Diamonds are a symbol of love, exchanged to arrange the vows of marriage and a promise to be together forever. Unfortunately, the means of obtaining this symbolic diamond may very well be the very opposite of what they are meant to represent, oppression and violence. While at its peak conflict diamonds were 4% of the total diamond market, now it is down to 1%. However, 1% of a 16 billion dollar a year industry is copiousness. Subsequently, why is it that our greed and desire to want these precious stones greater than the loss of life and exploitation of an entire civilization?
Many argue that the international community is still looking the other way in regards to Africa’s crisis with the laissez-faire approach of constructing oversight committees towards the diamond trade with many imperfections that has yet to been fixed. Others say that our own government whose regulations mirror that of the international community’s policy is at fault. Given that the United States is the largest purchaser of diamonds and should have stricter standards at governing the origins of diamonds. Possibly, the main culprit to the continuing import of conflict diamonds may very well be ourselves. We have the power to cripple the diamond industry by refusing to purchase any diamonds till we know for certain that a remedy has been implemented. But, we do nothing. We tend to look the other way, with the thought possibly entering our minds that the diamond we hold in our hand may have had another person’s blood washed off it at some point in time.
Doria2
Africa is no stranger to the illegal trade. First there was the Trans Atlantic slave trade of the 16th and 17th century which unlike most believe, is still going on today as part of the sex based s...
... middle of paper ...
...l.” The Electronic Intifada. 23 Jun. 2011. Web.
Global witness. “The US Diamond Sector.” Global Witness Publishing Inc. Nov. 2006. Web.
Goreux, Louis. “Conflict Diamonds.” Africa Region Working Paper Series No. 13. Mar. 2001. Web.
Navarro, Mireya. “Diamonds are for Never.” N.Y. Times. 14 Dec. 2006. Web.
Polgreen, Lydia. “Diamonds Move from Blood to Sweat and Tears.” N.Y. Times. 25 Mar. 2007.
Web.
Schure, Teri. ‘’Blood Diamonds: Still Bloody”. Worldpress.org. 14 May 2010. Web
Sharife, Khadija. “Blood Diamonds Regulation System Broken.” Aljazeera. 25 Jul. 2011. Web.
St. Antoninus Institute.“SOUTH AFRICA'S DE BEERS: THE MOST UNETHICAL CORPORATION IN THE WORLD Eternal Word Television Network. N.d. Web.
Yager, Loren. “Significant Challenges Remain in Deterring Trade in Conflict Diamonds.” United States General Accounting Office. 13 Feb. 2002. Web.
Though the Atlantic Slave Trade began in 1441, it wasn’t until nearly a century later that Europeans actually became interested in slave trading on the West African coast. “With no interest in conquering the interior, they concentrated their efforts to obtain human cargo along the West African coast. During the 1590s, the Dutch challenged the Portuguese monopoly to become the main slave trading nation (“Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade”, NA). Besides the trading of slaves, it was also during this time that political changes were being made. The Europe...
This relates back to Congo, where violence spurred by ethnic rivalries is due to local groups’ desire to make money by getting into the extractive industries. In another example, Newmont, an American company, mines Ghanaian gold and pays the government part of the profits. Here, Burgis shined the spotlight on an environmental issue: the sodium cyanide spill in Kwamebourkrom that killed aquatic life and posed hazardous living conditions for locals (Burgis, 134). Finally, in the last few chapters, Burgis touched on Cecil John Rhodes’ legacy as the founder of De Beers, blood diamonds, imperialism, and violence carried out by local governments and mining companies in order to protect their interests.
Raymond, Janice G. “The Ongoing Tragedy of International Slavery and Human Trafficking: An Overview.” Serial No. 108–137. 29 October 2003.
Slavery has been used throughout history but the African slave trade of the seventeenth and eighteenth century is the most brutish known to history. It was unique in three major ways. The amount of slaves being traded was tremendous. More than eleven million African slaves were “shipped” to the New World between 1519 and 1867. Of these eleven million, only 9.5 million reached the sure because of disease and extremely poor traveling accommodations.
John Barbot describes how many Africans would kidnap and trade their countrymen to Europeans. “Those sold by the Blacks are for the most part prisoners of war… others stolen away by their own countrymen; and some there are, who will sell their
In “ “Blood Diamonds” and Africa’s Armed Conflicts in the Post – Cold War Era, “ Orogun (2004) said that diamonds are referring as “clean stones”. This article explains about the black market is really happening in African. I am using this article to support how the black market of diamond trades is still not regulated, and they defined it as “licit” trade.
The changes in African life during the slave trade era form an important element in the economic and technological development of Africa. Although the Atlantic slave trade had a negative effect on both the economy and technology, it is important to understand that slavery was not a new concept to Africa. In fact, internal slavery existed in Africa for many years. Slaves included war captives, the kidnapped, adulterers, and other criminals and outcasts. However, the number of persons held in slavery in Africa, was very small, since no economic or social system had developed for exploiting them (Manning 97). The new system-Atlantic slave trade-became quite different from the early African slavery. The influence of the Atlantic slave trade brought radical changes to the economy of Africa.
In 1785, the court jewelers, Bohmer and Basange, constructed a necklace with five hundred and forty diamonds of varying sizes in an ugly arrangement that resembled the collars worn by circus animals. They hoped that King Louis XV would purchase it for his favorite, Madame du Barry. Unfortunately, the king died before the necklace was completed. So, naturally the jewelers tried to sell the piece to the newly crowned Queen, Marie Antoinette, because she was known for her extravagant spending and taste. They priced the jewelry at and equivalent of two million dollars in modern money. The Queen declined the offer. She did not like the necklace and the price was even too high for her. Knowing that they would be ruined if the Queen didn’t buy their product the jewelers continued to plead with her for ten years. Each time she turned them down. Then, one day the Queen received a note signed by Bassange which said, “We have real satisfaction in thinking that the most beautiful set of diamonds in existence will belong to the greatest and best of Queens.” Puzzled by the message, the Queen, put the note to flame by a candle sitting on a nearby table (Komroff 85).
Inikori, Joseph E. and Stanley L. Engerman, eds. The Atlantic Slave Trade: Effects on Economies. Societies, and Peoples in Africa, the Americas, and Europe. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1992.
During the 17th century, slavery was a widely used commodity with the Europeans, little do people know however that African kings also had and accepted slavery in their own nations. King Nzinga Mbemba of Congo and the King of Ouidah had similarities on the issue of slavery; they tolerated the use of slaves. Congo’s king had no contingency with slavery; in fact, he had slaves in his country. When the Portuguese were purchasing goods in Congo, the king had men “investigate if the mentioned goods are captives or free men” (NZ, 622). The fact that the king differentiates the men between ‘free’ and ‘captives’ illustrates that not all people in Congo are free. Whether these captives are from the country of Congo or not, they are still caught and held all across the nation against their will. King Mbemba kept slaves because the population of Congo was vastly declining due to the slave trade. In his letter, he pleads with the king of Portug...
According to estimates, more than 700,000 people are trafficked every year for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labour. They are transported across borders and sold into modern-day slavery. Over the past decade, trafficking in human beings has reached epidemic proportions. No country is immune. Clawson (2009) discusses how the search for work abroad has been fueled by economic disparity, high unemployment and disruption of traditional livelihoods. It recognizes neither boundaries nor borders. Consequently profits from trafficking feed into the casket of organized crime. Trafficking is fueled by other criminal activities such as document fraud, money laundering and migrant smuggling. Because trafficking cases are expansive in reach, they are among the most important matters. (Clawson 2009)
The concept of the slave trade came about in the 1430’s, when the Portuguese came to Africa in search of gold (not slaves). They traded copper ware, cloth, tools, wine, horses and later, guns and ammunition with African kingdoms in exchange for ivory, pepper, and gold (which were prized in Europe). There was not a very large demand for slaves in Europe, but the Portuguese realized that they could get a good profit from transporting slaves along the African coast from trading post to trading post. The slaves were bought greedily by Muslim merchants, who used them on the trans-Sahara trade routes and sold them in the Islamic Empire. The Portuguese continued to collect slaves from the whole west side of Africa, all the way down to the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), and up the east side, traveling as far as Somalia. Along the way, Portugal established trade relations with many African kingdoms, which later helped begin the Atlantic Slave Trade. Because of Portugal’s good for...
Values are spread all around the world, and many people’s values differ. These can lead to people being judged, or indirectly characterized by other people. In “The Necklace” Mme. Loisel is a beautiful woman with a decent life, and a husband that loves her, and only wants to make her happy. She is not rich but she makes it along, she insists of a better, wealthier life. When her husband gets her invited to a ball, she feels the need for a brand new fancy dress and tons of jewelry. When the couple realizes they cannot afford jewelry as well, they search out to borrow her friend, Mme. Forestiers’ necklace. She comes to notice she no longer has the necklace on when she leaves the ball. This later troubles her, as she has to work for a long time to collect enough money to buy a new necklace. This story describes the relationship between a couple, who have different dreams, and how desires can revamp your life. Guy de Maupassant, the author of “The Necklace” uses literary devices to prove people come before materialistic items.
Be it diamonds, gold or any valuable resource, conflicts will continue to rear its face on this Earth due to the insatiable greed of humans. We must be contented or we are preparing for an Armageddon.
However not many people are aware of the fact that ever since diamonds were found in Kimberly, South Africa, the industry of distributing and selling this precious gem has been predominantly run by a single cartel. The “De Beers Mining Company”. A cartel is defined as “an international syndicate, formed esp. to control prices and output in some field of business” (The Free Dictionary 2009) and “De Beers” fits this definition very well. Over the past 120 years, they have been instrumental in controlling the price of diamonds.