Unveiling Congo's Exploitation: Minerals, Rebels, and Child Soldiers

Conflict Minerals, Rebels, and Child Soldiers in the Congo - Vice Documentary

Directions:

Watch the Vice Documentary here or here.

Answer ALL of the following questions. Skip a line between each question.

Submit a copy of your responses to the Schoology Dropbox by Sunday 2/28. Documentary Questions:

Give a general overview of the documentary. The Congo has become a source of foreign interference as many western companies buy minerals from the country such as coltan, cassiterite, gold, and tourmaline. Many of the mines are owned by corrupt members of the Kinshasa government. These officials take most of the profit that is earned from selling the minerals and do not try to help the Congolese people. Villagers work in the mines

From 1879 to 1884, Leopold II of Belgium sent Henry Morton Stanley to form “treaties” with Congolese rulers. From these “treaties” Leopold gained diplomatic power in the Congo and could enslave and exploit the natives in the area to make a profit. Similarly, tech companies make deals with owners of Congolese mines to make products from their deposits of coltan. In the process, the tech companies and the mine owners end up exploiting the Congolese miners which cause them to live in extreme poverty. In both instances, a western power whether it be Leopold II or a tech company makes a deal with a Congolese that has power such as the early rulers or the modern mine owners. In the process the local Congolese labor is exploited causing them to live in poverty, while the western king or western tech company profits from the labor of the locals. The difference between these two examples is that the western power in the 1800’s was a monarch while the modern western power is a company. This shows that due to the Second Industrial Revolution, citizens in the middle class that have power in a company can now attain similar power to a monarch that lived two centuries ago.

In the 1800’s, western countries such as the Belgians also took away the natural resources of the Congo such as ivory and rubber in the 1800’s. In modern times, western countries not only take away minerals such as coltan to produce technology, but they also take away other precious minerals such as cassiterite, gold, tantalum, and tourmaline. These instances are similar in that the materials that are being taken from the Congo are being used to make consumer goods that are sold to the public to profit the western