Apple Profits from Genocide!

It’s coming up on mass consumer days like Black Friday & holiday shopping, so think twice before buying that Apple product! Join the boycott of Apple and don’t buy new iphones!

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Cobalt, coltan, tin, copper and tungsten power our phones and laptops. But in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), these blood minerals has worsened conflict, illegal child labour, toxic pollution, and modern-day slavery.

Extractive mining has exacerbated a layered crisis and mass atrocities in the Congo for decades, as global industries – from electronics to so-called renewable energy – seek to control Congo’s minerals. This is a key factor in fueling armed conflict and genocide, including smuggling of conflict minerals into Rwanda that is pushing Rwanda’s continued efforts to occupy eastern Congo. Over the past thirty years, 6 million people have died, 1.5 million women have been raped, and over 7 million people are displaced in this ongoing genocide.

Apple is one of the world’s largest consumers of cobalt for lithium-ion batteries. Many investigations, including from Amnesty, show cobalt and other minerals illegal sourced from DRC conflict areas in Apple’s supply chain. Apple uses modern-day slavery and child labour to mine minerals in the DRC for as little as $1 per day. Every iPhone sold and every iPhone bought is stained with Congolese blood.

Apple has become a symbol of reckless consumerism – releasing a new phone every year, while ignoring death and exploitation behind its supply chain. Apple’s financial support for the Friends of the IDF is also fueling the occupation of Palestine. Apple must stop sourcing its cobalt from the DRC, and must end it’s financial support for Israel’s genocide and occupation.

What Can I Do?

Refusing to buy the unnecessary latest iPhone is an important way to join the movement for global justice! 🇨🇩🇵🇸 We have the power to drive down demand for billion dollar tech giants!

What is happening in Congo today is rooted in colonialism.

In 1885, when European colonial powers divided most of the African continent, King Leopold II gained “sole ownership” of territory in the heart of Africa and the Great Lakes region. Congolese people were forced to work in rubber plantations with harvesting quotas, and endured lashings and dismemberment. Around 10-15 million people died.

This is the same colonialism that exists today: wars of plunder, personal & corporate enrichment, and one of the most violent regimes of forced labour in history.

Colonial violence and plunder continued during Belgian colonization from 1908 till the 1950’s. Minerals were mined and stolen, serving European powers and introducing a Congolese elite class. The fight against colonization birthed the Pan-Africanist revolutionary leadership of Patrice Lumumba, the country’s first democratically elected prime minister. He was assassinated in 1961 by global imperialist powers, but remains an icon across Congo, Africa and the world.

“The day will come when history will speak. But it will not be the history which will be taught in Brussels, Paris, Washington or the United Nations…Africa will write its own history and in both north and south it will be a history of glory and dignity.” – Patrice Lumumba

This colonialism & repression is the foundation of 50 years of oppressive autocracy, Western-backed coups, complex crises of aggression, and wars of plunder. The conflict, including the First and Second Congo War, is the deadliest in the world since WWII. An estimated 5.4 million Congolese have died – half under the age of five – since the 1990s. Another 7 million people are internally displaced, 25 million face starvation, 70 million are forced to live in extreme poverty, and 1 million women and girls are subjected to sexual violence.

From Friends in Congo: Frontline defenders in the east against Rwanda-backed M23, Indigenous communities in the rainforest in the north, youth organizers in Kinshasa in the west, and artisanal mining communities in the south are waging a courageous and dignified battle for peace, justice, and dignity.

We can join in solidarity with Congolese people by refusing to normalize Rwanda’s aggression and by supporting @teamcongo.rdc forcing tech giants to have just tech supply chains. Download the flyer and join the call!