I believe that other Apple customers want what I want: the world’s first conflict-free iPhone. That’s why I launched a campaign on Change.org asking Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, to commit to making an iPhone with conflict-free minerals from the Congo by Christmas 2013. In the five weeks since I launched my campaign, nearly 50,000 people from more than 75 countries have signed on in support.
Apple, if you’re reading this, please give my family and my people a chance for a better future by being a leader for a clean minerals trade in eastern Congo. Commit to purchasing minerals from my country, but do so in a way that benefits communities, not destroys them.
You’ve always shown you know how to think differently. Now it’s time to think conflict-free.
The ubiquity of electronic technology should remind us that the responsibility is to be shared, if there is to be collective benefit. Kristof (2010) notes with sad irony: “With throngs waiting in lines in the last few days to buy the latest iPhone, I’m thinking: What if we could harness that desperation for new technologies to the desperate need to curb the killing in central Africa?” (para. 2)
Kristof, N. (2010, June 26). Death by gadget. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/opinion/27kristof.html?_r=1
Nathan, D., & Sarkar, S. (2010, October 23). Blood on your mobile. Economic and Political Weekly, xlv(43), 22-24. Retrieved from http://beta.epw.in/static_media/PDF/archives_ pdf/2010/10/C102310_Blood_on_Dev_Nathan.pdf