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

Our world is globalized; from the magical box called tv, i was looking at the news which broadcast on Haiti earthquake with piles and piles of bodies being buried while minutes later, a hollywood enthusiasts and fashion commentator discussing on Golden Globe Awards fashion. As a  third-party view, I feel weird; on one end, humans are struggling for justice, praying for the slightest hope that government could send in aid to save their loved ones who might still be breathing under the bricks or caught a curable disease, but just waiting for the right treatment or medication or maybe just having the access to clean water. On the other end, humans dressed in silk, spent $$$$ on hair, face, accessories, stage, dinner and only make a donation of $100, 000?

I believe all those who attended Golden Globe Awards would have spent more than this amount! Even if Haiti no longer need more money, the money could have spent wisely elsewhere too. I wonder how many people at the dinner realized that in another corner of the world, a city named Jos just had a religious conflict again that killed at least 15o human lives. In my view, religious conflict has always been a secondary reason, the primary reason lies with money related issues like property and natural resources. The same go for the incident in Jos, if some money spent at Golden Globe Awards could be spent at Jos to reduce poverty, would have the innocent 150 lives be taken? This brings back the ubuntu logic.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8468456.stm

Have a look at the video. I do not believe that those Nigerians are barbaric, they are simply desperate; desperate to have a job, desperate to feed a family, thats all.