Raquel Gan

If you want to find really systematic, organize or critically in-depth readings from my blog, I say its impossible. My friends and families would have agree with me; I’m only good at words to make people feel worse and I’m not intelligent enough to analyse big issues here. However, I hope I’m able to convince or maybe hinder your thoughts/actions on getting a new mobile (when you don’t really need one at all!) here. While to those with two mobiles: choose one, take out your very valuable sim-card which the mobile operator might have manipulated you in signing a two years bond to secure their profits for superficial, wasteful lifestyle and dished that mobile into the recycling bin (yes, don’t even bother a trade-in). This refers to my mum as well, but she will never understand this because of her orthodox teachings she received which emphasized on thriftiness. I forgive her generation.

I do not understand Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) very well. My little contact with her is through a book, Blood River by Tim Butcher who travelled into Congo in 2000 (http://www.bloodriver.co.uk/). It was considered extremely dangerous due to the long ‘ethnic conflict’ taking place. I would emphasize the phrase ‘ethnic conflict’; if you ever again came across ‘ethnic conflict’ being used in any books or articles, it is just a cover-up of political or economical means by government or profit-seeking organizations. Hence, I’m trying to put a point that the main problem in DRC is not ethnicity differences but of economical reason. DRC contains one of the most precious resources in this world; not oil, but just a metal named coltan. How can coltan be termed as precious when you or any of your friends never even heard of it. However, it’s everywhere, inside our mobile phones, occupying a tiny space but too critical to be left out. Now, is it not precious to us, the capitalism slaves? If you have the courage to say ‘I can survive without my mobile phone for a day’ or ‘I am never looking around for a better mobile’, then you and I are just assisting in destroying DRC whose citizens have forgotten how a smile looks like. Now, who really cares whether DRC has that much supply of coltan in their land. First, we pollute their land, their very massive and beautiful river. This destroyed the living organisms, destroyed the food chain, destroyed their livelihoods. Deforestation taking at a rapid rate to open a new mining site everyday, we lose great number of animals.  Second, the killings and raping will never stop because those in illegal control of the coltan need to use physical violence to dominate the civilians. Hence, they can continue to reap the profits through smuggling. Winning is no longer their priority but sustaining it. Third, those that mined the coltan are the DRC citizens but those that get the most profit is not the illegal bandits but transnational companies. Capitalism promote such inequality and I have no solution about it. However, those transnational companies further violated human rights by employing children doing these inhumane jobs termed by us developed citizens. Hence, by employing DRC citizens and even their children for such jobs is simply implying that they are sub-humane. Finally, who has this authority to divide human into social class?

If you think you need a latest technology mobile phone to access internet like FACEBOOK in order to update your status to your 500 friends list, seriously you deserve a slap more than Tiger Woods or Singapore’s Jack Neo.

I hope I did change your mind.

http://www.willthomasonline.net/willthomasonline/Blood_Phones.html

I managed to do a commentary for youth.sg on world poverty, http://www.youth.sg/content/view/7556/59/, please have a look. However, a friend told me it looked heavily edited, yes it is. There is this lot I would like to post on my blog, because i find it simpler and easier to understand:

‘Made in China’ is a very common tag we find on our clothes, shoes or bags’ tags. I remember owning a Nike shoes that says ‘Made in Indonesia’ while some may have a ‘Made in Thailand’, ‘Made in Vietnam’, ‘Made in Pakistan’ or ‘Made in Philippines’.   It is widely known that this ‘Made in Somewhere’ tag represents where the goods were produced at. Hence, Nike, a United States product is made in so many corner of the world except for United States itself. Those production countries all share a same feature; they are termed as developing countries or ‘Third World’.  Hence, it explained why Nike would set up their factories there; so to utilise the widely available cheap labour. However, the whole process for Nike to produce sufficient products to cater to the developed countries’ population (like us) is worsening the developing countries’ population living condition. First, to produce the colourful Nike Air-Jordon Shoes, raw materials are needed and usually extracted from the same country of production. Hence, the production countries are depleting more and more of their natural resources which is both wealth and environmental asset. Second, factories processed the raw materials and produced harmful chemicals that are released into the air or river in the production countries. Hence, the population in these production countries can easily contact with diseases if they use the river water.  Finally, in economic terms, Nike would want to maximize profits and would do all means to keep production costs low. Hence, child labours are employed or maybe just violate the minimum wages level. If we zoom our lenses out to examine this process and asked ourselves ‘where do the money flow to?’, the answer is United States. Although jobs are created in the developing countries, their natural resources are extracted, polluted and their pay exploited. Hence, if we continue to satisfy our luxury wants, it create a demand and Nike would increase production or source for an upcoming ‘cheap’ country to start another production site. The poor will be left poorer.

I hope you see the whole picture now. and I need to say this again to you and myself,

this logo or that logo on your t-shirt, laptop, and so forth all share a corporate story that they didnt want you to know. Hence, its up to you and I to recognise and do something about it.