Review: Cobalt Red

In the late 18th century, as people in the UK started to wake up to the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade, a groundswell of activism began to emerge that targeted the wider ‘sophisticated’ society in a bid to open people’s eyes to what was truly happening to the men, women and children trafficked out of Africa to the Americas. One of the strategies that was adopted was discouraging people from using sugar in their tea because “sugar contains the blood of slaves”. Obviously there was no actual blood in the sugar, but it was a impactful way of drawing an uncomfortable but unmistakeable line between the suffering of slaves and the creature comforts being enjoyed by the elites.

I wonder if the time has come to adopt a similar campaign around the use of smartphones and EV’s. Let me explain what I mean…

It is 10pm on a Sunday evening and I have just finished one of the most devastatingly gripping books I have ever read. We don’t usually post book reviews here on the Red blog (in fact this might be the first one) but I knew within about 10 pages that I was going to have to post something about this one!

Until a few months ago I have to confess that I knew little to nothing about the cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or the brutal exploitation connected to the industry. But then I saw an interview with Siddharth Kara on the Joe Rogan Show (you can watch that here) and my eyes were well and truly opened to a modern day slavery catastrophe on an unimaginable scale.

Kara spoke as a man who was personally invested in exposing the injustices being faced by the people of the D.R.C, but also as someone who has done serious research on the issue too. As a result he is as compelling and convincing as he is passionate and courageous and I knew I had to get my hands on his new book Cobalt Red: How the blood of the Congo powers our lives. And my goodness, what a book it is!

For those who (like me until very recently) don’t know what all the fuss is about – Cobalt is a metal that is increasingly essential to stabilise and maximise the electrical charge in rechargeable batteries in everything from smartphones to laptops to electric vehicles. However, cobalt has to be mined from the ground and there are very few places on planet earth where cobalt can be found. Incredibly 75% of the world’s cobalt is found in Katanga – the southernmost province of the D.R.C and it is here where hundreds of thousands of some of the world’s poorest people are brutally exploited in the name of western progress and the green revolution.

Cobalt Red takes the reader on a journey along the copper belt of the D.R.C from one mining town to the next, providing first hand accounts of the harrowing suffering endured by the Congolese cobalt mining communities, letting the victims speak for themselves. Men, women and especially children are all victims of the global clamour for cobalt and the stories of poverty, brutality, sexual assault, murder and death are hard to stomach. Kara writes powerfully and beautifully and really draws you in to the heart of that tragic world through the pictures that he paints with his words.

I am not going to say much more about the book or quote extensively from it as I really want this post to make you want to go and buy the book and take the journey for yourself. However, what I will say is that I regularly had to put the book down and take a break, such was the shock of what I was reading. I found myself enraged, emotional, despairing and provoked by what I read on the pages.

There was one quote, however, that I feel that I have to share as it has haunted me ever since I read it. After a particularly heart-breaking episode, Kara pens these words:

I wandered through Fungurume back across the highway, through the dusty maze of huts and shops. I knew the metallic taste of the town by now and spat out the bitter paste every few minutes. As the ruckus from the highway faded, I caught the sound of a chorus. The uplifting voices drew me to the Église Alliance Chrétienne Internationale (International Christian Alliance Church). Inside, I found a large room packed with congregants. They sang passionately, led by a vibrant pastor atop a small wooden platform. A child looked at me, his wide eyes alight and comforting. I understood at last how the people of the Congo survived their daily torment – they loved God with full and fiery hearts and drew comfort from the promise of salvation.

Although their love was powerful, the evidence was mounting that it was all but unrequited.

p. 131-132

It was that last sentence that got me!

I have no idea what Kara’s religious beliefs are and he certainly doesn’t mention them in the book. But his suggestion that, while these poor, suffering souls loved God, the jury was still out on whether or not God loves them in return was deeply upsetting. As a Christian I do believe that God loves these people, and I am grateful for that church and the many like it in these cobalt communities that is pointing people to God in the midst of their pain. But I want to do more. I want to let the people of the Congo’s copper-belt know that God loves them. I want to be part of the answer! Though I don’t know what that could remotely look like!

I have thought about petitioning my MP and the UK government more broadly. I have considered an awareness-raising drive challenging people (especially young people) to lay down all their devices for a day and to go cobalt-free. I have wondered about encouraging people to think hard before upgrading their devices. And I have even contemplated getting on a plane, flying to Katanga and seeing what doors God might open on the ground for me there.

But to be honest, I think I have landed in the same place that I have always landed when faced with responding to modern slavery as a Christian – THE NEED TO PRAY! Therefore praying for the cobalt communities of the Congo will be a regular feature in our prayer meetings this year (both online and in-person). And who knows, as we pray God might just move in ways we never could have expected, and He might just involve us in the way(s) He answers too!

If you want to connect with me on this issue either to pray or to discuss further action then please drop me a message to dai@redcommunity.co.uk.

Oh and make sure you buy that book!