Labeling of 'Blood Diamonds' and Other Conflict Minerals Rejected as Court Sides With Corporations (Video)

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By DemocracyNow

TRANSCRIPT:

Since 1998, more than 5 million people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo in what has been described as the deadliest documented conflict in African history. Much of the fighting has been over precious minerals including tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold. Tantalum has become a precious commodity in the digital age — it’s found in cellphones, DVD players, laptops and hard drives. Human rights groups have long pushed for mandatory labeling of so-called "conflict minerals" in order to allow consumers and investors to avoid fueling the bloody conflict through the purchase of their products. The mandatory disclosure policy became law as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act. But this week a federal appeals court ruled the Securities and Exchange Commission cannot force companies to disclose whether minerals come from the Democratic Republic of Congo because the mandatory labeling would violate the companies’ freedom of speech. We speak to Zorka Milin, senior legal adviser with Global Witness.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Since 1998, more than 5 million people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo in what has been described as the deadliest documented conflict in African history. Much of the fighting has been over precious minerals, including tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold. Tantalum has become a precious commodity in the digital age—it’s found in cellphones, DVD players, laptops and hard drives.

Human rights groups have long pushed for mandatory labeling of so-called conflict minerals in order to allow consumers and investors to avoid fueling the bloody conflict through the purchase of their products. The mandatory disclosure policy became law as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act.

AMY GOODMAN: But this week, a federal appeals court has ruled the Securities and Exchange Commission cannot force companies to disclose whether minerals come from the Democratic Republic of Congo because the mandatory labeling would violate the companies’ freedom of speech.

For more, we go directly to Washington, D.C., where we’re joined by Zorka Milin, a senior legal adviser with Global Witness. The group works to improve transparency and accountability in extraction of natural resources.

Welcome to Democracy Now! Why don’t you start off, Zorka, by talking about what the judge has ruled and what exactly are the minerals you’re talking about?

ZORKA MILIN: Thank you, Amy. It’s great to be here on the show. And it’s very fitting, because what’s really at stake in this decision is democracy and transparency. And what we have is renegade judges who have turned the First Amendment on its head and allowed corporations to use it as a deregulatory tool. The decision from this week has sweeping implications for all kinds of important consumer disclosures, ranging from nutrition labeling on foods, country-of-origin labeling, health and safety warnings in products. So it is certainly a very momentous decision and is a continuation and intensification of this trend that we have seen, including with Citizens United, of corporations kind of weaponizing the First Amendment—a provision which was really intended to protect the free speech rights of citizens, of individual citizens, and not corporations.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, what specifically was the provision of the Dodd-Frank Act that was at question here? And could you give a little bit more detail on that?

ZORKA MILIN: Sure. The provision is much broader than the phrase that was challenged here, which is just the use of the phrase, "not found to be conflict-free," which the companies did not want to use in their disclosures. And to be clear, it’s not an issue of labeling on a product; it’s a phrase that appears in a filing that’s made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The companies did not object to the rest of the law, which really is much broader. And the heart of that law requires companies to engage in due diligence to ensure that their supply chains and the minerals that they’re purchasing are not funding the terrible conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. So the rest of the law still stands, and companies still have to perform those kinds of due-diligence measures.

The phrase, "not found to be conflict-free," was intended to be a spur to companies to ensure that they
have the right processes in place. And it’s really shameful that rather than focusing their energies on that, companies have instead chosen to bring dubious constitutional challenges.

AMY GOODMAN: So, can you name a company and tell us exactly what’s happening in the Democratic Republic of Congo, why you want conflict minerals to be identified?

ZORKA MILIN: Well, it’s an interesting question: Can we name these companies? You know, the lawsuit itself was brought by a group of business lobby associations that include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the Business Roundtable. So, effectively, individual companies are hiding behind these powerful business lobbying groups, and so it makes it difficult to really kind of name and shame individual companies that have been challenging this law. This is, unfortunately, a broader trend that’s not limited to this case, and is something that we see in other cases where business groups are challenging regulations that they don’t like.

When it comes to what we see on the ground, of course, it’s a very complicated conflict, and minerals are one of the factors, certainly a significant contributing factor, to the conflict. But there are numerous other complications with different armed groups and different actors. So it’s really difficult to kind of oversimplify the situation. That said, we firmly believe that this law can contribute to positive change on the ground.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Now, this was a decision in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is known as a very pro-business, conservative circuit of the federal judiciary. What’s the next step here?

ZORKA MILIN: Well, we don’t think that the decision can stand, and we think that the SEC will agree with us. The SEC was the defendant in this case, and so it is up to them to bring further appeals and to make sure that this incredible, misguided and damaging decision is overturned. And we certainly expect to see that, because the sweeping implications that I was describing earlier apply, perhaps especially, to the kinds of disclosures that the—the stock exchange disclosures that the Securities and Exchange Commission routinely requires from its issuers. So, we very much hope and expect to see further review and, you know, this terrible decision to be overturned.

AMY GOODMAN: Zorka, we have less than a minute, but with people increasingly walking around with smartphones, are conflict minerals a growing problem?

ZORKA MILIN: Well, I think that conflict minerals are not a necessary component of the electronics products that we all use. And it is possible to source minerals responsibly, including from the Democratic Republic of Congo. An analysis that our group did of some of the first filings under this law, which were made last year, shows that about 20 percent of companies have complied with the law fully, and so that shows that it’s possible. And we certainly hope that more and more companies will engage with the law in a more positive way and contribute to a responsible sourcing of minerals in the Congo for mines which are not controlled by the armed groups.

AMY GOODMAN: Zorka Milin, we want to thank you for being with us, senior legal adviser with Global Witness, a group that’s working to improve transparency and accountability in the extraction of natural resources.

Canadian Agri-Business Firm That's Financed by US Corporations Is Land Grabbing in the Republic of Congo

Children at the Lokutu landing on the Congo River. (Photo: GRAIN)

The young priest Robert Bolenge* could not have imagined the poverty he would find when he arrived at his new post in Yaligimba in 2002. The district lies at the heart of vast oil palm plantations belonging to Feronia Inc., in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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"I had never witnessed such suffering before," says Bolenge. "I couldn't have imagined that someone could work so hard with a basket tied to his back, cutting down palm bunches all day, and only take home about $20 a month."

By GRAIN
Under Belgian colonial occupation (1908-1960), land was stolen from communities all along the length of the Congo River to establish oil palm plantations. Now, the communities have launched a determined effort to get their land back. But the company occupying their lands today is expanding its activities with funding from the world's biggest development finance institutions and multilateral banks – despite these agencies' stated commitments to support the rights of local people.

A simmering, 100-year old land conflict in the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is about to boil over.

In the name of "development"

Development finance institutions (DFIs) were created by northern governments to provide financing for high risk projects in so-called developing countries. Their role is to provide public money for private ventures that would otherwise struggle to raise capital for projects where the anticipated returns in terms of poverty alleviation are high.

Today these government-controlled institutions provide upwards of $100 billion to private companies operating in developing countries, which is equivalent to almost two thirds of official development assistance.1 A growing share of these funds are targeted at companies operating in the food and agriculture sector.2

Northern governments equipped their DFIs with codes and standards to guard against corruption and human rights violations in countries where they operate. These policies are meant to prevent DFIs from investing in companies that grab land, violate labour rights or engage in corrupt practices.

So how did several of the world's most prominent DFIs come to own Feronia Inc., a Canadian agribusiness company that people in the DRC say is illegally occupying their land, subjecting them to horrific work in plantations and leaving their communities destitute? There is also evidence that Feronia has engaged in financial practices that violate the anti-corruption policies of its DFI owners.

If the DFIs have a blacklist, Feronia should be on it. Instead, multilateral banks and the development finance arms of the United States, UK, France and Spain have poured millions of dollars into Feronia since 2012. DFIs now own over 70 percent of the company.

Belgium's Foreign Minister Appears in a 'Black Face Parade' in Black Face — Perhaps Forgetting Belgium's Savage History in Africa (Video)

Belgium has a history of pure savagery toward Africans.  The Belgium King Leopold II who ruled in what was then called the 'Belgium Congo' is estimated to have worked up to 15 million Africans to death on his rubber plantations from 1885 to 1908.

Belgium’s Foreign Minister Didier Reynder — in 'Black Face'. (Screen capture from YouTube video)

By Peter Bouckaert
Last Saturday, Belgium’s Foreign Minister Didier Reynders—the country’s main face to the international community—proudly painted his face black and participated in the Noirauds parade in Brussels, which features among other heirlooms a representation of an African’s head on a spike with a golden ring through his nose.

Belgium's 'King Leopold' and some of his victims. Plantation workers who failed to meet their daily work quota would have a limb cut off (even children).

Just about anywhere else in the world, a public official appearing in blackface at a public rally would have created public outrage, but in Belgium his appearance has caused barely a shrug. The incident sparked an uproar in the international media, but many Belgians simply couldn’t understand what the fuss was all about—it was all in good fun, some said, and it was for charity, raising money for disadvantaged kids. Couldn’t the world just leave one of Belgian’s oldest parades alone?

The answer must be no. First of all, “charity” doesn’t excuse this offensive behavior: surely there must be a more sensitive way to raise funds for needy children.

As for the issue of “tradition,” as a Belgian, I say it’s long past time for us to start confronting racism in our society and the inappropriateness of dressing up as stereotypical African clowns.

The Noirauds parade, in which Belgian’s leading citizens march through the capital dressed up as “African noblemen,” dates its origins back to 1876. That may make it one of Belgian’s oldest parades, but it also coincides with one of the most brutal periods of the country’s colonial history, the colonization of the vast Congo region by King Leopold II.

King Leopold II ruled Congo as his own private property from 1885 until 1908, when his well-publicized brutality caused the Belgian government to take over administrative control of the colony. Under the guise of a charitable cause—the “uplifting” and “civilizing” of the Congolese people, King Leopold II brutally exploited the region, providing the inspiration for Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and one of the greatest international scandals of the period. Some 10 million people are believed to have perished during the period.

In many ways, the efforts by activists to expose the atrocities committed in the Congo was one of the world's first international human rights campaigns. Prominent activists like the British Consul Roger Casement exposed the killing sprees committed during rubber-collecting expeditions, and authors like Arthur Conan Doyle contributed book-length studies with titles like The Crime of the Congo. Under international pressure, the Belgian government eventually ended their own King’s rule and annexed the Congo as a colony, although brutality and segregation continued for many decades more.

The simple act of appearing in blackface has long been seen as offensive to people of color, and is an unacceptable act of racism in much of the world. But in the context of Belgian’s own brutal colonial history, it shows a remarkable lack of knowledge and lack of introspection to parade around the city in a colonial era tradition, carrying the head of an African on a pike—one of the exact forms of punishment conducted against Africans in the Congo of King Leopold II.

That many Belgians—including our Foreign Minister—seem surprised by the uproar demonstrates how far the country has to go in confronting its own history, let alone showing sensitivity to fellow Belgian citizens of African descent.

I have a question for the honorable Minister: Would you wear that outfit to your next meeting with President Obama, or with an African leader? And to my fellow Belgians, would you want your Foreign Minister to do so? Clearly not. It’s inappropriate in such meetings, and it’s equally inappropriate at a parade.

Ending such insensitive traditions has nothing to do with political correctness or an attempt to impose a sterile internationalist culture. As a proud Belgian, there is nothing I love more than describing our rich traditions, exuberant celebrations, and our national joie de vivre to my foreign friends - preferably over a few Belgian beers. We should be proud of our culture, but that doesn't mean we can't change objectionable aspects of that culture. We have done so in many areas: women have been provided with opportunities denied in decades past, and most of us have come to embrace our fellow gay and lesbian Belgians as welcomed members of our society. Change is what makes cultures resilient.

Reprinted with permission from Human Rights Watch.

Sixty-Eight Elephants Massacred in Just the Past 60 Days in Democratic Republic of Congo

Photo by Caroline Granycome.

[Editor's note: The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said this week that 68 elephants have been killed in Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the past two months, with AFP reporting 30 killed in just over two weeks. Armed Militants have aggressively moved into the poaching business to use money from illegal ivory to buy food, weapons and ammunition.]

By Lizabeth Paulat, Care2
A recent summit on elephant population and habitat has led to some dire predictions: the African elephant may go extinct within our lifetimes.

Putting the end date at just decades away, the African Elephant Summit, which hosted delegates from various Asian, European and African countries, focused on mitigating poaching and increasing elephant habitats around the continent.

The statistics presented are staggering. In the 1940s, there were thought to be around 3-5 million African elephants in the wild. These days conservation organizations are estimating only 500,000 to 700,000 elephants currently exist. The largest drops came during the 1980′s when the continent saw widespread turbulence. Rather than rising back up from the fall when stability took over much of the region, increased poaching has hastened the elephant’s population decline.

The summit highlighted the link between poverty, infant mortality and poaching, showing a correlation between desperate communities, and how susceptible they can be to engaging in the illegal wildlife trade.

Yet, despite these dire warnings, there is a small beacon of hope in the midst.

Uganda, which saw a dramatic loss in wildlife during the 1980 bush wars, has become an example to many African nations on how to reintroduce the species while combating poaching. In 1982 the population of elephants in Uganda fell to the drastically low number of 2,000. Today, that number has more than doubled with more than 5,000 elephants roaming freely and steady population increases.

Read More

Why Don’t We Care About Congo’s Dead?: With Over 6 Million Killed, The Carnage Rivals the Jewish Holocaust

Screen capture from YouTube video.

By Sonali Kolhatkar
Is it true that atrocities in Africa garner little international attention because the victims are black?

The recent kidnapping of hundreds of Nigerian girls has generated empathy and outrage worldwide, undermining such a claim. The international shame and guilt over Rwanda’s genocide, despite coming too late, also proves that global concern for African lives is not negligible. Indeed the news media often cover stories like the hunt for Joseph Kony and his exploitation of child soldiers in Uganda, the killings in Darfur, Sudan, or the armed attack on a mall in Nairobi, Kenya.

But what happens when millions of Africans die in a conflict in which some of the world’s most desired natural resources are at stake? Very little, it turns out. The massacres that have taken place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have surpassed genocidal proportions but rarely spur the outrage they deserve in the media or public.

RELATED STORY: Slaughter in Rwanda and Congo: Man Who Triggered Genocide in Rwanda Hailed As 'Savior' by West — As He Helps Slaughter Millions in Congo

Since 1996, 6 million Congolese have been killed in a series of invasions and violent conflicts often instigated by armies and militias from neighboring countries such as Rwanda and Uganda, which are both U.S. allies. The battles have centered on access to Congo’s vast mineral deposits. According to an advertisement lauding Congo’s riches on The Washington Post’s website, “In terms of its untapped mineral wealth, the DRC is one of the richest countries in the world. Its soil is reputed to contain every mineral listed on the periodic table and these minerals are found in concentrations high enough to make metal analysts weep.”

Maurice Carney, the co-founder and executive director of Friends of the Congo, in an interview on Uprising, told me, “Congo has been at the center of the unfolding of the drama ... as it relates to the geostrategic pursuit to control the riches of the African continent.” He thinks the media fail to adequately cover Congo’s conflict because “if you look at Darfur, the bogeymen were the Arabs, the Muslims and the Chinese. In Congo, the bogeyman is the West. From the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, to the imposition of Mobutu on the Congolese people, to the backing of the invasion of the Congo by Rwanda and Uganda, the West is complicit.” In fact, Carney said, “The United States has been on the wrong side of history [in the Congo] from day one.”

Read More

Train Crash Death Toll At Least 74 in DR Congo — Injured Trapped in Mangled Wreckage for Days

Scene of train wreck in the southern province of Katanga,
Democratic Republic of Congo, on April 22, 2014. (Numbi
Mathys/AFP)

Toll in DR Congo train crash rises to 74 dead (via AFP)

The toll in a train crash in DR Congo last week was raised to 74 dead on Sunday, the country's health minister said. Many people were trapped for days in the mangled wreckage of the goods train that flew off the rails in a swampy region about 65 kilometres…

Rwanda’s Formula for Success: Murder Your Neighbors and Steal Their Wealth

"The relative prosperity of the minority Tutsi political and business elite, is built on the bones of 6 million dead Congolese."

The New York Times touts Rwanda as a place of economic miracles, a country with almost no mineral resources that nevertheless plans to “leapfrog” straight to an information economy. What the Times fails to mention is that Rwanda’s relative prosperity is based on the extermination of its Congolese neighbors and the expropriation of their natural resources.

By Glen Ford

“Rwanda’s so-called ‘New Economic Model’ is simply pillaging and massacre, theft and murder on a huge scale.”

In the years since 1996, at least 6 million people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo as a direct result of an invasion by two U.S. client states: Rwanda and Uganda. It is the greatest slaughter since World War II, yet only a small fraction of the American public is even aware that the genocide occurred. The public remains ignorant of the ongoing crime – in which the United States is fully complicit – because the U.S. corporate media have successfully covered up the murder of millions of Congolese. More than that, organs like the New York Times act as PR agents for the perpetrators of the genocide, especially Rwanda – as exemplified by a puff piece that appeared in the Times, this week, titled “Rwanda Reaches for New Economic Model.”

The article boosts Rwanda as an African economic success story, a country that is growing at 8 percent a year, even though it has “no oil, natural gas or other major natural resources” and no real industry. The Times takes us on a tour of Rwanda’s fledgling little commodity and stock exchanges, and quotes a government minister bragging that the country’s development plan is to jump directly from an agricultural base to an information economy, “leapfrogging” over the industrial stage of development, altogether.

“Uganda became a significant diamond exporter, even though it previously produced no diamonds, at all.”

In fact, the relative prosperity of the minority Tutsi political and business elite, is built on the bones of 6 million dead Congolese and the natural resources looted from their country. Rwanda’s so-called “New Economic Model” is simply pillaging and massacre, theft and murder on a huge scale, in concert with multinational corporations and under the protection of the United States.

Read More

Remembering Congolese Leader Patrice Lumumba's Struggle Against Colonialism

Left: Patrice Lumumba: He had been fairly elected as President of the Republic of Congo but was overthrown in a US- backed coup when he resisted the carving up of the country by Western-backed "rebels". Top Right: Mobutu Sese Seko
smirks as he watches his troops take Lumumba prisoner - bottom middle picture); Bottom, Far Right: soldiers try to force Lumumba to eat the text of a speech he had given. Lumumba was subsequently executed by firing squad. Seko, backed by the United States, would later go on to a 32-year reign of terror as dictator and The Congo would be plunged into the permanent chaos that it is now well known for: "Blood Diamonds." An estimated five million have been killed in Congo
in just the past 15-20 years.  (Left Photo from Diario La Razon; Other Photos - Screen captures from video)

By Rakotomalala
Patrice Émery Lumumba was a Congolese independence leader and the first democratically elected prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He was killed 53 years ago on January 17, 1961 under circumstances that still remain unclear.

Lumumba, an iconic figure of the struggle against colonialism in Africa, was removed from power because he opposed the Belgian-backed secession of the mineral-rich Katanga province. His successor, Joseph-Desiré Mobutu, along with Mobutu's squad arrested Lumumba and executed him shortly after. His death was the culmination of a period of political turmoil in the country known as the Congo Crisis.

Congolese citizens the world over paid tribute to his uncompromising leadership on the anniversary of his death:

Patrice #Lumumba was assassinated 53 years ago today. The country and region he died for is still being torn apart.
— ShinOvene De Sa (@ShinOvene) January 17, 2014

On this day 1961, Patrice #Lumumba was executed denying #Congo the greatest mover, changemaker, inspirer and Africa lover! We remember!
— Rosebell Kagumire (@RosebellK) January 17, 2014

Il y a 53 ans, Patrice #Lumumba et deux de ses compagnons furent assassinés. Cc @Survie @Billetsdafrique pic.twitter.com/JiswvxFGyc — SY Kalidou (@Kalidoo) January 17, 2014

53 years ago, Patrice Lumumba and his two companions were killed. Cc @Survie @Billetsdafrique

#Lumumba: Ils ont découpé son corps en morceaux; ils l'ont ensuite dissout dans de l'acide. 53ans après, ils n'ont tjrs pas assumé ! #Congo
— LUCHA RD Congo (@luchaRDC) January 17, 2014

They cut his body to pieces and then they dumped it into an acid tank. 53 years later, they still cannot deal with their act.

His last letter to wife Pauline before he died was widely shared online. Community blog Quartier Libres republished the letter, in which Lumumba wrote:

The overthrow and execution of Lumumba (top) by
Western-backed "rebels" during a "rebellion" would
become the blueprint for the overthrow of nations the
United States and its allies consider a threat - as
happened with Muammar Gaddafi (bottom) of Libya
many years later. First you instigate a rebellion; then
you overthrow the leader, then you leave the divided
nation in chaos (Screen captures from video).

Que mort, vivant, libre ou en prison sur ordre des colonialistes, ce n’est pas ma personne qui compte.

C’est le Congo, c’est notre pauvre peuple dont on a transformé l’indépendance en une cage [..] L’Afrique l’Asie, et les peuples libres et libérés de tous les coins du monde se trouveront toujours aux côtés de millions de congolais qui n’abandonneront la lutte que le jour où il n’y aura plus de colonisateurs et leurs mercenaires dans notre pays.

A mes enfants que je laisse, et que peut-être je ne reverrai plus, je veux qu’on dise que l’avenir du Congo est beau et qu’il attend d’eux, comme il attend de chaque Congolais, d’accomplir la tâche sacrée de la reconstruction de notre indépendance et de notre souveraineté, car sans dignité il n’y a pas de liberté, sans justice il n’y a pas de dignité, et sans indépendance il n’y a pas d’hommes libres.

What I can say is this: dead or alive, free or in jail, it is not about me personally.
It is about Congo, our unhappy people, whose independence is being trampled upon. [...] We are not alone. Africa, Asia, the free peoples and the peoples fighting for their freedom in all corners of the world will always be side by side with the millions of Congolese who will not give up the struggle while there is even one colonialist or colonialist mercenary in our country.

To my sons, whom I am leaving and whom, perhaps, I shall not see again, I want to say that the future of Congo is splendid and that I expect from them, as from every Congolese, the fulfillment of the sacred task of restoring our independence and our sovereignty. Without dignity there is no freedom, without justice there is no dignity and without independence there are no free men.

In the magazine CeaseFire, Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, a professor of African and Afro-American studies at the University of North Carolina, and Jonathan Jacobs, a writer and activist based in London, explained the importance of Lumumba's legacy:

According to unconfirmed reports, Walter Kansteiner – US Secretary of State for African Affairs under George W. Bush, between June 2001 and November 2003 – designed a plan for the division of Congo into four countries. The justification for such a Balkanisation would be that, in its present dimensions, the country is too large and ungovernable. [...] In fact, this would facilitate access to resources, and make their transfer to outside markets easier. [...] the reality is that their project for the recolonisation of Congo will always stumble against the determination of the Congolese people to defend their unity, their national patrimony, and the territorial integrity of their homeland. The legacy of Patrice Lumumba, Pierre Lulele, André Kisase Ngandu and so many other martyrs brings women, men and children to shout “No” to balkanisation and “Yes” to a “United Congo, a strong nation.” 

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The Assassination of Patrice Lumumba

Reprinted with permission from Global Voices.