Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

“The ongoing exploitation of the poorest people of the Congo by the rich and powerful invalidates the purported moral foundation of contemporary civilization and drags humanity back to a time when the people of Africa were valued only by their replacement cost. The implications of this moral reversion, which is itself a form of violence, stretch far beyond central Africa across the entire global south, where a vast subclass of humanity continues to eke out a subhuman existence in slave-like conditions at the bottom of the global economic order. Less has changed since colonial times than we might care to admit.”

Kara details The Persistence of Colonialist Practices in this quote and throughout the text. He connects colonial history to the contemporary conditions in which the Congolese people work, arguing that these conditions are “slave-like” and that little has really changed since Western colonialism ended as a political system.

“As of 2022, there is no such thing as a clean supply chain of cobalt from the Congo. All cobalt sourced from the DRC is tainted by various degrees of abuse, including slavery, child labor, forced labor, debt bondage, human trafficking, hazardous and toxic working conditions, pathetic wages, injury and death, and incalculable environmental harm.”

In this quote, Kara contests claims of companies like Apple that the cobalt used in their manufactured consumer products, like laptops and cell phones, is safely and ethically sourced. Here, he details the results of his research into The Exploitation in Artisanal Mines. He lists his findings that are detailed throughout the book.

“Unspeakable riches have brought the people of the Congo little other than unspeakable pain.”

One of the key ironies uncovered by Kara is the fact that Congo has a wealth of natural resources. However, these resources have not benefited the people there. Instead, they have acted as a magnet for industrial and international forces that seek to exploit them at the expense of the local population, exacerbated by The Problem of Government Corruption.

“If the mining sector makes itself known upon arrival at the Lubumbashi airport, so too does the police state.”

Kara describes the plethora of security forces that guard mining concessions and control the populations there as a “police state.” A police state is a totalitarian regime that surveilles and supervises a population. This is one aspect of The Problem of Government Corruption that Kara documents in his field research.

“Displacement of the native population due to mine expansion is a major crisis in the mining provinces. As the living conditions of displaced people worsen, their desperation increases, and that desperation is precisely what drives thousands of local inhabitants to scrounge for cobalt in hazardous conditions on the land they once occupied.”

In addition to the death and injury that miners experience in the cobalt industry, the people who live in the mining towns near concessions are constantly forced to move to make way for industry expansion. Kara describes this forced displacement as a “major crisis” that the government does not seek to mitigate or help.

“Gécamines Sud was a picture of what mining had done to the Congo—a once great land reduced to ruin. From the ruins, a new breed of mining was born, one that was more violent and voracious than ever. As we will discover with each passing mile on the road to Kolwezi, the rechargeable battery revolution has unleashed a malevolent force upon the Congo that tramples all in its path in a merciless hunt for cobalt.”

This quote is an example of how Kara uses colorful, even polemical language to make his argument about the human and environmental cost of cobalt mining. He describes the growth of artisanal mining as “violent and voracious,” like a wild animal, and he characterizes the drive for rechargeable batteries as “a malevolent force” that “tramples all in its path” not unlike an invading army. These figurative descriptions illustrate the dangers Kara sees in these dynamics.

“Nothing looks the same after a trip to the Congo. The world back home no longer makes sense. It is difficult to reconcile how it even inhabits the same planet. Neatly arranged mountains of vegetables at grocery stores seem vulgar. Bright lights and flushing toilets seem like sorcery. Clean air and water feel like a crime. The markers of wealth and consumption appear violent. Most of it was built, after all, on violence, neatly tucked away in history books that tend to sanitize the truth.”

In this quote, Kara alludes to The Persistence of Colonialist Practices as a form of violence “neatly tucked away in history books that tend to sanitize the truth.” He stresses that the results of this violence have created massive differences between life in the Congo and life in the Western world. He argues that Western standards of living are predicated on the exploitation of Congolese people and land.

“This land that is home to the world’s largest reserves of an element crucial to the manufacture of the most dominant form of rechargeable energy in the world still awaits the arrival of electricity.”

Kara emphasizes the irony that Congolese cobalt is essential to modern batteries and yet the mining region “still awaits the arrival of electricity.” This is one instance of Kara using hyperbole to make a point. It is not strictly true that there is no electricity in the Congolese mining region, but the area does not have consistent access to electricity, as Kara notes elsewhere in the text.

“From the moment Diogo Cão introduced Europeans to the Kongo in 1482, the heart of Africa was made colony to the world. Patrice Lumumba offered a fleeting chance at a different fate, but the neocolonial machinery of the West chopped him down and replaced him with someone who would keep their riches flowing.

Cobalt is but the latest treasure they have come to loot.”

In this quote, Kara connects three stages of Congolese history: Slavery; the execution of Patrice Lumumba, the anticolonial leader in 1961; and the contemporary cobalt mining industry. This characterization is at the heart of his argument about The Persistence of Colonialist Practices. Although this passage alludes to “the neocolonial machinery of the West,” elsewhere in the book he describes China’s role in contemporary cobalt exploitation.

“There are no flowers to be found. No birds in the sky. No placid streams. No pleasant breezes. The ornaments of nature are gone. All color seems pale and unformed. Only the fragments of life remain.

This is Lualaba Province, where cobalt is king.”

In his research, Kara is primarily interested in the human costs of cobalt mining. However, he also discusses some of the environmental impacts of this extractive industry. In this quote, he uses poetic language and hyperbole such as “no birds in the sky” to drive home the extent of the environmental destruction.

“Corporations atop the cobalt chain stake their reputations on the impervious wall that is supposed to exist between industrial and artisanal production. Such assertions are as meaningless as trying to claim that one can discriminate the water from different tributaries while standing at the mouth of the Congo River.”

Kara investigates claims made by corporations that their cobalt has been “ethically” sourced. However, he finds that, often, heterogenite ore from artisanal mines with bad labor practices are laundered into the industrial production line. He uses a geographical analogy of trying to separate out water from tributaries that feed into the Congo River, the second-longest river in Africa.

“The deeper I ventured into the mining provinces, the murkier the bottom of the cobalt supply chain proved to be, and the more resistant to claims that the flow of cobalt was adequately monitored for child labor or other abuses.”

Kara argues throughout Cobalt Red that mining interests, the government, and corporations attempt to cover up or obscure the human rights abuses in The Exploitation in Artisanal Mines. In this quote, he describes how in more rural areas, there is very little oversight.

“So long as the political elite were content to continue the tradition of government-as-theft established by their colonial antecedents, the people of the Congo would continue to suffer.”

A key theme of Cobalt Red is The Problem of Government Corruption. Kara connects contemporary corruption with the historical precedent established under colonialism. In this quote, he criticizes the Congolese “political elite” for putting their personal interests ahead of the needs of the people.

“Threats of violence, eviction from the work site, and the lack of any reasonable alternative kept the children ensnared in the system of bondage. In essence, they were child slaves.”

Kara’s previous books have been about modern-day enslavement. In this quote, he connects The Exploitation in Artisanal Mines with coerced labor dynamics he has studied elsewhere in the world. Since child miners are not able to leave the job due to threats of violence and lack of economic opportunity, they are effectively enslaved persons.

“It is tempting to point the finger at local actors as the agents of the carnage—be it corrupt politicians, exploitative cooperatives, unhinged soldiers, or extortionist bosses. They all played their roles, but they were also symptoms of a more malevolent disease: the global economy run amok in Africa.”

In this quote, Kara connects his critique of The Problem of Government Corruption with his analysis of The Persistence of Colonialist Practices. He attributes this dynamic to greed as well as the lack of oversight. The use of the work “amok” implies a process that is out-of-control.

“Time-lapse satellite images of Kolwezi from 2012 to 2022 show that the “brown” around the city spread like a tsunami, devouring everything in its path. Kolwezi is the mangled face of progress in Africa. The hunt for cobalt is all.”

Kara uses figurative language to emphasize the environmental destruction caused by the growth of the artisanal cobalt mining industry from 2012 to 2022, following the massive increase in demand for electric cars and consumer electronics that use rechargeable batteries, such as cell phones and laptops. He mixes his metaphors liberally to create an image of a voracious force of nature that spreads destruction. The mining industry is “like a tsunami” that “mangles faces” in its “hunt.”

“It would not be a stretch to suggest that much of the EV revolution rests on the weary shoulders of some of the poorest inhabitants of Kolwezi, yet few of them have the benefit of even the most basic amenities of modern life, such as reliable electricity, clean water and sanitation, medical clinics, and schools for children.”

In this quote, Kara describes the global inequalities that result from The Persistence of Colonialist Practices. “Progress” in the West, in this case as represented by the increase in electric vehicles, is reliant on the work of those in Congo who mine cobalt. However, the Congolese do not in turn “benefit” from progress themselves.

“Mutombo grasped my hands tightly before he descended. Our eyes locked in a moment of shared understanding. Although I would never see him again, we were forever linked by the flow of stones from his world to mine.”

This passage is an example of Kara describing his personal emotional investment and connections with the people he interviews at artisanal cobalt mines as part of his field research. He draws a metaphorical connection between the moment of contact between Mutombo, an artisanal miner he interviews, and the contact formed by the supply chain wherein the minerals Mutombo mines power Kara’s phone and other finished goods.

“When my son died, I died.”

This quote from Bisette, a woman Kara interviews, illustrates the human costs of The Exploitation in Artisanal Mines. Such exploitation impacts not only the miners, but their families. Bisette’s brief but emotion-filled statement illustrates how mining accidents and fatalities impact whole communities.

“This was the final truth of cobalt mining in the Congo: the life of a child buried alive while digging for cobalt counted for nothing. All the dead here counted for nothing. The loot is all.”

Throughout Cobalt Red, Kara promises that he will provide the “truth” about artisanal cobalt mining that is obscured or hidden by industries and governments. In this quote from the final chapter of the book, Kara lays out explicitly how he sees that truth. As elsewhere in the book, he uses hyperbole such as “the loot is all” in an attempt to make his argument more emotionally resonant and convincing.

“Meaningful solutions cannot be devised if they are devoid of direct input from those the solutions are meant to assist. This is particularly true in the Congo, where the voices on the ground tell a very different, if not antithetical, story to the one told at the top.”

Kara notes throughout the text that the descriptions of The Exploitation in Artisanal Mines given by industry leaders and political elites are much rosier and more positive than the conditions he observed during his visits to the mines. He describes his observations as “antithetical,” which here means that they directly contradict the picture painted by leadership.

“The path begins with accountability. The biggest problem faced by the Congo’s artisanal miners is not the gun-toting soldiers, unscrupulous Chinese buyers, exploitative mining cooperatives, or collapsing tunnels. These and other antagonists are but symptoms of a greater menace. The biggest problem faced by the Congo’s artisanal miners is that stakeholders up the chain refuse to accept responsibility for them, even though they all profit in one way or another from their work.”

Kara’s focus throughout most of Cobalt Red is on describing the conditions he observed. However, in a few places, he suggests possible solutions to the problems he describes. He believes that the problem starts at the top with the manufacturers of finished goods, who do not properly oversee where the raw materials to make their goods come from.

“Rather than issue vacant statements on zero-tolerance policies and other hollow PR, corporations should do the one simple thing that would truly help: treat the artisanal miners as equal employees to the people who work at corporate headquarters. We would not send the children of Cupertino to scrounge for cobalt in toxic pits, so why is it permissible to send the children of the Congo?”

In this quote, Kara emphasis the essential equality of all people and argues that all workers should be treated equally. By juxtaposing the experiences of office workers at tech headquarters in Cupertino with those of artisanal miners in Congolese mines, he makes the point that child labor is unacceptable anywhere in the world. This argumentative style makes a personal appeal to Kara’s Western readership to rethink Western business practices.