Darwin's Nightmare

This is the best film I have seen about Africa, truly an modern-day "Heart of Darkness".
In the 1960's, in the heart of Africa, a new animal was introduced into Lake Victoria as a little scientific experiment. The Nile Perch, a voracious predator, extinguished almost the entire stock of the native fish species. However, the new fish multiplied so fast, that its white fillets are today exported all around the world. Cargo planes come daily to collect the latest catch in exchange for their southbound cargo… rifles for the uncounted wars in the dark center of the continent. This booming multinational industry of fish and weapons has created an ungodly globalized alliance on the shores of the world’s biggest tropical lake: an army of local fishermen, World bank agents, homeless children, African ministers, EU-commissioners, Tanzanian prostitutes and Russian pilots. Download here.

White King, Red Rubber, Black Death

This film tells a story forgotten by white history. In the late 19th century, King Leopold of Belgium laid claim to the Congo and established a genocidal regime of industrial exploitation rarely matched in human history. For decades the Congo was plundered for rubber minerals and ivory and natives were routinely enslaved, massacred and mutilated.
Making a case like a trial of King Leopold for crimes against humanity, the film rescues from obscurity a history that continues to affect events today. The most poignant symbol of this is an African historian's visit to a shop in Brussels, where he buys little chocolate hands, a tradition rooted in the policy of soldiers cutting off the hands of native they shot to account for every bullet fired.

Poison Fire: Gas and Oil Abuse in Nigeria

The Niger Delta is an environmental disaster zone after fifty years of oil exploitation. One and a half million tons of crude oil has been spilled into the creeks, farms and forests, the equivalent to 50 Exxon Valdez disasters, one per year. Natural gas contained in the crude oil is not being collected, but burnt off in gas flares, burning day and night for decades. The flaring produces as much greenhouse gases as 18 million cars and emits toxic and carcinogenic substances in the midst of densely populated areas. Corruption is rampant, and people are dying, but the oil keeps flowing.

A team of local activists gather “video testimonies” from communities on the impact of oils spills and gas flaring. We see creeks full of crude oil, devastated mangrove forests and wellheads that have been leaking gas and oil for months. We meet people whose survival is acutely threatened by the loss of farmland, fishing and drinking water and the health hazards of gas flaring.

In a surprise victory, the Nigerian court ordered Shell to cease gas flaring. But Shell ignored the ruling. The oil companies continue the illegal gas flaring. Shell’s CEO gives lip service about social development, cleanup and compensation, as he passes the buck to the Nigerian government. Meanwhile, the oil keeps flowing, and the gas is still flaring.
For more info go to Poisonfire.org. 29 min.

Blood Coltan

This is a story about the real costs of our need to stay in touch. Mobile phones have hidden tariffs with unimaginable human consequences: rape, murder and illegal slave labor. This program from Britain, The Dossier, makes an in depth study of how global demand for the rare mineral coltan, a vital ingredient in the manufacturing of cell phones, is directly responsible for the suffering in the eastern Congo. The problem has been well know for years, yet no effective action is taken by governments or corporations. There can be no doubt that post colonial Africa has been intentionally kept in turmoil to steal and exploit its vast natural resources. As one activist says, "there is blood in your cell phone". What American TV network would risk the displeasure of its advertisers by airing this program? 50 min. Download here.

The Real Mobile Phone Wars & Congo's Tin Soldiers

Two excellent reports from Journeyman Pictures on the process of exploitation for valuable minerals in Africa. Stories you will never see on American TV.

As the high tech age takes over more and more of our lives, manufacturers will go to any lengths to get the scarce minerals that go into them. Tantalum is one such rare ingredient, vital in the making of cell phones. Few of us know that in the middle of Africa much human suffering is created in the pursuit of it.
The major problem facing Africa is corruption and control of resources. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the military is stealing minerals to sell to Western companies. At a remote mine workers with torches and pick axes hack at the ruddy earth. They are mining cassiterite, a mineral vital in the production of laptops and mobile phones. But dispersed among the miners are Congolese Government troops -- in plain clothes for the camera -- literally forcing most workers to work at gunpoint. 'The soldiers always steal everything. They even come to shoot people down the mineshafts,' complains Regina Maponda. Western greed for cassiterite (tin ore) is fueling the boom -- at an airfield near the mine, soldiers jealously guard their loot as it makes it way to Japan and the West. Conflict mining is a curse, and we are all feeding it.
Sorry, Embedded video has been disabled for Mobil Phone Wars. See video here:

The Real Mobile Phone Wars

The Vulture Funds

Investigative journalist Greg Palast reports on one company that has won the right to collect $20 million from the government of Zambia after buying its debt for $4 million. In his recent State of the Union address, President Bush declared the United States was taking on the challenges of global hunger, poverty and disease, and urged support for debt relief, which he called the best hope for eliminating poverty.
Soon after, Congressman John Conyers and Congressman Donald Payne brought this up with President Bush, and urged him to ensure that the G-8 summit would close the legal loopholes that allow vulture funds to flourish. Greg Palast produced this report for BBC Newsnight.