In April, we published an article about the new campaign launched by Enough Project: Change the Equation for Congo: Just 5 minutes for 5 days. Many Sama Readerscommented about it and took action by sending an email to their Representative; a few days later, we mentioned the campaign again in: Friday Digest: Congo campaign/Zimbabwe/Sudan/iPad…

We support this campaign on the Sama Gazette because we think it's important we buy conflict-free cell phones, laptops and other electronics while we know conflict minerals in electronics and jewelry fuels the world's deadliest war. The campaign's action last week targeting Intel was nuanced to show appreciation for their efforts to date, but to challenge them to do more by supporting legislation. Having targeted Nintendo on Monday, people at Enough set their sights yesterday on RIM, the maker of BlackBerry.

Here is a quick round up about those last actions:

About Intel (read more here):

Perhaps the most remarkable of Intel’s PR pratfalls came last night, when the company deleted protestors’ comments on its Facebook page – then reposted them after a battle raged on Twitter and Facebook. Now Intel has shut down all posts on its Facebook page (although a vigorous thread of "comments" can still squeak through), thereby creating a "virtual no-protest zone."

About Nintendo (read more here):

Nintendo, on the other hand, has been entirely unresponsive to NGO engagement efforts. They did not reply to letters sent by Enough and our coalition partners. They are not a member of the electronics industry corporate responsibility association that has been working on conflict minerals, or the trade associations that have engaged on U.S. legislation. Instead of engaging with activists, Nintendo has an auto-response email to our concerns...

About RIM/BlackBerry (read more here):

As a BlackBerry user myself, I was hopeful that the company would respond to our call and sign on to the letter. But choosing to use the classic PR tactic of only answering the question you wish you'd been asked instead of the one you were given, RIM responded to the campaign yesterday with the press statement below...

As you can see, a lot has still to be done. We invite you to participate in the Change the Equation for Congo campaign which aims to build pressure on the electronics industry to support conflict minerals legislation and sign on to a letter clearly stating their position. Visit Enough Project website for more information.