Fr Dr Toussaint Kafarhire Murhula SJ, Director of the Arrupe Center for Research and Training, Lubumbashi, DRC, and Dr. Evelyn Namakula Mayanja, Assistant Professor at Carleton University, Ottawa.
The legacy of colonialism, racism, unchecked consumerism, and a rapacious global economic and political system that overlooks ethical and environmental concerns are among the main reasons why mining and the extraction of natural resources is causing untold suffering in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Any analysis of the impact of extractive industries in the DRC must take these into account, said Fr Dr Toussaint Kafarhire Murhula SJ, Director of the Arrupe Center for Research and Training, Lubumbashi, DRC, and Dr. Evelyn Namakula Mayanja, Assistant Professor at Carleton University, Ottawa.
Fr Murhula and Dr Mayanja spoke on this issue at “Cobalt Blues: the politics of extraction and education in the DRC, a hybrid event on March 21 co-organized by Canadian Jesuits International (CJI) and the Arthur V. Mauro Institute for Peace & Justice at St. Paul’s College, Winnipeg.
Millions of Congolese have been forced off their land, pushed deeper into poverty, made ill by mining pollution, and denied access to necessities such as clean water, healthy food, and education for their children, even as multinational mining companies reap billions of dollars in profits from the country’s abundant mineral wealth, Dr. Mayanja said. The DRC is rich in gold, diamonds and strategic minerals such as cobalt, copper and lithium, which are used in energy transition and technology.
In several slides, Dr Mayanja showed stripped mountains, hills and land that have been fenced off for mining activities, saying, “These were places that were inhabited by populations – by children who used to go to school, mothers who used to cultivate farms.” Mining has robbed them of their access to water and food, and schools and hospitals end up being demolished, she said. Families unable to cultivate the land and children unable to go to school end up as artisanal miners, scouring toxic, abandoned mines for any remaining minerals, which they sell for a pittance.
Most of the minerals taken from Congo are used by the Global North, she noted. “We have taken so much, especially from the Congo, [which accounts for 70% of the world’s cobalt production],” she said. “How long are we going to consume when so many people have been completely sacrificed?”
Fr Murhula urged Canadians to dig deeper into why such blatant exploitation is happening in the Congo. “Every time we face a social reality, it’s important for us to understand the history of the present, the history that’s behind that,” he said. “The land that has been privatized (for mining) is a land that belongs to a community, that belongs to people… The land is being snatched away from people; they are getting displaced. It is painful because our identities are bound to the way we related to the land.”
Congo’s colonial history, has represented the country “as a no man’s land, which means forget about the people that inhabited it and just grab everything.” This has made it easy for foreign companies to swoop in, said Fr Murhula. During the post-colonial era, the governments of many African nations like the DRC, ended up “protecting the interests of powerful international actors, multinationals, that were coming to look for resources,” he said. “It is unfortunate that within the 60 plus years of independence, despite struggles of local community, we have failed to change, to reverse that trend in which the state institutions tend to protect the interests of the international community more than the interests and dignity of the local community.”
Dr. Mayanja and Fr. Murhula also raised the issue of the inherent racism, capitalist greed and dehumanization that have made the blatant abuses in the DRC possible. “If this mining had taken place in Canada or the U.S., would the world have been silent?” they asked.
Fr Murhula pointed out that mining companies often simply pack up and leave when the land is depleted of minerals, leaving behind open pits and polluted water, soil and fisheries. “This is unacceptable,” he stressed.
Dr Mayanja said she always reminds her students to think about the children languishing in the mines who are unable to go to school. “We are talking about people, human being who have dreams, who have passions, but [global economies] have dehumanized them and plundered the resources that would have enabled them to go to school and live better lives.”
Fr Murhula also discussed how the Jesuit-run Arrupe Center for Research and Training is organizing artisanal miners to form cooperatives that can increase their bargaining power to sell products and improve their livelihoods. Miners often just sell to Chinese traders on site who pay “as little as possible,” he said.
Despite the challenges facing the DRC, both Fr Murhula and Dr. Mayanja urged Canadians to remember the humanity of the Congolese people. Many people know the Congo as a land of conflict, resource extraction, King Leopold and the Belgian colonizers, but “that doesn’t mean we only have pain and struggle,” Dr. Mayanja said. “There is a lot of beauty and resilience…we laugh, we smile, we dance, we sing…we empower each other.”
Fr Murhula cited the country’s youthful population, noting how more than 60% of the country is under the age of 25. “Imagine the potential [the country can have if the population] is well educated.”
CJI Executive Director Jenny Cafiso (left), and Yolanda Gonzales of ERIC-Radio Progreso
Yolanda González, from ERIC-Radio Progreso, a CJI partner in Honduras, provided a Latin American perspective on mining and its impact on women and girls.
González said she was struck by the similarities between the experiences of the DRC and Honduras. “We also have wars and conflicts, but we have beauty and resilience as well…Both our regions suffer the curse of nature’s wealth. This abundance has resulted in wealth for only a few,” she said.
Mining permeates all aspects of Honduran life, including the plight of women, she said, citing how it has created “an environment of insecurity.” Women and girls living in mining communities often lock themselves in their homes and avoid social spaces for safety; there are also no schools to go to. The contamination of water supplies has meant that women who often cultivate land and feed their livestock are unable to carry out these tasks and feed their families. Women, who defend their land and territories alongside men, are also criminalized and subjected to violence, she said. She cited the case of eight land defenders in Guapinol who have been unjustly imprisoned for more than two years now. Mining, which has displaced communities, is also forcing many to flee and make dangerous journeys to another region or country.
Jenny Cafiso, CJI Executive Director, urged Canadians to learn more about the role that Canada and Canadians play in the exploitation of resources in the Global South. She cited CJI’s involvement with the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability, which is campaigning to empower the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) to compel Canadian companies to provide documents and testimony in response to complaints about their actions that violate human rights. She said that CJI will continue to support our international partners who defend the rights of communities affected by mining.
