The optics and strategy of the Harris-Trump debate | The Listening Post

Summary

El texto aborda la temporada electoral en Estados Unidos, con un enfoque en los debates presidenciales y cómo han influido en la narrativa política. Kamala Harris, con su trasfondo como fiscal, ha utilizado su experiencia para argumentar la ineptitud de Trump. A pesar de su estrategia de evitar entrevistas con medios tradicionales y priorizar las redes sociales, parece estar teniendo éxito. El debate también toca el papel de la influencia rusa en las elecciones y la situación de los mineros de cobalto en la República Democrática del Congo, resaltando la difícil situación laboral y las condiciones peligrosas en las que operan.

Takeaways

• 🗳️ Las elecciones presidenciales en Estados Unidos están en pleno desarrollo y los debates han influido en la narrativa política, con Kamala Harris emergiendo como una figura fresca para el partido Demócrata.
• 💬 La segunda debate presidencial tuvo un impacto significativo, con Harris utilizando sus habilidades como fiscal para argumentar que Trump no es apto para liderar.
• 🎒 Harris lleva el lastre político de la Administración Biden, incluyendo cuestiones como la economía, inmigración y la política exterior en Gaza.
• 📱 La estrategia de Harris para evitar entrevistas con medios de noticias tradicionales y priorizar las redes sociales y los 'memes' parece estar funcionando según las encuestas.
• 👵🏻 La edad de Donald Trump,对比 Harris, puede ser un factor desfavorable en la elección, ya que enfrenta a una oponente mucho más joven.
• 🤝 La comunicación no verbal en los debates presidenciales es crucial, y Harris demostró dominio al acercarse a Trump y establecer su presencia desde el inicio.
• 📺 Los moderadores del debate no cuestionaron a Harris sobre su reluctancia para realizar más entrevistas, lo que podría indicar una falta de profundidad en la cobertura mediática.
• 💔 La cobertura de la guerra de Israel-Palestina en el debate fue superficial, con solo 4 minutos de un total de 90 minutos dedicados al tema.
• 💸 Se ha descubierto una operación de desinformación rusa en las elecciones de Estados Unidos, con influenciadores de derecha recibiendo financiamiento de medios rusos sin su conocimiento.
• 🇨🇩 El cobalto, esencial para las baterías de dispositivos electrónicos, se extrae principalmente de la República Democrática del Congo, donde las condiciones de trabajo son precarias y se han denunciado casos de trabajo infantil y explotación.

Q & A

¿Cuál fue el impacto del primer debate presidencial en las elecciones estadounidenses?

El primer debate presidencial tuvo un impacto significativo, ya que resultó en que Joe Biden fuera eliminado de la nominación demócrata.

¿Cómo se describió el desempeño de Kamala Harris en el segundo debate presidencial?

Kamala Harris se presentó con un enfoque fresco y sus habilidades adquiridas como fiscal la ayudaron a argumentar que Trump es inapropiado para liderar, utilizando tácticas que incluyeron mantener la compostura y mostrar dominio en el escenario.

¿Por qué Kamala Harris ha evitado entrevistas con medios de noticias tradicionales?

Harris ha priorizado el estilo de redes sociales y 'vibes' sobre la sustancia, evitando entrevistas con medios de noticias tradicionales para no ser cuestionada sobre declaraciones falsas o absurdas.

¿Qué tácticas se utilizan en la campaña de Kamala Harris para llegar a los votantes jóvenes?

La campaña de Harris se ha enfocado en contenido ligero en política pero fuerte en 'vibes', utilizando memes en redes sociales y evitando entrevistas con medios tradicionales.

¿Cómo se abordó la cuestión de Gaza y Palestina durante el debate presidencial?

El debate presidencial dedicó solo 4 minutos al conflicto de Gaza, y la cobertura fue superficial, evitando un análisis serio y crítico de la situación.

¿Qué es el mineral cobalto y por qué es importante para la industria tecnológica?

El cobalto es un mineral altamente demandado que se utiliza en las baterías de smartphones, laptops y automóviles eléctricos. La mayoría de la oferta global de cobalto proviene de la República Democrática del Congo.

¿Cuáles son las condiciones laborales en las minas de cobalto en la República Democrática del Congo?

Las condiciones laborales en las minas de cobalto son precarias, con historias de trabajo infantil, condiciones peligrosas y explotación, lo que ha llevado a términos como 'cobalto sanguíneo'.

¿Cómo se ha dificultado el acceso a la información sobre la explotación de cobalto en la República Democrática del Congo?

El acceso a la información sobre la explotación de cobalto en la RDC es difícil debido a la burocracia y la sensibilidad del tema, lo que limita la cobertura periodística y la investigación.

¿Qué es la diferencia entre las minas industriales y las minas artesanales de cobalto en la RDC?

Las minas industriales son operadas por compañías grandes y producen el 80% del cobalto, mientras que las minas artesanales, que son más peligrosas y manuales, producen el 20% restante.

¿Cómo se ven afectados los habitantes locales por la minería de cobalto en la RDC?

Los habitantes locales a menudo no son los beneficiarios de la minería de cobalto y enfrentan desplazamientos forzados, daños a la salud y condiciones de vida precarias debido a las actividades mineras.

Outlines

00:00

🗳️ Elecciones presidenciales y estrategias de campaña

El texto aborda la temporada electoral en Estados Unidos, enfocándose en los debates presidenciales y cómo han influido en la narrativa política. Se menciona la participación de Kamala Harris como la nueva cara del partido Demócrata frente a Donald Trump. Se destaca la estrategia de Harris de evitar entrevistas con medios tradicionales y su enfoque en las redes sociales para llegar a los votantes más jóvenes. Además, se discute la importancia de la comunicación no verbal en los debates y cómo Harris utilizó su presencia para dominar la escena. Finalmente, se critica la falta de cobertura de ciertos temas por parte de los medios de comunicación y la necesidad de que los candidatos sean más transparentes y directos en sus entrevistas.

05:00

📺 La influencia de los medios y la cobertura de la guerra en Gaza

Este párrafo explora la influencia de los medios de comunicación en la narrativa política y cómo ciertos temas, como la guerra de Israel contra Palestina, son tratados superficialmente. Se critica la falta de profundidad en la cobertura de la guerra en Gaza durante el debate presidencial y se sugiere que los moderadores no pusieron a los candidatos en una posición donde se discutiera seriamente la situación. Se resalta la importancia de la prensa en la responsabilidad de desafiar las afirmaciones erróneas y la necesidad de una cobertura más equitativa y justa de los conflictos internacionales.

10:03

🔍 Esfuerzos de la disinformación y la lucha contra la influencia extranjera

El tercer párrafo habla sobre las operaciones de desinformación y cómo diferentes gobiernos están tratando de influir en las elecciones de Estados Unidos. Se mencionan programas específicos y la implicación de influyentes de derecha que reciben financiamiento de medios rusos. También se discute la reacción de los involucrados y la crítica a la supuesta falta de transparencia en la financiación de contenidos políticos. Se señala la hipocresía de los esfuerzos de Washington para combatir la disinformación, ya que se omite la campaña de influencia israelí que también ha tenido un impacto significativo.

15:06

🇨🇩 Cobalto y explotación minera en la República Democrática del Congo

Este segmento se centra en el cobalto, un mineral esencial para la industria tecnológica, y su origen en la República Democrática del Congo. Se describe la difícil situación de los mineros, especialmente en las minas artesanales, donde se enfrentan a condiciones peligrosas y la explotación. Se aborda la importancia de este recurso para la economía del país y la complicada situación política y social que rodea la industria minera. Además, se menciona la lucha de los periodistas para obtener acceso y reportar sobre estas condiciones, así como la resistencia de las empresas mineras a ser transparentes.

20:08

🏭 Impacto de la minería industrial y la lucha de los mineros artesanales

El último párrafo detalla las consecuencias de la minería industrial en las comunidades locales y la situación de los mineros artesanales que se ven obligados a trabajar en condiciones extremas para sobrevivir. Se relata la historia de las familias que se ven afectadas por la minería y la falta de beneficios para ellos a pesar de vivir en territorios ricos en recursos. Se enfatiza la necesidad de proteger a los trabajadores, proporcionarles equipos de seguridad y entrenamiento adecuado, y se critica la falta de cooperación de las compañías mineras con los medios de comunicación para abordar estas cuestiones.

Keywords

💡Elección presidencial

La 'Elección presidencial' se refiere al proceso democrático por el cual se elige al presidente de un país. En el guion, se menciona que los estadounidenses han tenido dos debates presidenciales antes de las elecciones de noviembre, lo que es un evento clave en la campaña política y en la toma de decisiones de los votantes.

💡Debates presidenciales

Los 'Debates presidenciales' son confrontaciones públicas entre los candidatos a la presidencia, donde se exponen sus ideas y se evalúa su capacidad para liderar. En el guion, se destaca cómo estos debates pueden ser un 'GameChanger', como en el caso del debate de junio que afectó la carrera de Joe Biden.

💡Influencias en línea

Las 'Influencias en línea' son figuras públicas en internet que tienen un gran número de seguidores y pueden influir en la opinión pública. El guion habla sobre cómo estos influencers han sido afectados por el dinero proveniente de Moscú, lo que sugiere la manipulación de la narrativa política a través de plataformas digitales.

💡Cobalto

El 'Cobalto' es un mineral esencial en la fabricación de baterías para teléfonos móviles y computadoras portátiles. El guion menciona que el 70% de la producción global de cobalto proviene de la República Democrática del Congo, y se aborda la problemática de las condiciones laborales en las minas, incluyendo la explotación de mano de obra infantil y la contaminación.

💡Exploitación laboral

La 'Exploitación laboral' se refiere a la utilización de trabajadores en condiciones desfavorables, a menudo con bajos salarios y sin derechos. En el guion, se describe cómo los mineros de cobalto, incluyendo niños, trabajan en condiciones peligrosas y reciben salarios muy bajos, lo que pone de manifiesto la explotación en las minas de cobalto.

💡Conflicto en Gaza

El 'Conflicto en Gaza' es una referencia a la lucha continua entre Israel y los palestinos en la Franja de Gaza. El guion critica la falta de cobertura adecuada de este conflicto en los debates presidenciales y señala la complicidad de la administración estadounidense en el apoyo a Israel.

💡Influencia extranjera

La 'Influencia extranjera' en las elecciones se refiere a la interferencia de gobiernos o actores internacionales en el proceso electoral de otro país. El guion menciona esfuerzos del gobierno de EE. UU. para combatir la desinformación rusa y la influencia en las elecciones, lo que destaca la preocupación por la integridad del proceso electoral.

💡Desinformación

La 'Desinformación' es la difusión intencional de información falsa o distorsionada para manipular la opinión pública. El guion habla sobre operaciones de desinformación rusas y cómo afectan las elecciones y la percepción pública en Estados Unidos.

💡Moderadores de debate

Los 'Moderadores de debate' son los facilitadores que guían la discusión, asegurando que los temas sean tratados de manera equitativa y que se mantenga un orden adecuado. En el guion, se discute cómo los moderadores de la cadena ABC fueron críticos con las afirmaciones de Donald Trump, lo que demuestra su papel en mantener la integridad del debate.

💡Génesis

El término 'Génesis' se utiliza en el contexto del genocidio en Gaza, haciendo referencia a la escalada de violencia y la destrucción de vidas humanas. El guion critica la falta de atención y la trivialización de la situación en Gaza por parte de los medios y los políticos.

Highlights

美国已进入选举季节，总统辩论正在塑造故事。

第二场辩论中，哈里斯作为民主党的新面孔，与特朗普形成对比。

哈里斯作为检察官的技能在辩论中得到了很好的运用。

哈里斯避开了主流新闻媒体的采访，优先选择社交媒体。

特朗普在辩论中的非语言沟通显示了他的劣势。

哈里斯的策略是保持冷静，即使面对可能的冒犯。

哈里斯的竞选团队倾向于牺牲传统媒体的采访，以吸引年轻选民。

哈里斯避免主流媒体，选择通过社交媒体和广告来传播信息。

辩论中对加沙地带的讨论被边缘化，仅用了4分钟。

特朗普在辩论后对ABC主持人的偏见表示不满。

美国政府正在打击外国对选举的影响，特别是俄罗斯的虚假信息活动。

华盛顿指责俄罗斯通过社交媒体影响美国选举。

报道指出，刚果民主共和国的钴矿开采条件恶劣，存在童工和剥削。

刚果民主共和国的钴矿开采对当地社区造成了严重影响。

钴矿开采的报道揭示了供应链中的伦理问题。

报道强调了刚果民主共和国钴矿开采的复杂性和敏感性。

以色列在加沙地带的军事行动被描述为对巴勒斯坦人的屠杀。

报道呼吁持续关注和报道加沙地带的屠杀，以对抗世界的麻木不仁。

Transcripts

we are now well into election season in

America and the presidential debates

keep shape-shifting the story debate

number two what got said and what did

not how online influencers in the US

have been influenced by money coming out

of Moscow plus Cobalt the Democratic

Republic of Congo and the price that

miners are paying to make our mobile

phones and laptops

American voters have already had two

presidential debates to take in ahead of

November's election the first back in

June was a GameChanger knocking Joe

Biden off the Democratic ticket the

second held this past week may prove to

be kamla Harris provides the Democrats

with a fresh face to put up against

Donald Trump and the skills she acquired

as a prosecutor served her well in this

debate in making the case that Trump is

unfit to lead Harris is still carrying

the political baggage of the Biden

Administration on issues such as the

economy immigration and Biden's refusal

to stop Israel on its genocidal mission

in Gaza that may be why Harris has

steered clear of journalists refusing

for the most part to do interviews with

mainstream news outlets according to the

polls her strategy prioritizing social

media style and Vibes over over

substance seems to be working and the

fact that Donald Trump is 78 years old

and is now up against a much younger

candidate does not help his

cause a US presidential debate tends to

be about more than just a war of words

the Optics matter too the nonverbal

forms of communication everything from

the handshake at the outset to the look

one candidate gives the other can send a

message

Pack-a-Punch she walked over to Trump

and sort of got in his space really

asserted her dominance early on and that

was a really important move of even

before the debate had begun so any woman

in professional life especially in male

dominated Fields like politics um knows

the importance of keeping composed even

as you're hearing things that are odd or

maybe even offensive and one of the

things that I think the split screen was

able to do was to show how it's looking

really opposed um she was looking right

at Trump and she wasn't going to let up

and I think part of the strategy wasn't

really about him at all it was about I

can hold the stage I can be presidential

I can be commanderin-chief we know that

a tactic of the the Harris campaign is

to really try and get under the former

president's skin and I think she

conveyed that really effectively just

pely with her face without uh disobeying

any of the rules agreed by the

moderators and the candidates in advance

another tactic of the Harris campaign is

to give the mainstream media the cold

shoulders keeping interviews with Legacy

news outlets to an absolute minimum

since being handed the torch by Joe

Biden Harris has done one interview with

CNN Madam vice president governor Wells

thank you so much for sitting down with

me and bringing the her team prefers to

sacrifice the sound bites such

interviews produce that play well with

older audiences for memes on social

media aimed at younger voters focusing

on content that's light on policy but

big on Vibes and which the campaign can

control like this ad featuring former

members of Team Trump who have defected

take it from the people who knew him

best Donald Trump is a danger to our

troops and our democracy for kamla

Harris avoiding the likes of Fox News is

a no-brainer and KLA Harris is running a

very different campaign she's

intentionally laying low but her

campaign cannot even see an upside to

sitting down with the New York Times or

calling in to

MSNBC when you sit down with a reporter

you know that that reporter is going to

challenge you if you say something

that's false or if you say something

that's absurd when you're putting your

own messaging out you don't have that

challenge and that then feeds into uh

this sort of siloing of the two sides in

our politics and so we've got a

challenge in America rooted in the

weaken

of a lot of our traditional media

outlets and the failure of New Media to

fill the void the end result is is not

good for our politics candidates should

sit down for interviews if Harris has

concerns about meeting with the US uh

political press I think she's giving

them a little too much credit The

Establishment media here is uh reliably

mey mouthed and hasn't been pushing uh

either candidate on the key domestic and

certainly geopolitical issues uh that

really affect this country and its role

in the world

today that said uh would be president uh

shying away from uh press scrutiny

doesn't look good this is a deliberate

media strategy that those types of media

aren't that important in this modern

media environment if the momentum's with

her why not keep writing that momentum

and we've really seen the Harris

campaign lean into social media lean

into to memes into a lot of alternative

media rather than with the major

networks based on the decision that

those aren't that important for voters

the test will obviously be in November

that is the strategy that is behind this

decision vient the two ABC moderators

did not question Harris on her refusal

to do more interviews far more glaring

though was the cursory treatment given

to Israel's war on Palestine the crimes

against humanity taking place in Gaza

and the West Bank that hundreds of

thousands of American students have

protested over the debate lasted 90

minutes only 4 minutes was devoted to

the war When Donald Trump did his thing

ranting about Kamala Harris hating

Israel and Arab populations the ABC

moderator sought clarification about the

Israel part oh that's absolutely not

true I have my entire career and life

supported Israel in the Israel BBC spent

more than twice as much time 9 minutes

running commercials pedling its new

programming schedule to Americans than

it did examining a genocide being

inflicted on Palestinians that the Biden

Administration is arming and backing

does the mainstream media anywhere get

more corporate than that the exchange on

Gaza was the low point of the debate it

was disappointing in every sense it was

as if the moderators felt they had to

ask a question about Gaza or at least

about Israel Palestine but they didn't

really want to spend a lot of time on it

they basically set the candidates up to

give uh the answers that they usually

give a repetition of talking points in a

sense they were making sure that no one

would criticize them for not bringing up

Gaza but they really didn't bring up

Gaza in a way where you had a serious

thoughtful conversation there was no one

on that stage be it Trump Harris or the

moderators who showed any interest in uh

holding Israel accountable for the

ongoing genocidal war in Gaza Trump of

course rapidly

islamophobic um pro-israel proit

ethnostate regime status um and more

interested in flattening Gaza and

probably turning it into some Dubai

style playground well Harris's gestures

towards Palestinian dignity were empty

and thus no better had the moderators

pushed either candidate on the issue uh

would it have made any difference to uh

the pal Ians being slaughtered in Gaza

and now the West Bank no because both

candidates are fully signed up to

supporting Israel's

genocide the morning after the debate

with pollsters and pundits agreeing that

Harris had won the night Donald Trump

was predictably aggrieved he said ABC's

moderators were biased that they proved

it by fact checking him far more often

than his opponent and that the network

should have its license to broadcast Rec

Ed the former president's reaction was

not just familiar it could have been

scripted by the writers of a new feature

film about Trump set for release in the

US next month The Apprentice tells the

story of a young Trump and the

notoriously Cutthroat lawyer who

mentored him Roy KH in it KH schools

Trump on the ways of the New York

business World rules that Trump seems to

be following to this day in the world of

politics the first rule is the simplest

attack attack attack she goes down as

the worst vice president in the history

of our country rule two admit nothing

deny everything I don't know anything

about it I don't want to know anything

about it rule three no matter what

happens you claimed Victory and never

admit defeat uh this was my best debate

I thought it was very good another thing

that will have not sat well with Donald

Trump on the morning after ABC's

moderators we're getting better reviews

than he was I think the moderators did

what was necessary and what's been

missing in the presidential debates thus

far so for example Donald Trump spouted

a kind of wild conspiracy theory about

Haitian immigrants in Springfield

they're eating the dogs the people that

came in they're eating the cats they're

eating they're eating the pets of the

people that live there and this there's

no evidence of this claim it's a

far-right concussion and one of the

moderators David Mur stepped in there

have been no credible reports of

specific claims of pets being harmed

injured or abused by individuals within

the Immigrant Community this kind of

intervention is important when we're

thinking about things that have no

factual basis whatsoever and have real

implications for the safety of people

the moderators ensured there was a

baseline of Truth and fact in this

debate there were some things Harris

said as well so both of these candidates

you know they're politicians they're

competing and they're saying things that

that may be over the top but

proportionally the number of lies and

the number of uh just completely absurd

statements from Donald Trump just

dwarfed uh the number that came from

comell Harris and so I think that the

moderators when they challenged Donald

Trump on on things he had said I think

that was was appropriate to my mind they

should have done a lot

more the value of most political debates

is that they take candidates away from

their standard campaign stops where they

have the stage to themselves to one they

have to share allowing voters to

compare this one was different the

comparison Americans were making this

week consciously or subconsciously was

of these two images the choice they were

offered in the first debate versus the

one they have now and on that the Optics

it's was no contest from the very

[Music]

start staying with the US for now

Washington says it is conducting a

coordinated effort against foreign

influence in this election minak shiavi

has been following this story there has

been all kinds of activity in DC over

Russian disinformation operations tied

not just to the presidential elections

but Congressional elections too three

government departments combined to bust

two programs one called doppelganger and

the other involving online influencers

doppelganger quote disseminates

disinformation through a network of

cloned websites fake articles and social

media manipulation the pro Russian

narratives on those sites included

negative depictions of Ukraine and posts

about contentious social issues in the

United States the other scheme involves

some high-profile right-wing influencers

names like Dave Rubin Benny Johnson and

Tim P who have followers in the Millions

Washington accuses two us-based

employees of Russian State media Outlet

RT of funneling $10 million to a US

social media company called tenet which

paid those influencers for their videos

Ukraine is the enemy of this country

Ukraine is our enemy being funded by the

Democrats there's a Twist in the story

The influencers involved say that they

were among the victims since they

weren't informed of the original source

of the money they also said they had

full editorial control of all their

content in Moscow Washington's anti-

disinformation drive has caused

Amusement RT's deputy editor-in chief

wrote there are three certainties in

life death taxes and RT's interference

in the American elections there are

flaws in this US Government campaign

because it only goes so far 3 months ago

Israel was revealed to have organized

and paid foreign influence campaign that

used fake profiles on X Facebook and

Instagram to post pro-israel comment

comments Israel pumped $2 million into

that the outcry there wasn't one thanks

Mina Cobalt is one of the most in demand

minerals in the world today it is used

in the batteries of our smartphones

laptops and electric cars most of the

global supply of cobalt comes from the

Democratic Republic of Congo either

through big industrial mines or an

unregulated sector known as artisanal

mines however covering Cobalt EXT action

in the DRC is notoriously difficult

which makes it hard to know what kind of

conditions the miners are working under

from The Limited coverage that is

produced we hear stories of child labor

hazardous minds and exploitation terms

like blood Cobalt get bandied around

along with comparisons to the Congo's

violent Colonial past all of which is

contested by The Mining and big tech

companies that profit from Cobalt they

maintain that their supply chains are

ethical in the first of a two-part

report the listening posts Nick mad went

to the DRC to try to get access to the

minds to see for himself what the story

[Music]

is who wields the

truth the marketing teams at Tech and EV

companies wield the truth or is it the

congle people because they're telling

completely opposite

Stories the people on the ground in the

Congo are telling a story of pillage

suffering Penny wages and death to feed

Cobalt up the chain the companies at the

top of the chain are talking about human

rights Zero Tolerance policies on child

labor sustainable mining practices

please look the other way and upgrade

your phone this year so we have to all

think who do we want to

believe once again the resources of the

Democratic Republic of Congo the DRC are

at the center of global

demand first the world came for its

rubber then it's gold copper and now

Cobalt the mineral used in the batteries

that power our modern-day rechargeable

Lifestyles the extraction of cobalt is a

difficult story to tell and The Limited

coverage that does come out paints a

grim picture of exploitation and

environmental damage in the Eastern

region there is a conflict that has been

ongoing since

1996 an estimated 6 million people have

been killed more than 7 million

displaced the fighting is taking place

far away from the Cobalt mines but it

complicates

everything to show you how tightly

controlled the Cobalt story is and why

we start in the drc's largest city it's

basing heavily policed and sometimes

volatile it's the perpetually chaotic

capital

kinasa journalists are accustomed to

going through certain Hoops to gain

access legal access to a story but in

the DRC getting close to the mining

story is especially arduous it's taken

us two months and thousands of dollars

to get my Visa and press accreditation

and to give you an idea of the

bureaucracy we had to navigate look at

all the stamps from the various

government bodies that we collected

along the way and despite all of this we

don't have permission to go to the south

of the country where the are that's

still a work in

progress coverage of cobalt mining in

particular is a sensitive issue for a

variety of reasons um obviously mining

in the DRC represents a large share of

domestic revenue and of the congales

economy they are a fringe of pretty

influential congales politicians and

Military Elites who have personal stakes

in the industry I also think that the

nature of Mining and how mining

concessions are structured makes it

difficult to access and to

report after getting the last approval

that we needed from kinasa we flew to

lubumbashi the second largest city in

the DRC and the gateway to the Cobalt

mines the sector is divided in two

regulated industrial mines operated by

big mining companies they use heavy

machinery and produce 80% of the drc's

Cobalt the remaining 20% comes from

unregulated artial mines that are dug

manually which make them much more

dangerous luomashi is also where most of

the congales journalists who Cav the

mining sector are based like Frank fber

the editor of mining news

magazine what has been your experience

covering the sector as someone that

focuses on the mining industry have

there been any challenges or or dangers

that you face while trying to do your

job are there any dangers when you go to

the mining site don't expect to be

greeted with cheers the miners are worry

they want to know who does what and why

so if you're not well supervised or

people aren't prepared for your presence

there may be frustration that leads to

poor choices and dangerous

situations there is some

hesitation um

about confining or sharing lived

experiences with Outsiders in part

because of thatat press the portrayal of

Human Rights abuses has an impact on the

local economy on foreign investment

which in turn has impact on people's

livelihoods I would do uh interviews

under the cover of Darkness uh we'd

arrange a safe place with trusted guides

transport villagers Before Dawn to that

site then I would do interviews keep

them there for the day and then return

them after Sunset now mind you most

people don't want to talk because

there's enormous Peril associated with

revealing the

truth from Lum Bashi we catch a bus West

to what's known as the Cobalt capital of

the world Kazi around 70% of the global

supply of cobalt comes from this small

patch of the

DRC as we get closer the Hallmarks of

extraction start to present themselves

the road is well traveled but it's also

treacherous when we reach Ki we find a

town on the edge of an industrial mine

where we will have to wait for our final

approval to go to the

mines candy aim went to kesi in 2022 to

document the impact that industrial

mining was having on the surrounding

communities we spoke to over 130 people

met with company officials um what we

found is that the communities that

really live on or around mineral rich

land are really not the beneficiaries of

that activity worse many of them have to

live their homes and their Farmland

forcibly without minimum you know

safeguards one of the cases we looked

into the community explained to us that

in 2016 their informal sentiment was

completely erased from the map with the

participation of the congales military

that destroyed their informal sediments

and we were able to corroborate that

information through the review of

satellite imagery the largest Cobalt

mining concession in in the Southeastern

Congo is the size of London so you have

to imagine a London siiz concession

multiplied several times over that's

been ripped apart and all the people who

used to live in that concession

displaced pushed to the fringes of

existence now there's no way for them to

survive except to scr back into that

territory where they used to live and

try to fill a sack of cobalt for the

day these groups of people would move

into the artial mining sector and it's

known to be a family

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affair typically the men do the digging

the woman wash the Cobalt and the

children have been known to work as well

but many have to go with their parents

to the mines because even though they

can be deadly for poverty-stricken

families that's the only

option yeah

there are plenty of dangers in artisanal

mining the material is radioactive and

very often the miners work without

protective clothing or equipment no

gloves no masks no glasses they expose

themselves to harm because raw Cobalt is

toxic it leads to disease and birth

defects a family unit will work 12 hours

in hazardous toxic conditions to fill up

one or two sacks which they will

sell to the industrial mining

company for the equivalent of a dollar

or two of income a day and if they

suffer a shattered leg a broken neck or

God forbid they are buried alive in a

tunnel collapse they'll just bring in

the next family and that's how this

fever this Scramble for Cobalt is being

met you have to get your heads around

this artisanal workers are not state

employees they're part of cooperatives

we realized that at one point the

corporative managers did not have

protective equipment for workers we

realized that they weren't trained in

the correct digging and operating

procedures we are talking about

landslides happening when things are

poorly done but many of the mining

companies don't cooperate with

journalists because when we cover this

sector there are hard questions that

need to be

answered in part two of this report we

finally managed to get inside a Cobalt

mine we analyzed some of the news cover

that has been produced about these

issues over the years to try and assess

whether or not it gives an accurate

portrayal of what is happening and we

look at Cobalt Supply chains which big

tech companies claim are ethical but a

growing number of journalists

researchers and activists say

otherwise and finally this past week in

isra military plane flew over a refugee

camp in Gaza an area that Israel had

designated a safe Zone and Dropped a

2,000lb Bomb on it Rescuers and

eyewitnesses in almasi described a

hellish scene a crater 9 M deep people

buried in the sand killed as they slept

entire families erased after 11 months

of broadcasting their horror stories

Palestinians are right to wonder if the

world has grown desensitized to their

Mass killing the huge gap between the

reality of trying to survive a genocide

and the the way their story gets

reported the excuses made the euphemisms

used when a word like genocide will do

we cannot stop talking about it and

Reporting on it because there is just no

normalizing this we'll see you next time

here at the listening post