“Now you understand how people like us work?”
“I believe so.”
“Tell me.”
“You work in horrible conditions and—”
“No! We work in our graves.”

Are blood batteries the new blood diamonds? This was such a good introduction to what’s going on in the Democratic Republic of Congo! Its first person, almost journal-entry writing style painted a vivid picture.

And the working conditions of miners for battery-making resources? Absolutely horrific.
▪️ child labour,
▪️ extreme exploitation,
▪️ mining with their hands (forget safety equipment—these miners don’t have the most basic tools),
▪️ adults and children routinely buried alive,
▪️ ore itself so toxic to humans that even mosquitoes don’t bite them,
▪️ conflict, famine, environmental destruction, human trafficking, sexual assault…

… all to make the batteries in our phones, electric vehicles, and anything else we recharge. I knew next to nothing about all this. And I’m grateful that this book exists. Because companies like Apple, Samsung, and Tesla, etc are straight up lying about where they get their materials. And this is all too “cost effective” to end without pressure from us.

That said, I wish this book had been equally critical of China and the United State’s exploitative ‘soft imperialism’ in the DRC. Right now, the bulk of the exploitation is due to Chinese mining and exporting companies (and upstream electronics manufacturers) with a few international companies in the supply chain too.

And our author—rather uncritically, I thought—included condemnations by American diplomats without also criticizing the US very much. But US politicians don’t want to protect Congolese people, they’re just jealous—they wish it was American companies who were doing the exploiting (and manufacturing American-made electronics) instead. I expect the US will be increasingly trying to "facilitate trade" between themselves and the DRC moving forward. With similarly unethical results.