If, upon learning about some awful episode in the history of Western Colonialism, you take comfort in the fact that that age has passed, then this book is for you. That age hasn’t passed, and even in 2024, your life is built upon the exploitation of people whose only crime is where they happen to have been born. Welcome to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. If you are willing to look past corporate platitudes and can stomach some unpleasant truths, Siddharth Kara will take you on a tour.
To set this up: this is the story of cobalt mining in DRC. Cobalt is a component of batteries. The companies that sell products that use these batteries claim that they source cobalt responsibly. Rather than believe these PR departments, Kara has chosen the obvious, if arduous and traumatizing, response: he has traveled to DRC to see for himself.
This is a work of investigative journalism with an unavoidable hint of gonzo. Apart from some awkward (and unnecessary) clickbait-style cliffhangers at the ends of many chapters, Kara tells it straight. There is nothing here but on-the-ground reporting contrasted sharply with official statements and policy. The story he tells is but the latest chapter in a long history of exploitation and suffering.
Kara has taken many precautions to protect the people who helped him which means no identifying information is given. This means that, to a large extent, we must trust the author, a matter made difficult by the exploits of people like Greg Mortenson. In this case, however, Kara is not taking on the role of savior-middleman. He is simply reporting. And considering the history and other, more public, sources of information, I find no reason to doubt him.
So if you would like to shed some ignorance and, in the process, experience a variety of unpleasant emotions, read Cobalt Red. I submit that in 2024, it should no longer be acceptable to subsist on distant atrocities without at least knowing about them. Let us manage that much, at least.