Congo Videos a Call to Action

Enough’s RAISE Hope for Congo campaign is calling on the public to vote for a winner in its “Come Clean 4 Congo” video campaign. The contest is part of Enough’s larger bid to create a grassroots movement against genocide and crimes against humanity.

Enough and partner Global Witness are spearheading a growing global movement to end the use of “conflict minerals” as a driver for conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“It’s time for death to lose and life to win. . . . We are consuming the Congo. . . . Help us gain traction and share that we believe — life should be equal, beautiful and free,” urges one of the video finalists.

Enough’s volunteer celebrity judges — actors Ryan Gosling and Sonya Walger, and director Wim Wenders — selected the three video finalists from dozens of submissions. The winner will be chosen by the public and announced Sept. 9.

Trade in “conflict minerals” — tin, tantalum and tungsten — amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars every year, rights advocates say, money used by combatants to purchase weapons. Competition over control of the mines adds further fuel to the violence.

“Conflict minerals” are used in mobile phones, laptop computers and a number of other electronics used every day by hundreds of millions of consumers around the globe.