Posted on 12/24/2009 4:06:41 PM PST by myknowledge
It's a safe bet that most of those surprised with diamond jewelry over the holidays did not pause long, if at all, to consider where their new gemstones came from. "Santa's elves" is a good enough answer for most people, and even those who are aware that some diamonds have been known to come from African war zones may not have given the matter much thought this year.
"Conflict diamonds," also known as "blood diamonds," are rough stones mined at gunpoint by slaves and prisoners for the enrichment of those holding the weapons. They were a cause célèbre at the beginning of the decade, when human rights groups exposed the role of diamonds in conflicts in Sierra Leone and Angola, but in recent years the issue has largely fallen off the radar of socially conscious western consumers. That's not because the situation has improved.
The sordid business of blood diamonds was believed to have ended with the adoption in 2003 of the Kimberley Process, a UN-sanctioned agreement between 75 countries that import and export diamonds, diamond industry leaders and nongovernmental organizations. Its mission is to certify that diamonds on sale at the corner jeweler did not arrive there at the expense of murdered and mutilated Africans.
(Excerpt) Read more at foreignpolicy.com ...
Thus, suspicious.
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Because any blood diamond that reaches the market means one less sold by the tight cartel that has run the business for almost 200 years. It also highlights the fact that the value of diamonds is based on a strict management of the supply which is exponentially greater than the demand.
Debeers and associates have tremendous influence with MSM, at least the print branch. NYTs coverage of this issue over the past thirty years is shamefully propogandist in favor of the cartel.
Merry Christmas!
It's pure class warfare because diamonds, gold and colored gems are luxury items that appeal to "the rich." How come the U.N. and Oxfam could conveniently ignore horrifying genocide in Rwanda but nearly go into cardiac arrest because some poor fellow in Africa feeds his family sieving diamonds?
There's an obvious Marxist agenda involved. If consumers worry about the ethics of buying diamonds they shouldn't buy them. Problem solved.
That is going to be very disillusioning to the young guys who spend $250 bucks on them...:)
In the inner city, you’re treated like a god if you wear one.
no doubt the world’s supply of diamonds is artificially leveraged but at the same time I sure don’t blame desperately poor folks for doing whatever it takes with their own nation’s natural resource if that resource is desired...by artificial supply control or otherwise
it’s sorta like sweatshops...hardcore hungry folks would rather work for a dollar a day rather than nothing
when we arrived at far flung locales from Honduras to Colombia to Brasil and Venezueala to West Africa, the indigs without exception were ecstatic to see us coming and sad to see us leave
we brought money, opportunity and medicine they would not otherwise have....including anti-venom once to Pedro Segundo Brasil (Piaui I think) when floods forced all the snakes to high ground...we had it flown in by plane from Miami...still, many kids died but more would have
this is just how it works..and not with just diamonds
Hollywood just hates white guys going into the third world to cash in period...we are the exploiters...they miss the irony of what they are ..lol....exploiters too.
Merry Christmas too.
Because people holding diamonds as investments will hold them until they can take a profit, ensuring those diamonds never return to the market.
Actually, it is not suspicious. For some odd reason that show didn’t air much. Perhaps it angered the wrong people with the piles of cash.
Look into the mining processes. By its nature it is very dangerous.
I understand what you're saying. My point is that, if it has to do with class or the environment -- and this story was both -- and its on PBS or National Geographic, it is "suspicious" by its very nature.
Yes, the practices are horrible (and undoubtedly overstated by the reporting). But we're talking third world here...and horrible practices are a matter of day-to-day routine. There is no economy, no opportunity, therefore people are enslaved and abused.
Indeed, if somebody wasn't buying the diamonds, there would be no job and no income whatsoever.
What these people need isn't charity. Or conciousness-raising. The only thing that will markedly elevate their lives is liberty and capitalism.
But you'll never find PBS or National Geographic admitting to this fact.
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