Congo, migration and technology
Congo and the energy transition
The energy transition needs minerals such as cobalt and coltan, often from conflict areas in eastern Congo. Carla organised meetings and demonstrations, spoke about it at the United Nations in New York and tabled a motion in the council: Amsterdam must not pursue its energy transition at the expense of people there.
What Carla did
Media
FunX previews the FreeCongo panel talk in Amsterdam, with Carla as one of the speakers.
Committee
During the budget debate, Alderman De Jager agreed with Carla that Amsterdam depends on raw materials from other countries.
Motion
Motion 422 (Kabamba, Veldhuyzen, Koyuncu, Nadif, Havelaar, Noordzij and Krom): adopted.
Speech
At the United Nations in New York, Carla addressed the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (4th session, 5th meeting, from 1:17:10) as a civil society speaker for Lijst Kabamba. “We cannot build a clean energy future on dirty wars.” Her recommendations: collect community-driven racial data in Europe, invest in Black tech leaders, keep elders from being left behind digitally, and put Black girls and women at the centre of tech and climate investment.
Council
In the debate on Amsterdam as a technology capital, she pointed to the social and ecological costs in the Global South.
Put on the agenda
She put the executive’s response to her motion on the agenda and took the questions to Alderman Van Buren.
Council
In the General Considerations she pointed to the Global South, which “feeds our Teslas, our phones and capitalism”, and closed with “from the Bims to Goma” and “Free Congo”. (translated from Dutch)
Media
Guest on De Rode Draad (NPO Radio 1) on Ebola and instability in Congo.