Something has gone wrong with the capitalist system when corporations are no longer creating products that cater to the customers lifestyle and value systems, but creating a lifestyle and value system which the customer, themselves, is expected to integrate into. If you (the corporation) want to sell an image, a brand, a lifestyle, and be successful and enduring in the marketplace, promote one which people can be proud of, and feel good about belonging to. In this way you create a loyal customer, tied not to a brand but an ideal. It's time for electronic companies to start labeling the origins of their minerals used in cell phones, DVD players, computers, etc., proving that they aren't implicated in situations of violence and rape in countries such as the Congo. It's time for long term thinking, it's time for capitalism with a conscience.
Consider sending messages or writing on the facebook walls of Cannon, Dell and Rim in support of the Dodd-Frank Act. The following campaign is one example of such advocacy.
http://www.facebook.com/StepUpfor1502?sk=info
Step Up for 1502 is an effort lead by Enough Project's Raise Hope for Congo campaign. We are fighting to get electronics companies to STEP UP for the conflict minerals provisions (1502) in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Electronics companies must stop participating in the deadly conflict minerals trade in Congo.
When our electronics companies stand behind the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, they stand for child labor and rape in eastern Congo. We implore them to free their supply chain of Congo conflict minerals.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
September 19th
Too beautiful for words,
Diminished to a sound,
Destroyed, Disparaged,
Dripping into a pool of a million of the same,
Electric shocks reach the pond of forgetfulness.
A single thought ignited,
Ripples through the pool,
Turn into a whirlwind,
Caught up in the moment,
Recklessly consuming,
Openly defying,
Wordlessly retreating,
Hands open in supplication,
Swept up in the sound and carried away.
Diminished to a sound,
Destroyed, Disparaged,
Dripping into a pool of a million of the same,
Electric shocks reach the pond of forgetfulness.
A single thought ignited,
Ripples through the pool,
Turn into a whirlwind,
Caught up in the moment,
Recklessly consuming,
Openly defying,
Wordlessly retreating,
Hands open in supplication,
Swept up in the sound and carried away.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Long Term Thinking
In the world of economics, having perspective beyond the present is difficult. No longer do we have factories hoarding ample supplies of equipment, making one item at a time, but since the creation of the assembly line and advancement of transportation technologies, it is possible to have items shipped around the world overnight. The creation of just-in-time production has left the world operating on a 24-hour clock. This same immediacy has crept into almost every area of business.
Such is the case with the controversy surrounding the Dodd-Frank legislation. An article recently released in the New York Times claimed that the actions of NGOs and the US congress to instate regulations requiring business to monitor the origins of their minerals is essentially creating a boycott of minerals deriving from the Congo. (The article can be read here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/opinion/how-congress-devastated-congo.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss)
The article continues on to say that the Dodd-Frank Act is doing nothing but hurting individual miners and improving the lives of corrupt warlords. Ignoring the fact that the Dodd-Frank Act has not been enforced as of yet, what is the alternative? To do nothing? To ignore the 5 million+ that have died thus far and accept the status quo as less damaging? Undermining 15 years of violent conflict will take time, it will take time for the Congolese government to create a stable mining sector. As well, many corporations are interested in investing in the Congolese mining sector under these new regulations (http://congosiasa.blogspot.com/2011/08/thoughts-about-conflict-minerals.html). The key, along with providing alternative sources of work, is to look at the big picture. North America was once teeming with sweatshops, but through the actions of individuals and unions, minimum wage, child labour law and equal (in theory) pay for women were created. Change is possible...and an economically thriving economy is better for business (and the people of the Congo) in the long run, then a war ridden economy.
Enough Project's response to article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sasha-lezhnev/what-conflict-minerals-le_b_922566.html
More info on conflict minerals:
http://www.globalwitness.org/campaigns/conflict/conflict-minerals
Such is the case with the controversy surrounding the Dodd-Frank legislation. An article recently released in the New York Times claimed that the actions of NGOs and the US congress to instate regulations requiring business to monitor the origins of their minerals is essentially creating a boycott of minerals deriving from the Congo. (The article can be read here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/opinion/how-congress-devastated-congo.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss)
The article continues on to say that the Dodd-Frank Act is doing nothing but hurting individual miners and improving the lives of corrupt warlords. Ignoring the fact that the Dodd-Frank Act has not been enforced as of yet, what is the alternative? To do nothing? To ignore the 5 million+ that have died thus far and accept the status quo as less damaging? Undermining 15 years of violent conflict will take time, it will take time for the Congolese government to create a stable mining sector. As well, many corporations are interested in investing in the Congolese mining sector under these new regulations (http://congosiasa.blogspot.com/2011/08/thoughts-about-conflict-minerals.html). The key, along with providing alternative sources of work, is to look at the big picture. North America was once teeming with sweatshops, but through the actions of individuals and unions, minimum wage, child labour law and equal (in theory) pay for women were created. Change is possible...and an economically thriving economy is better for business (and the people of the Congo) in the long run, then a war ridden economy.
Enough Project's response to article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sasha-lezhnev/what-conflict-minerals-le_b_922566.html
More info on conflict minerals:
http://www.globalwitness.org/campaigns/conflict/conflict-minerals
Thursday, August 4, 2011
When the rubber meets the road...
We have once again returned to a topic that is near and dear to my heart - the plight of those living near or within conflict mineral zones.
Since the creation in July 2010 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, there has been some level of hope. There has been the hope that, some form of mineral regulation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could be instated and that this momentum could be built upon to one day create a stable society.
The Dodd-Frank Act requires companies to conduct "due diligence" and disclose annually if they use the minerals cassiterite, columbite-tantalite, gold, wolframite or their derivatives (tin, tanatalum or tungsten) in products that originate from the DRC or adjoining countries. But now, as implementation comes under way, questions such as what constitutes "due diligence" have arisen.
As well, some retailers, such as Wal-Mart and AT&T, have been trying to exempt themselves from the Act, arguing that they have minimal contact with the manufacturing process. Theodore Kingsley, the general attorney for AT&T states that, “AT&T believes that retailers who merely place their marks on goods or who do no more than order goods with particular features should not be subject to the rules,” However large corporations, such as AT&T and Walmart, as well as being able to afford to bring such suits against the Act, are those who could afford to monitor the origins of the minerals they use in electronic products. This is as opposed to smaller companies who, it is hypothesized, could suffer financially. David Johnson a corporate lawyer in New York states that, “No one in the United States condones what’s happening in the Congo, but the requirements are so expensive compared to the effect it might actually have in the Congo.”
In opposition to such claims of non-responsibility on the part of corporations, the "Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the 'Protect, Respect and Remedy' Framework" (Endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council as of June 2011), state that "Business enterprises should respect human rights, which means to avoid infringing on the human rights of others and to address adverse human rights impacts they may cause or contribute to. The responsibility to respect human rights applies across a business enterprise’s activities and through its relationships with third parties associated with those activities". Corporations are thus answerable for the actions of any manufactures they are employing.
I hate that there is there is a price to human life, and financially speaking, much of the world is not willing to shell out the cost. There are however exceptions, companies such as Intel, who have taken the issue seriously and are endeavoring to track the where abouts of the minerals they use to produce their electronics (source: enough project).
http://www.business-humanrights.org/SpecialRepPortal/Home/Protect-Respect-Remedy-Framework
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=93396
http://www.reports-and-materials.org/Ruggie-UN-draft-Guiding-Principles-22-Nov-2010.pdf
http://www2.americanprogress.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=154&link=2
Since the creation in July 2010 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, there has been some level of hope. There has been the hope that, some form of mineral regulation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could be instated and that this momentum could be built upon to one day create a stable society.
The Dodd-Frank Act requires companies to conduct "due diligence" and disclose annually if they use the minerals cassiterite, columbite-tantalite, gold, wolframite or their derivatives (tin, tanatalum or tungsten) in products that originate from the DRC or adjoining countries. But now, as implementation comes under way, questions such as what constitutes "due diligence" have arisen.
As well, some retailers, such as Wal-Mart and AT&T, have been trying to exempt themselves from the Act, arguing that they have minimal contact with the manufacturing process. Theodore Kingsley, the general attorney for AT&T states that, “AT&T believes that retailers who merely place their marks on goods or who do no more than order goods with particular features should not be subject to the rules,” However large corporations, such as AT&T and Walmart, as well as being able to afford to bring such suits against the Act, are those who could afford to monitor the origins of the minerals they use in electronic products. This is as opposed to smaller companies who, it is hypothesized, could suffer financially. David Johnson a corporate lawyer in New York states that, “No one in the United States condones what’s happening in the Congo, but the requirements are so expensive compared to the effect it might actually have in the Congo.”
In opposition to such claims of non-responsibility on the part of corporations, the "Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the 'Protect, Respect and Remedy' Framework" (Endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council as of June 2011), state that "Business enterprises should respect human rights, which means to avoid infringing on the human rights of others and to address adverse human rights impacts they may cause or contribute to. The responsibility to respect human rights applies across a business enterprise’s activities and through its relationships with third parties associated with those activities". Corporations are thus answerable for the actions of any manufactures they are employing.
I hate that there is there is a price to human life, and financially speaking, much of the world is not willing to shell out the cost. There are however exceptions, companies such as Intel, who have taken the issue seriously and are endeavoring to track the where abouts of the minerals they use to produce their electronics (source: enough project).
http://www.business-humanrights.org/SpecialRepPortal/Home/Protect-Respect-Remedy-Framework
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=93396
http://www.reports-and-materials.org/Ruggie-UN-draft-Guiding-Principles-22-Nov-2010.pdf
http://www2.americanprogress.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=154&link=2
Friday, July 29, 2011
Interference
The problem with humanitarian aid is that it is exactly what it implies, aid. It is not a solution, it is not sustainable, it is not permanent, it is not on-going. A friend once had a conversation with me about how the current market system under capitalism teach us the lassiez-faire philosophy, that if everyone is striving after their own self-interest, the market will balance itself out, everyone wins. I feel like this has to some extent translated into social dynamics as well, everyone strives to better themselves, leaving others to sort out their own problems, no one is willing to interfere in the name of privacy, tolerance and respect. However in situations of humanitarian crisis we try and halt this system. We tell less development countries that interference is necessary, sovereignty be damned. This is despite the fact that loans given by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank are often contingent on liberalisation of markets and an application of lassiez faire principles practiced in wealthier nations.
Information warning of the current drought in the Horn of Africa has been available for about a year, and could have been prevented or lessened in affect. However as world leaders are loath to act on predictions and loath to invest and interfere until absolutely necessary, it creates a cycle of emergency instead of sustainability. I don't pretend to know the answer, but I do know the solution starts when people become more then an economic figure and the concept of interfering in our neighbours business doesn't exist because we are always invovled in the lives of those around us.
More info on the drought in the Horn of Africa:
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/special-coverage-horn-of-africa-hunger-crisis/
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=93337
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/qa-the-headaches-of-getting-aid-to-famine-stricken-somalia/
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/12/us-ethiopia-drought-idUSTRE76B32N20110712
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=93331
Information warning of the current drought in the Horn of Africa has been available for about a year, and could have been prevented or lessened in affect. However as world leaders are loath to act on predictions and loath to invest and interfere until absolutely necessary, it creates a cycle of emergency instead of sustainability. I don't pretend to know the answer, but I do know the solution starts when people become more then an economic figure and the concept of interfering in our neighbours business doesn't exist because we are always invovled in the lives of those around us.
More info on the drought in the Horn of Africa:
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/special-coverage-horn-of-africa-hunger-crisis/
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=93337
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/qa-the-headaches-of-getting-aid-to-famine-stricken-somalia/
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/12/us-ethiopia-drought-idUSTRE76B32N20110712
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=93331
Monday, April 11, 2011
The Ivory Coast, end to the violence?
Gbagbo surrenders! He will now hopefully be held accountable for the human rights atrocities committed in the Ivory Coast. However the likely hood of president Ouattara being held accountable for violence is slim.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/ivory-coasts-gbagbo-must-be-held-to-account-for-atrocities-rights-group/
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/ivory-coasts-gbagbo-must-be-held-to-account-for-atrocities-rights-group/
A copy of my first facebook note in a long time:
Okay so my profile picture is not the best picture of me which has ever been taken, as I am yelling to someone off to the side of the photo, and I may not be one of these 'youth' who are voting, as our signs stipulate, BUT I believe in the message being portrayed. All over the world there are people currently fighting and dying for the right to democratic governance, the right to have a say in the rule of their nation. I heard a statistic the other day that today Canada is 69th in the world in terms of peacekeeping. We have denied UN requests to send peacekeepers to the Congo four times. As well, although Canada aided in instigating the Millennium Development Goals, we have ceased to make any attempt to fulfilled this commitment. This is not the Canada I feel like I live in, this tight-fisted, uncharitable, corporate run country. Something must change, I want to see the Canada I was taught to believe in.
There is one way we can change this, by starting to hold our government accountable for it's actions, by asserting our democratic right to vote. Currently, if the Canadian government does something citizens disapprove of, it is irrelevant, what are we going to do about it? In 2006, 64.7% of the population voted. In 2008, it was 59.1%.
Are you disillusioned by the Democratic process in North America? Do something about it. Are you sick of rhetoric? Do something about it. It doesn't have to be this way, change is possible, and the best way we can instigate change at this moment in history is to vote. I don't care how you vote, so long as you exercise this right.
The following is a quote from one of my hero's, Tony Benn:
"Keeping people hopeless and pessimistic - see I think there are two ways in which people are controlled - first of all frighten people and secondly demoralize them. An educated, healthy and confident nation is harder to govern...People in debt become hopeless and hopeless people don’t vote. They always say that that everyone should vote but I think that if the poor in Britain or the United States turned out and voted for people that represented their interests there would be a real democratic revolution"
There is one way we can change this, by starting to hold our government accountable for it's actions, by asserting our democratic right to vote. Currently, if the Canadian government does something citizens disapprove of, it is irrelevant, what are we going to do about it? In 2006, 64.7% of the population voted. In 2008, it was 59.1%.
Are you disillusioned by the Democratic process in North America? Do something about it. Are you sick of rhetoric? Do something about it. It doesn't have to be this way, change is possible, and the best way we can instigate change at this moment in history is to vote. I don't care how you vote, so long as you exercise this right.
The following is a quote from one of my hero's, Tony Benn:
"Keeping people hopeless and pessimistic - see I think there are two ways in which people are controlled - first of all frighten people and secondly demoralize them. An educated, healthy and confident nation is harder to govern...People in debt become hopeless and hopeless people don’t vote. They always say that that everyone should vote but I think that if the poor in Britain or the United States turned out and voted for people that represented their interests there would be a real democratic revolution"
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