Africa as a huge landfill: this is the new, tragic colonialism

E-WASTE DISPOSAL AFRICA –

While, once upon a time, colonial adventures were carried out with weapons, with soldiers, with troops who invaded and conquered countries. Now the new colonialism is fueled by waste : and so Western countries and the multinationals that dominate it consider Africa a gigantic landfill.

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HAZARDOUS WASTE LANDFILL SITE IN AFRICA –

We have restrictive environmental and waste disposal laws, we conduct targeted campaigns for recycling , and our investigative journalism and judiciary expose traffickers of industrial poisons. They, the Africans, on the other hand, live in authoritarian, corrupt regimes, and have their doors open to waste that poisons our air and land.

Workineh Kelbessa is a professor of philosophy at Addis Ababa University, and he tours European countries (he even came to Rome, hosted by the National Research Council) to raise the alarm against "environmental colonialism ." Professor Kelbessa says: "The transport of hazardous industrial waste to Africa is a classic case of environmental injustice. It is unacceptable that Western powers and multinationals are allowed to destroy the environments of poorer nations . These nations must, in turn, formulate specific policies to protect the environment and the health of their citizens."

ENVIRONMENTAL COLONIALISM IN AFRICA –

Landfills in Africa , in particular, are filled with waste electrical and electronic equipment. This waste contains toxic substances such as mercury, lead, and cadmium . People are accustomed to sifting through mountains of electronic waste to salvage some of the basic materials, but doing so risks serious contamination. Meanwhile, the toxic substances poison the air, pollute the soil, and pollute well water.

"Environmental colonialism" is yet another act of violence and terror that we allow, with complicit silence, in Africa . Like the massacres of Christians by Islamic fundamentalists, like the deaths from epidemics and famine, like the violence resulting from ethnic-religious clashes between local tribes. All before our eyes, just a few miles from our coasts: a genocide for which we will answer to History. And it will be a harsh judgment.

TO KNOW MORE: Electronic consumption, we produce almost 6 kg each. Too many.