Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth Kara

23 reviews

katharina90's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

"Please tell the people in your country, a child in the Congo dies every day so that they can plug in their phones."

Whatever you think you know about mineral mining in the Congo, the reality is so much worse. 

Siddharth Kara paints a devastating picture of the dystopian world we live in and the cruelty most of us in the Global North are complicit in every day. 

"Nothing looks the same after a trip to the Congo. The world back home no longer makes sense. It is difficult to reconcile how it even inhabits the same planet. Neatly arranged mountains of vegetables at grocery stores seem vulgar. Bright lights and flushing toilets seem like sorcery. Clean air and water feel like a crime. The markers of wealth and consumption appear violent."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, and Trafficking

Minor: Alcoholism

rafacolog's review against another edition

O autor toma uma posição fatalista a respeito do povo congolês, o que me incomodou muito ao longo do texto. Muitas coisas me incomodaram sobre como era descrito, mesmo eu não sabendo dizer exatamente o que, mas ler a opinião de alguns artigos e reviews de pessoas do Congo me fez perceber que meu incomodo é correto e eu ainda não tinha percebido muitas coisas. Interrompi a leitura já que não acho que será tão boa quanto pensei e vou outras opções mais recomendadas pelas pessoas que apontaram os erros e defeitos desse livro.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Genocide, Racism, Slavery, and Colonisation

claraarianne's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

franmoldaschl's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

This book isn't enjoyable, but it is well written and desperately important. 

I read it as an environmentalist, and don't think any line captures the need for this book as well as one quoted by a Nun on page 244 of the hardback UK edition I read.

How can a sustainable future be built through sacrificing the very bearers of that future, through depriving children's well-being, and worse even, through depriving children the right to be.

I wish this was fiction, or history, but the enforced labour of children in the Congo is very real, and very present. Lithium ion batteries are not the answer to the climate crisis, and if they're to continue as our interim step, we need to ensure that those producing the raw materials are protected.

Unfortunately, there are no actionable ways to do that at the end of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Racism, Slavery, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

chanatova's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Slavery, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

anna_wa's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ohlhauc's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Chronic illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Alcoholism, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

careinthelibrary's review

informative sad

Learned so much!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Racism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Pandemic/Epidemic

anirams's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

4.75

Everyone who's ever used an electronic device should read this.
Easy to read and follow; good little of history for context without being bogged down in dates; very important.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Racism, and Violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Slavery, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

readingbrb's review

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racism, Slavery, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Police brutality