Cellphones and Computer Chips - Congo

Oh dear, Congo.

This nation has a quite sad history, especially when it comes to it's relations to the west world. Here we have a long history of exploitation, starting with the French and then later with Belgian king Leoplod II. King Leoplod made Congo his own private empire, and I must add it was not a pretty sight. (To read more about that, please check out the book King Leopold's Ghost, by Adam Hochschild).

Because the nation has a large amout of different minerals, like copper and coltan, large companies does it's best to uphold civil war and disorder, just to be able to save money. Coltan is a metal used in cell phones, and Congo is one of the few places that has a lot of it. So why is it that disorder and war is good for these companies?

If the nation was at peace, companies would have to get an expensive licence from the government to be able to harvest the metals, also they would have to give royalties to the local authorities. There are tons of international laws on how this should work, but in Congo, companies are acting just how they like. For example, the Australian company Anvil Mining helped Congo's military to perform a massacre. Anvil Mining gave the soilders trucks and aircrafts, also they sent the soilders food after the attacks. Over 100 people was killed.

Collecting coltan

Years of war has had a huge impact on the people in Congo, of all the conflicts in the world Congo's so brutal that I even have a hard time reading about it, especially when it comes to the women and children. I am gonna spare you from details about this, you probably know a lot about it.


We already know about blood diamonds, what about blood phones and computers!?

About Tomatoes

Hello!

A couple weeks ago I got caught in a discussion about wether the famous tomato is a vegetable or a fruit. I though, 'fruit, that is just pure stupid'. So here we go:

The tomato is only a fruit in a strictly botanical meaning (the fruiting body containing the seeds of a flowering plant, or something like that). However, vegetable is not a botanical but a culinary term, and thereby tomatoes clearly classifies as vegetables - since they are generally served with dinner and not dessert. Luckily the U.S. Supreme Court settled this once and for all in 1893.

But if you for some reason still persist in calling the tomato a fruit, you should also include cucumbers, squashes, peppers, beans, peas and corn in that category.

That's all for now.
Ciao

Video killed the Radio Star

Did your old TV travel more than you? Probably!

In Europe, 8,7 million tonne of electronical waste is being thrown out each year. Only 25 % of that is being recycled. Keep in mind that these numbers only estimates the European Union, add the US and other nations that are developing fast, and the numbers will be even higher.

It is somewhat uncertain where the rest of the junk goes. We know that Africa and Asia are two popular destinations for the garbage. Here still usable metals are being set apart from the rest of the junk, this job is preformed by the local population, (also children). Everyting that cannot be used is burnt. This procedure is very poisonous for the environment. Since we have figured out such a great way to keep our part of the planet clean we should just keep on buying a new phone every half year, and please make sure your TV is the best!

Source:
http://www.greenpeace.org/sweden/rapporter-och-dokument/not-in-our-backyard

Feminism - East, West & the Rest

Hello!

During my university years in Lund I was active in a so called 'Student Nation'. A student nation is a place for students to meet, for various reasons. The nation I was a member of was one of the few ones that had a political agenda, in this case socialism and feminism. The only thing I really did there was to book bands for their alternative music stage. Anyhow, the reasonn why I brought this up is because my two years there made me start to think about feminism from a different point of view.

A couple of years ago when I was working on my Bachelor's degree, I was doing some research about Afghanistan and modernisation, with focus on women. I stumbled over a book with a chapter written by one of Afghanistan's Miss Afghanistan. She wrote that to her it was a great victory for women in Afghanistan that she was able to compete in beauty. She says:

"I wanted to send a message to the world for the liberty and freedom of Afghan women...who should be allowed to speak their minds and be whatever they want to be,".

In contrast to the feminists in Sweden, and the student nation I was active in a lot of energy was put into criticizing the fact that you do compete in beauty and everything that is related to it. I am not sure what the point is with this blog enrty, but I guess you could say that one womans emancipation is another's objectification.

Also see old blog post: Yes We Can....Not!

(I should add, that I think competing in beauty is rubbish, but hey it might have something to do with where I was born!?)

Bye