A-Infos (en) France, OCL CA #361 - "The Congo is both the driving force of the digital revolution and the country sacrificed by the digitization of the world." (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Digital Barbarism: Another History of the Connected World - Fabien 
Lebrun* - Éditions de l'Échappée - 2024 --- Author Fabien Lebrun 
examines the history of digital technology through the lens of the 
Congo, which is also the history of capitalist globalization. He begins 
by reviewing the successive regimes and wars that led to the subjugation 
of the Congo, tracing the stages of capitalist development from its 
birth in the 16th century to its digital phase between 1996 and 2004. In 
examining the history of this vast Central African country, populated by 
approximately 100 million inhabitants, he identifies slavery, 
colonialism, and extractive development as the foundations of the rise 
of global capitalism and the triggers of a predatory war of mineral 
wealth driven by multinational corporations, kleptomaniac and mercenary 
states, and criminal leaders. "From Leopold to Kabila via Mobutu; from 
concessionary companies to mining companies; from Belgian officials to 
those of the IMF and the World Bank; from Michelin, Dunlop, and Goodyear 
to Apple, Huawei, and Tesla: the same gluttony, the same money, the same 
blood."

This plundering of the Congo serves to fuel the digital revolution and 
the "energy transition" of strategic raw materials that abound in the 
Congolese subsoil: tantalum for capacitors, tin for soldering electronic 
circuits, tungsten for ringtones and vibrators, gold for motherboards, 
copper for cables, coltan for capacitors, germanium for Wi-Fi 
technology, cobalt and lithium for laptop and electric vehicle 
batteries, and other minerals essential to weapons and the various 
instruments of our "modernity." The digital revolution is a capitalist 
revolution, with deadly consequences for an entire people, and beyond.
For 30 years, the mass production of digital technologies has generated 
wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo, involving neighboring 
countries, the Congolese state, world powers, electronics companies, and 
even all consumers. These wars concern us all, yet they remain largely 
unreported in the media.

The war that began in Congo in 1996 was financed by multinational mining 
companies. Big Tech exerts a neo-colonial dominance. It was thanks to 
the support of the global extractive sector and the backing of Rwanda 
and Uganda that Kabila ousted Mobutu from power in 1997. Fabien Lebrun 
demonstrates that it was the computerization of the world, the origin of 
this mining rush, that triggered acts of violence perpetrated by various 
Congolese and foreign groups; he notes that these wars continue and are 
renewed with each technological innovation: the smartphone in 2007, the 
tablet in 2010, and now the energy transition and artificial intelligence.

Through a thorough investigation, the author reveals the tragic 
consequences of these wars on the people of Congo. They cause 
unspeakable violence: food insecurity, diseases and epidemics, several 
million deaths, 7 million displaced persons, hundreds of thousands of 
women victims of sexual violence, and countless children employed as 
"diggers," meaning they work like slaves in the mines or are used in 
combat. There are also destructive consequences for entire territories 
contaminated by mining activity, with razed forests and unsanitary 
waterways. "Ultimately, the destruction of life in all its dimensions."

Defending a materialist approach to digital technology, the author 
debunks the myth of "dematerialization," an absolute lie that 
contributes to rendering the entire electronic production cycle 
invisible, retaining only the final stage: consumption. While the 34 
billion digital devices in circulation today, composed as they are of 
raw materials and metals, weigh more than 220 million tons; Not to 
mention other physical components of the digital world: connection 
networks, modems, routers and connectors, relay antennas and satellites, 
fiber optic cables (both underground and submarine), servers, and data 
centers.

The author questions the responsibility of states and electronics 
companies involved in the Congolese conflict, as well as our own 
individual and collective responsibility. He offers socio-political 
reflections and potential paths for "our connected world originating in 
the Congo." And beyond the Congo, he is outraged that no one is raising 
the issue of suspending or even abandoning electronics production, 
despite its devastating consequences, nor demanding an immediate halt to 
the production of screens or the manufacture of connected devices using 
Congolese metals, so great is "the fetishism of technological 
commodities." He highlights that digital technology poses societal 
choices, particularly the fundamental question of collectively defining 
needs. The production of ten billion smartphones in ten years has in no 
way increased autonomy or freedom, nor has it reduced injustice and 
inequality. On the contrary, digital technology has exacerbated all the 
destructive aspects of capitalism. This is why, according to Fabien 
Lebrun, an emancipatory perspective requires collectively organizing a 
technological de-escalation and a de-digitalization of life.
We can only support this viewpoint, while remaining aware that digital 
technology, like nuclear power for example, is something capitalism 
considers essential to its survival, and that the struggle ahead is 
arduous. Actions are, however, both possible and necessary: boycotting 
Big Tech, denouncing the dangers and violence their projects create, 
initiating public debates, leading collective efforts in favor of the 
right to disconnect, and participating in actions that help block 
industrial projects fueling digitization and electrification, as well as 
mining projects, electronics production, nuclear power, and the 
installation of data centers. In short, we must work collectively 
towards "de-digitization, disconnection, as well as technological 
de-escalation and digital dismantling."

* Fabien Lebrun, researcher and author of *On achève bien les enfants. 
Écrans et barbarie numérique* (Le Bord de l'eau, 2020), speaks on the 
ecological and geopolitical impacts of new technologies, as well as the 
educational and ethical challenges of the digital world.

http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4734
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