The big push by governments in the Global North for a move to electric vehicles (EVs) seems to be one of the central planks of the decarbonisation effort of capitalism. Rare earth minerals such as cobalt, lithium and nickel are strategic resources in this transition and play a huge part in the creation of EVs and the batteries that power them. The Largest deposits of these elements can be found in the global south and particularly central Africa in places like the Congo.

This week on the show we are joined by Anneke Van Woudenberg (@woudena) the CEO of RAID, a NGO that looks to hold corporations to account for their human rights and environmental abuses in the global south (@raidukorg).

We discussed the horrific working conditions of miners in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the envrionmental damage of this resource extraction: how multinational companies like Glencore are abusing their position in DRC , the struggles of the labour movement organising in DRC, why taking these corporations to court in the UK is more effective than Congolese courts and what are the limits of justice.

Links
https://www.raid-uk.org/

RAIDs report on Cobalt mining in Congo. read it here.

Industriall Union Miners Union in Congo

Lucha- Congolese Youth group

Apple and Google named in Human rights abuses and child labour in Congolese Cobalt mining

Shout outs

CAJJ- who've been working with RAID on their recent report
https://www.cajj-rdc.org/public/home

Dan Weegmann

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