'Vagina Monologues' Author Pushes for End to 'Blood' Gadget Sales
The movie 'Blood Diamond' helped alert the world to the horrors of the illegal diamond trade, which predominately occurs in war-torn African countries where the proceeds benefit terrorists and militias. Eve Ensler, a playwright most widely known for 'The Vagina Monologues,' is now trying to warn the world of another product produced amid conflict and strife.
Ensler contended during an interview with D7 that Congolese militias are using rape and sexual violence to subjugate residents into slave labor in order to mine for columbite-tantalite, known locally as coltan. According to Ensler, derivatives of coltan are used in power-producing capacitors that go into our cell phones, iPods, and other gadgets, which means that "we're all responsible for those (sexual) atrocities." To ensure that that they are selling "clean" products, she urges electronics manufacturers to station armed surveyors and watchmen at the mines that produce their minerals, and to then track those minerals to the point of sale. She believes that certifiably clean or "rape-free" products will benefit the sales of companies that demand their products be untainted by human rights violations.
Right now, she says there's not much that we, as consumers, can do to end the atrocities except to voice our displeasure and to let the corporations know that the purveyance of such bloody and dirty products is unacceptable. To learn more about Ensler's movement to end violence against women, you can go to her Web site here. [From: All Things Digital, via Boing Boing]
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