Speech about Congo, Sudan, and the AI Boom at Moore Square Rally

Please note: This is a transcript that begins mid-speech.

They cut the aid that kept survivors alive, then signed a deal for the minerals under their feet. That is not peace. That is a business deal, and the Congolese people weren’t at the table.

As a South Sudanese American who cares deeply about this issue, I have to say this: Congo is not the only place where this is happening. Look at Sudan. Right now, it has the largest displacement crisis in the world. The paramilitary group called the RSF has massacred civilians in Darfur and has used sexual assault as a weapon of war. And who arms the RSF? The United Arab Emirates, who is one of US’s closest allies, a country the US keeps sending weapons to. The RSF controls gold mines in Darfur, and that gold flows into the UAE.

It’s the same formula: fund an armed group, let it tear the country apart, and while there’s chaos, take the gold, the coltan, and the cobalt. Instability isn’t a side effect. For them, it’s good business. And the same aid freeze hit Sudan too. The US had been funding nearly two-thirds of the community kitchens and clinics Sudanese civilians built to keep their neighbors alive.

So why are we talking about this in Raleigh? Because the same industry that’s destroying Congo is coming here. The AI boom runs on two things: minerals from places like Congo, and massive data centers. And those data centers are being built right here in North Carolina. Data centers use huge amount of electricity and water. When the power bills go up, who pays for that? We do. When the water gets pumped out, whose neighborhood suffer? Ours do. Working-class and Black and brown neighborhoods, the same communities that always get treated as if they’re disposable, have to suffer through this.

The tech billionaires want the cobalt from Congo, and the land, water, and power from the Carolinas, while paying as little as possible. It’s one fight. The mine and the data center are two ends of the same supply chain, and on both ends, it’s working people who get squeezed.

This article was first published by PSL Triangle NC.