would say this shouldn't stop people from fighting this genocide both for the obvious point of Congolese lives mattering more than the awkwardness of fighting the powers that be that offer up the tech we need and that those powers that be can always use more humane alternatives, such as lab-grown minerals, and aren't. 

Another cause is the visibility of who is doing the labor of harm and the lack of visibility of who is paying for it. Just as with the genocide in Sudan those who hurt the Congo with impunity have learned that if they get a Black person to hold the weapons responsible for the harm against Black people then they can drift the scent of murderous antiBlackness off of them. Optics play a large part in how people react and it is hard from an optics perspective to get people to see how harm bought and paid for by nonBlack people is antiBlack colonialism when the person in the photos holding the weapons is also Black. Watching Black people carry out oppression against Black people makes the conflict seem solely intracommunity when it isn't. 

On the pile of restrictors as previously mentioned is Congos' own government. They, like a puppet, do what they are told by controllers such as the UAE and other mine owners which means pretending as if harm isn't happening. 

Unless the powers that be are driven to do something about this harm not much will change. 

What you can do to help

There is currently a boycott on buying new electronics that use Colton, people are being asked to buy electronics refurbished or second-hand. Please avoid buying brand new phones, tablets, etc from companies such as Apple and rather buy them from another person. 

You can also give money directly to victims of the mining system via payment processors such as Xoom, Cash App, and Paypal if the person has a cell phone or some other reliable method of receiving it.

Of course, continuing to discuss what is happening to the Congolese will keep pressure on all responsible.

Put pressure on the businesses that do business with the owners of these mines to switch to getting their minerals from lab-grown sources that have shown a dedication to behaving in a way that supports human rights (I cannot stress 'have shown a dedication to behaving in a way that supports human rights' enough as this genocide in the Congo has shown that an option being considered more environmentally friendly, let alone humane, is not always the case) 

Africa is a resource-abundant continent, and it should not hurt due to its abundance. The Congo deserves better than to have its people and land torn apart for capitalist gain.  

I am not saying you should discard all your technology as unfortunately many of them such as a cell phone or laptop are needed for everyday life, to even get the word out about what is happening to the Congo we need these items, but I am saying that we can fight back against those harming the Congolese people and we can hold nations accountable for buying from the oppressors of the Congo. It is a farce to pretend this over-mining has not harmed the environment when it clearly has and sustainable energy through slavery is not, and should not be, sustainable at all. 

References:

https://republic.com.ng/october-november-2023/congo-cobalt-genocide/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/18/uae-signs-deal-to-develop-mines-in-eastern-dr-congo

https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/mine-in-world-cobalt-capital-displaces-locals-and-monks-under-questionable-circumstances/#:~:text=Recently%20in%202022%2C%20one%20area,stayed%20put%20in%20his%20home.

https://www.dw.com/en/cobalt-rush-the-shadow-side-of-going-green/a-65773252

https://www.africanews.com/2023/09/12/cobalt-copper-mining-leading-to-forced-evictions-in-dr-congo-amnesty-international//

https://stauber.house.gov/media/press-releases/stauber-demands-answers-biden-administration-mining-agreement-congo-zambia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Tshisekedi

https://amnesty.ca/activism-guide/forced-evictions-cobalt-mining-drc/

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180411131623.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_II_of_Belgium

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/18/uae-signs-deal-to-develop-mines-in-eastern-dr-congo