In their forthcoming book, The Enough Moment, John Prendergast and Don Cheadle present the stories of celebrities, activists and survivors who have dedicated their lives to advocating for human rights in Africa. It all begins with an "Enough Moment" -- an experience in your life when you realize you have to stand up, speak out, and organize with others on vital human rights issues in Africa.
The book hits stores Sept. 7, but you don’t have to wait to share your own Enough Moment. We’re interested in hearing your story now, so we’re gathering video versions of personal Enough Moments.
Just begin the video by introducing yourself: Tell us your name, where you live, and what you do. In three minutes or less, describe how you are involved in fighting for human rights in Africa, and the moment in your life that prompted you to take action.
Most importantly, be yourself. Film your video in a simple, natural environment. It's just you, on camera, sharing your story.
Want to see an example? Here's Enough's own Mari Wright sharing her Enough Moment.
When you're finished with your video, upload it to YouTube with the tag "enoughmoment." Please title it “[your name]’s Enough Moment.” For example, John would title his video “John Prendergast’s Enough Moment.” Finally, email the link to us at yourmoment@enoughproject.org.
Later this summer, we'll be launching a special Web site, www.enoughmoment.org, where your video will appear alongside other Enough Moments from celebrities, activists, and survivors.
To learn more about the book and to pre-order your own copy, click here.
Thank you, and we look forward to hearing about your Enough Moment.
Deep in the mountains that separate the Democratic Republic of the Congo from Rwanda, largely hidden from public view, a war has been raging for the past 14 years. In this gruesome conflict, rape is frequently the weapon of choice, and a wide array of armed groups with many different patrons fight mercilessly for control of mineral riches.
There is no easy solution to ending the war in Congo, which has claimed more than five million lives, making it the most lethal conflict since World War II. But the Wall Street reform legislation signed into law by President Obama includes a far-reaching provision designed to reduce the horrific violence. Building on the work of a coalition of a dozen major humanitarian organizations and industry pioneers, the bill establishes a new mechanism that will limit the ability of armed groups to profit from the illicit mining and sale of cassiterite, coltan, and wolframite and other "conflict minerals."
My colleagues and I have been working for months to pass this provision, and by partnering with the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Barney Frank, and several other key allies in the House and Senate, including Rep. McDermott and Senators Brownback, Dodd, Durbin, and Feingold, we were able to secure broad, bipartisan support for a requirement that companies doing business in the Congo and adjoining countries disclose both the provenance of the minerals they use and the efforts they have taken to ensure that their dollars do not directly or indirectly support armed groups that employ rape as a tool of war and otherwise perpetuate the conflict.
Let there be no mistake: this is only one critical step of many that must be taken to stop one of the world's longest running wars. But it is a major step.
To be effective, this action must be paired with other efforts. By companies, who will need to build on the work of peers who have already started to develop conflict-free supply chains for the minerals they use. By consumers, who will need to make conscientious choices about the products they buy. By regulators, who will need to ensure that the disclosure process is taken seriously, and that loopholes are not reopened. And by Congress, which will need to carefully monitor the effectiveness of the new mechanism, and take other steps to enhance the ability of the United States to work for peace in places like Congo.
Several of those efforts are currently under consideration in the Foreign Affairs Committee. One that is a particularly high priority for me would overhaul U.S. foreign assistance programs for the first time since 1961, thus enabling our nation to more effectively and efficiently target and deliver our aid dollars.
In these difficult economic times, it is sometimes hard to understand why we should care about what happens in faraway and largely forgotten places like the Congo. But in our increasingly globalized world, conflicts in even distant corners of the world can create ripple effects – from mass migrations and the spread of infectious disease, to deforestation and the depletion of other key natural resources – that impact the current and future well-being of Americans.
Despite the difficult challenges we face here at home, Americans are a generous and compassionate people. Our values compel us to fight injustice wherever it occurs, and to reduce the suffering of innocents. The men, women, and children of the Congo have endured unimaginable hardships for more than a dozen years, and it is time for us to act. The conflict minerals provision in the just-passed Wall Street reform bill is an important first step in changing the situation in that beleaguered country.
The author is the Democratic Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He represents the 28th District of California.
Today, Congo activists, U.S. consumers, and the people of Congo won an incredible victory against long odds. Congress passed the Wall Street reform bill with the inclusion of a key provision on conflict minerals. The conflict minerals language requires companies that use tin, tungsten, tantalum, or gold in their products to file a disclosure report with the Securities and Exchange Commission detailing whether these materials originated in Congo or its adjoining countries. And thanks to you, the bill requires companies to audit these reports to actually prove whether they are sourcing from conflict mines or not.
While passage of the conflict minerals provision is not a cure-all for completely ending the war in Congo, it is a huge step forward. This new law – once it is signed by President Obama – begins to eliminate the source of funding that allows armed militias to continue to terrorize and humiliate communities, cause countless deaths, and commit widespread sexual violence and rape.
While the fight is not over, activists should be very proud of this impressive victory and deserve to relish in this moment. Across the United States, Congo activists, members of the diaspora, and concerned consumers – the growing movement across America that sees the urgency in ending the world’s deadliest war – rallied around the passage of this legislation. They overran the Facebook pages of elected officials, followed up with phone calls, met face-to-face with their representatives, and called on industry leaders to clean up their supply chain. Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Russ Feingold (D-WI), Representatives Jim McDermott (D-WA), Howard Berman (D-CA), and Donald Payne (D-NJ), Chairmen Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Barney Frank (D-MA), and many other brave members of Congress also deserve special praise for taking a major step to ending the neglected conflict in eastern Congo. These are just some examples of the creative advocacy that has helped elevate the issue of conflict minerals to reach today’s tipping point.
From the day President Obama signs the bill, the Securities and Exchange Commission will have nine months to promulgate regulations implementing the new law. It will be up to us to ensure that these regulations are as strong as possible. While the jewelry and manufacturing lobbyists were caught off guard by the conflict minerals language and weighed in too late to remove the language, you can be sure industries will fight to make sure the regulations implementing the law are as weak as possible. As this story continues to develop, we’ll be coming to you with new ways of getting engaged. Please stick with us.
Score a win for the grassroots against special interests. Last week, thousands of people across the country wrote and called their senators asking them to support a section in the Wall Street reform bill that addressed 'conflict minerals' from Congo, the new blood diamonds. They even posted thousands of comments on senators' Facebook pages, requesting that they not pander to special interests and pass this important provision. And while the final victory is yet to come, they won the battle.
As we speak, conflict minerals are helping fuel the deadliest war in the world since World War II, the conflict in eastern Congo in which 1,100 women are raped every month, and 1,500 people die every day. The main armed groups that orchestrate the violence make hundreds of millions of dollars by trading in four minerals - the 3 Ts of tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold. These minerals are then bought by electronics and jewelry companies and are used in our cell phones, laptops, and gold necklaces.
We just returned from Congo and remember one woman in particular, Jane, who was raped seven times in a row by a group of militia commanders. Jane asked us to tell the U.S. government and companies to do all they could to help end this war.
Fed up that consumer purchases are contributing to Congo's bloody crisis, Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced a bipartisan bill two years ago to try to combat the conflict minerals trade. Since then, these courageous senators have traveled to the war zone in Congo, worked tirelessly to bring attention to the issue through Congressional hearings and briefings, and have made every effort to involve companies in a solution. A bipartisan coalition has since joined them, with Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) introducing a House conflict minerals bill last November, and Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) co-sponsoring the Brownback-Durbin bill.
The Brownback amendment that is currently part of the financial reform bill will make companies accountable for making sure they do not source minerals from conflict areas. Companies that source from Congo or neighboring countries will have to conduct an audit to make sure that they did not source from a conflict mine. This tracing and auditing is possible - Intel and Motorola are already starting credible audits on one of the minerals, tantalum. Moreover, the process is inexpensive: the audits will only cost one penny per product, according to electronics companies.
Last week, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) led a brave effort to keep the Brownback amendment in the bill, together with the bill co-sponsors and Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA). Special interests lobbied heavily against the provision, arguing that it was too expensive and would unfairly undercut American business. Yet the majority of the companies that use these minerals are listed on U.S. stock exchanges, including foreign companies, so it would actually set a level playing field for industry. Moreover, U.S. regulations help set global standards, and this audit provision would set a common standard for minerals supply and smelting companies around the world.
But the real question that Americans asked themselves last week was: Is one additional penny for a cell phone really too much to pay for accountability? A clear majority said no, and they weighed in with their elected representatives to say so. It's now time for Congress to listen to its constituents and finish this fight on Wall Street reform.
Enough was pleased to organize a top-notch panel this week to discuss the issue of Congo’s conflict minerals. The Congolese Ambassador to the United States Faida Mitifu joined the top State Department official engaged on the issue, Under Secretary for Economic, Energy, and Agricultural Affairs Robert Hormats, and Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) for a conversation with Enough’s John Prendergast and David Sullivan about efforts on the part of the two governments to end the trade in conflict minerals, one of a number of issues driving Congo’s long war in the east.
Here are some photos from the event:
Congressman McDermott has championed the conflict minerals issue on Capitol Hill, authoring the Congo Minerals Trade Act (H.R. 4128) that helped form the basis of the conflict minerals language -- soon up for a vote in the financial reform bill. It’s “not too much to ask” that companies track whether the minerals in their products come from conflict mines, the congressman said.
Under Secretary Hormats called conflict minerals “one of the great moral issues of our times” in his comprehensive remarks. He spoke of his recent effort to convince the G-8 to urge the Congolese government to improve governance and accountability in the region, highlighted the personal dedication of Secretary Hillary Clinton, and noted the direct responsibility of the private sector.
Without naming names, Hormats commended some companies for taking the initiative to clean up their supply chains. But, he noted, “[N]ot all actors in this trade have clean hands.”
“[W]e are looking at companies and individuals suspect of supporting or contributing to illegal armed groups through the illicit trade of natural resources,” Hormats said. “Under U.N. Resolution 1857, all Member States, the United States included, must impose sanctions on those who fall in this category. We will not shrink from this responsibility.” He said that one U.S. company has already been “warned.”
This discussion of sanctions is a key component in the effort to stem the trade in conflict minerals and one that, because of its sensitive nature, is sometimes passed over in official remarks. Seeing it frankly addressed by Under Secretary Hormats was an encouraging sign.
Ambassador Faida Mitifu rightly raised the point that the issue of conflict minerals is not new and was first addressed by a local organization in eastern Congo, whose report spurred attention from the United Nation in 1999. Even apart from the dramatic human toll of the conflict, the Congolese government must work to make the minerals trade transparent because it is currently losing significant revenue, she said.
The event, featuring two ambassadors and a congressman, provided a rare glimpse into all of the diplomatic and policy work taking place behind the scenes. Separately, the confluence of an op-ed in the Sunday New York Times, a celebrity-made video, and a piece by actress Brooke Smith and John Prendergast on the front page of the Huffington Post prompted consumer awareness – and as a result, industry awareness at the highest levels – to take off this week. It’s a pretty dynamite combination that is making headway to ensure that the social justice issue of conflict minerals won’t go away – until the problem is tackled.
As her creative spoof on the “Get A Mac” ad approaches 200k views on YouTube, actress Brooke Smith spoke to ABC’s Diane Sawyer about how she got involved in advocacy for Congo. “The fact that in some way, the products that I’m buying is supporting [violence against women in Congo] is something I can’t live with. So it just seems like a no brainer,” Smith said.
Fittingly, their conversation took place via video chat – on Sawyer’s MacBook Pro. “We’re really not attacking Mac,” Smith explains about her PSA. “It’s an invitation to lead the way.”
WIRED’s Gadget Lab blog just published a post highlighting the first-ever direct response from the Apple founder about conflict minerals, a problem that plagues every electronics company and thus links consumers to the war in Congo – if unwittingly.
Here’s the exchange between Apple loyalist Derick Rhodes and Jobs, as reported by WIRED:
Hi Steve,
I’d planned to buy a new iPhone tomorrow – my first upgrade since buying the very first version on the first day of its release – but I’m hesitant without knowing Apple’s position on sourcing the minerals in its products.
Are you currently making any effort to source conflict-free minerals? In particular, I’m concerned that Apple is getting tantalum, tungsten, tin, and gold from Eastern Congo through its suppliers.
Looking forward to your response,
Derick
Jobs’ reply:
Yes. We require all of our suppliers to certify in writing that they use conflict few [sic] materials. But honestly there is no way for them to be sure. Until someone invents a way to chemically trace minerals from the source mine, it’s a very difficult problem.
Sent from my iPhone
It’s a very welcome development that Jobs decided to personally weigh in on this issue and respond to a concerned consumer, because ultimately it will be decisions by him and other industry leaders that will give customers the choice to go conflict free. But because we have a couple of questions with his argument, Enough is replying in kind. Here’s an email we just sent to him:
Thanks, Steve. You have always blazed a path where others thought it impossible.
Tracing minerals isn’t easy, but it can be done. The chokepoint is at the smelter, where the raw mineral ores are processed into metals. Tin and tantalum firms that supply electronics companies have started tracing programs in the past six months, and certain electronics companies are beginning to audit this process.
But to guarantee to consumers that iPads, iPods and iPhones are verifiably conflict-free, we need more resources and commitment from industry leaders like you. We have a roadmap to accomplish this, through tracing, auditing, and certification. Would you like to meet and talk further?
Hello, I'm a Mac, and I'm helping fuel the war in the Congo - currently the deadliest conflict in the world. So are PCs, cell phones, digital cameras and other consumer electronics. That's what Apple's famous "I'm a Mac ... And I'm a PC" ads don't tell you. So I (Brooke) and cinematographer Steven Lubensky, with the help of actors Joshua Malina and John Lehr, decided to create a version that does.
It is not surprising if you didn't know that your favorite Apple gadgets -- your iPhone, iPad, iPod and Mac -- are linked to the conflict engulfing the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo today and for the past dozen years. Most people don't know - which is in part why the war in Congo has gone on for so long. With more than 5 million people killed, it is the deadliest conflict since World War II.
Tech titans -- including Nintendo, HP, Dell, Intel, and RIM, the makers of BlackBerry -- have made millions from products that use conflict minerals and have gotten off the hook for fueling violence in the Congo, thanks to a tendency in today's culture not to question where our everyday items come from.
That's not necessarily a criticism; it's just the way the world works now, where we interact with materials from every corner of the globe on a daily basis. So we tend to think that our new iPhone came from the Mac store down the street or our new digital camera originated from an online camera store. But as you see in our video, the problem arises with all the components inside.
Essential parts of our electronic devices are made from minerals found in eastern Congo. Tin, tantalum, tungsten -- the 3Ts -- and gold serve such necessary functions as making our cell phones vibrate or helping our iPods store electricity.
The same armed groups who control most of the mines that supply these essential minerals to the world market are responsible for the epidemic of sexual violence in eastern Congo. Women and girls pay a gruesome price, and the persistent health conditions and severe trauma that linger for years after an attack are leaving communities and families in utter ruin. In addition, the labor conditions in the mines are abysmal. Indentured servitude is common practice, and children as young as 11 are used to squeeze into the tight spaces underground.
There are few conflicts in the world where the link between our consumer appetites and mass human suffering is so direct.
The lucrative mineral trade -- estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually -- perpetuates the violence because it enables militias and government soldiers to buy weapons to continue the fight for these valuable resources. All along the supply chain that winds its way through central Africa, armed groups and governments benefit immensely from the trade in conflict minerals, making it a very stubborn problem to eradicate.
This reality isn't the result of an elaborate cover-up. Until consumers started asking, electronics companies were satisfied to say that they didn't know whether their products were made with conflict minerals from Congo. The trade in minerals from eastern Congo is shockingly opaque, hence the easy exploitation. Even now, as the issue of conflict minerals gains traction, companies like Apple continue to tell us that their products do not contain conflict minerals because their suppliers said so.
From towns and campuses across the United States to the U.S. Congress, advocates are protesting this inadequate response and pushing to put a system in place to trace, audit, and certify the minerals in our electronic devices, so that ultimately, we as consumers can choose to buy conflict-free.
Visit RAISE Hope for Congo, www.raisehopeforcongo.org, and send the message to tech companies that you want them to make their products conflict-free. And please share this video with your friends.
Brooke Smith is an actress, writer and director. Brooke has acted in many feature films including Mira Nair's "The Namesake" and Woody Allen's "Melinda and Melinda." On television, Brooke played Dr. Erica Hahn on "Grey's Anatomy." The MAC/PC Conflict minerals ad is the third PSA Brooke has directed for The Enough Project's RAISE Hope for Congo campaign.
Student activism tends to drop off in the summertime as college campuses clear out. But students at Stanford University just claimed a major victory, convincing their school to be the first to adopt a policy combating the trade in conflict minerals from Congo.
The trade in minerals from eastern Congo is increasingly on the radar of student activists, members of Congress, tech companies, and concerned consumers, because the $180 million annual trade helps fund armed groups embroiled in a decade-long conflict that has left over 5 million people dead. Rampant sexual violence is a particularly tragic feature of the war in eastern Congo; hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been raped. The minerals fueling this conflict end up in electronics products such as cell phones, laptops, MP3 players, and digital cameras, connecting consumers even far removed from Congo to the conflict there.
After many months of advocacy from Stanford’s STAND group, the university’s Board of Trustees voted to adopt a policy of voting “yes” if a company Stanford invests in faces a shareholder resolution calling for that company to trace its mineral supply chain.
As rising junior and incoming STAND President Mia Newman noted, “The proxy voting guideline — a rather complex activism tool that doesn’t easily lend itself to sound bites or slogans — nevertheless represents a powerful statement by the university.”
Protesters pressing Apple to commit to making conflict-free products were front and center at the grand opening of Apple’s first store in Washington, D.C., last Friday. The new Georgetown location opened its doors at 5 p.m to a line of hundreds of people waiting for a chance to purchase the latest products and receive a free Apple t-shirt. Enough supporters added to the excitement by gathering at the front entrance with Lisa Shannon, founder of Run for Congo Women and author of A Thousand Sisters. Overtaking the street-side view of the store, protesters displayed a bright red banner reading “Guarantee Conflict-Free.”
The purpose of the event was to educate Apple consumers about the conflict in Congo and the relationship between our electronics, the conflict minerals essential to those devices, and the war in Congo, the world’s deadliest conflict since World War II. As consumers who love Apple products, we must demand that Apple act responsibly and verify that the minerals used in their products are not fueling the war in Congo. We want to be able to continue purchasing Apple products and be confident that they are not helping perpetuate a conflict in which Congolese civilians are raped and killed each day.
As one of the world’s leading electronics companies, Apple has the trend-setting power to influence the entire industry. If every electronics company ensured that the minerals used in its products were conflict-free, rebel and militia groups would be denied the estimated $180 million they make each year and use to terrorize the communities of eastern Congo.
The advocates who turned out in front of the new store on Friday conveyed this message by handing out informational brochures and talking with people in line about Apple’s use of conflict minerals in their products. Other activists held signs that read “iPhone4Girls in Congo” and “I’ll Pad You on the Back for Conflict-Free.” The crowd was very interested in the issue and a few customers said they planned to email Steven Jobs directly or mention the cause before purchasing their new iPads and laptops. The protest at the store opening spread awareness to Apple consumers and turned up the pressure on Apple to commit to guaranteeing conflict-free minerals.
Our friends at Campus Progress produced this great video from the event, and additional photos will soon be available on our Flickr page. Visit Enough's RAISE Hope for Congo campaign to learn more about how to get involved the movement to help end the conflict in Congo.
