Roskilde Festival

DanChurchAid at Roskilde Festival

A series of “unfair” games were held at Agora E, the games-themed campsite; one was a human board game where half of the participants rolled larger dice and had greater movement advantages while the other half were usually penalized or held back. And at Agora P, festivalgoers could create art from electronic waste parts, some of which were built using cobalt – potentially from the DR Congo. Festival manager Henrik Rasmussen, festival architect Jes Vagnby and festival spokesperson Esben Danielsen judged the winning piece.

humantohuman also held a V.I.P. refund afternoon, where special guests to the festival were given refund vests and gloves and were sent out to the campsites to collect. The general secretary of DanChurchAid, Henrik Stubkjær, was just one of the many guests who participated.

And, of course, the humantohuman cheerleading team was always present to rock out with a few tunes – and spread the word about the refund campaign.

Accounting for 36% of the world’s supply in 2007, the DR Congo is the largest producer of cobalt, a metal that is used in most electronic and mobile phone products that are sold worldwide. This metal, among others, is often mined under very poor and unsafe conditions. A report by DanWatch has determined that mobile phone batteries from four companies – Nokia, LG, Motorola and Samsung – all contain cobalt from the DR Congo.

As such, one of DanChurchAid’s goals for this year’s campaign was to put pressure on the five major mobile phone companies (Sony Ericsson being the fifth). Their message is to stop ignoring the supply chain of the metals: “We know, you know… so do something about it now.”

All in attendance at the festival were encouraged to “text for change” – to send an SMS in support of this goal. The large “fair phone” outside the Astoria music pavilion quickly became a meeting point for festivalgoers.

By Justin Bromberg, bromberg.justin@gmail.com