Noticed today the Fair Phone which supposed to be made of my mobile device wet-dreams.. I have a basic repulsive sense every-time I need to use my phone, because the 1st thing in my head is the question – How many people died for this to be an object of possibility? How many were spear-raped in Congo for this device to operate? Is this their blood am about to touch..?
So seemingly, a fair phone, might be the kind of stuff I should get?
How? Can I afford the price? Circa £300??!! No way.. Is that fair? Is the price fair on me?
A bit like “fair trade”.. Might be nice ideas in the sense of not screwing the farmers – though it gets slightly more murky – however, at the point of exchange with me, I can not afford being fair.. The “fairness” seems within the capitalistic ideology of money is the bottom-line, an ideology with suspected fairness itself.. (because if money is bottom line, and we work putting same efforts, for example, then why should you get more? Also, with bottom-line money, the currency’s mathematics get their own life..)
Anyhow.. That was a bit of diversion..
In terms of FairPhone.. Perhaps I should not be too harsh.. (despite the fact their price is harsh with me..) This is a beginning and I should not pre-judge their intent.. Perhaps they will be looking into ways of Democratising, even anarchasing, the device, to make this a beginning of a process rather than a product of a process at an end..
I think these kind of movements, like fair phone, should definitely be encouraged – hell as long as you are not thinking of google/apple/MS as a sort of stuff to emulate, perhaps you should be congratulated – however, I think it is also Fair to say that their CURRENT dealings are well within the capitalistic paradigms, and if they seek fairness, I think these are the borders they need to cross.. Having more distrust of the democratic power of the market, might be a place to begin with.. (Despite the fact that after all these years of anti animal testing, we have increasing numbers of animals being tested, might be a clue as to the effectiveness of similar trajectories..?)