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Managing the Risks of Global Bribery in Business
Essays on blood diamonds
Essays on blood diamonds
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Because people are not educated enough about other countries, other wise they would know that, Blood diamonds are something that not everyone has heard about, know how dangerous they can be, and how millions of people every year get killed from them. When I was given the task of going to South Africa to meet with someone that have been affected by conflict diamonds I was not prepared for what I was about to embark on. I learned that these diamonds that are supposed to represent love and riches are actually fuel for warfare, abuse of civil rights, and violence.
I arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo on my first day. Right after getting of the plane I was taken to a small village. There I was to meet a about a dozen or so people who had been directly affected by the blood diamond warfare. I had just entered the village when all of a sudden I heard numerous rounds of gun shots go off. The driver immediately stopped the car and immediately turned around and yelled “Follow Me”. I was absolutely panic stricken. He exited the car and jumped into a nearby trench. I of course followe...
Bullets flying through the air right over me, my knees are shaking, and my feet are numb. I see familiar faces all around me dodging the explosives illuminating the air like lightning. Unfortunately, numerous familiar faces seem to disappear into the trenches. I try to run from the noise, but my mind keeps causing me to re-illustrate the painful memories left behind.
During the author’s life in New York and Oberlin College, he understood that people who have not experienced being in a war do not understand what the chaos of a war does to a human being. And once the western media started sensationalizing the violence in Sierra Leone without any human context, people started relating Sierra Leone to civil war, madness and amputations only as that was all that was spoken about. So he wrote this book out o...
Deep within African mines, elusive diamonds lay enveloped in the Earth’s crust. Possessing much influence, beauty, and tension, nature’s hardest known substance causes parallel occurrences of unity and destruction on opposite sides of the globe. Diamonds, derived from the Greek word "adamas", meaning invincible, are formed deep within the mantle, and are composed entirely from carbon. Moreover, only under tremendous amounts of heat and pressure can diamonds form into their preliminary crystal state. In fact, diamonds are formed approximately 150km- 200km below the surface and at radical temperatures ranging from 900-1300 C°. When these extremes meet, carbon atoms are forced together creating diamond crystals. Yet how do these gems, ranking a ten on Moh’s hardness scale, impact the individual lives of millions of people besides coaxing a squeal out of brides-to-be? These colorless, yellow, brown, green, blue, reddish, pink, grey and black minerals are gorgeous in their cut state, but how are these otherwise dull gems recognized and harvested? Furthermore, how and why is bloodshed and violence caused over diamonds in Africa, the supplier of approximately 65% of the world’s diamonds? (Bertoni) The environmental, social, and economic impact of harvesting, transporting, and processing diamonds is crucial because contrary to popular belief, much blood has been spilled over first-world “bling”.
There was a war in Sierra Leone, Africa, from 1991 to 2002 where a rebel army stormed through African villages amputating and raping citizens left and right (“Sierra Leone Profile”). Adebunmi Savage, a former citizen of Sierra Leone, describes the reality of this civil war:
In Jared Diamond’s excerpt from his book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, he puts forward the historical narrative of how human evolution progresses at varying rates for different cultures due solely to the particular geographic region that people assimilate from. Diamond supports this thesis with specific evidence on the importance of food production, emphasizing that food is the main ingredient needed for a population to experience progress and growth, enabling that culture to expand around the world. I agree with Diamond’s dissertation and find it compelling due to his logical evidence and ethos on the topic.
The day after my grandfather left Playku Central Highland the army was overran by the Vietcong and there began the hand to hand combat. My grandfather was really scared for his little brother because he was afraid he would never come back, and...
Collecting evidences, gathering recourses, and providing reliable insights of a historical event are certainly not some easy tasks to perform for an author who has no first-hand experience of such event. Nevertheless, it is even more challenging for authors to re-organize, recount, and represent traumatic war-time memories to a body of audience with no direct experience of the intensely dangerous confrontations, especially belligerent experiences that happened abroad. To convey the anxiety and trauma resulted from extreme violence, moral conflicts and physio-psychological damages without unconsciously marginalizing any particular historical event, authors who write about traumatic experiences must be cautious when they try to visually and mentally
The controversial artist Kanye West has always attempted to make known what he thinks, no matter if he has to be disrespectful or graphic in his illustrations of said topic. So it wasn't a real surprise when he chose to focus his energy into reveling to the American public horrors happening that had a direct connection with the beloved diamond stone. West's 2005 music video “Diamonds from Sierra Leone” shows the corrupted underground diamond trade in the African country, Sierra Leone. From this groundbreaking video, West showed the devastated lives those who worked on the mining rivers live. However upon further investigation into the issue of diamond workers in Sierra Leone there emerged the true source of the situation, a violent conflict between the government and rebel leaders. Due to this conflict the entire country was thrown on a downward spiral. This downward spiral eventually resulted in the people longing for the conflict to stop and for the country to come together as one again. The people of Sierra Leone want to forget about the events that transpired during their civil war, however the more we look and attempt to learn from what happened, the better we set ourselves up for the future. West's video only depicts one side of a multifaceted struggle of the diamonds in Sierra Leone, however from this one side the public is encouraged to research more into the conflict themselves and uncover the truth behind the diamonds that we so desperately love.
One cold, snowy night in the Ghetto I was woke by a screeching cry. I got up and looked out the window and saw Nazis taking a Jewish family out from their home and onto a transport. I felt an overwhelming amount of fear for my family that we will most likely be taken next. I could not go back to bed because of a horrid feeling that I could not sleep with.
The war was worsened by the wealthy minerals in the ground and the influence of the mineral was strengthened by the fear and displacement the war caused. The intertwining of these two destructive forces is seen in the story Salima is told by a man who bought her. In this he tells of a man who stuffed”...the coltan into his mouth to keep the soldiers from stealing his hard work, and they split his belly open with a machete”(31). Not only does this story show the harsh conditions the men are exposed to in war, but also it further demonstrates the hold coltan has on the minds of those who live in the Congo. The want for coltan leads to the destruction of the community and individual identities of those involved as it perpetuates a cycle of war that damages men, induces violence against women, and ultimately creates a cycle of lost identity.
5 million. 5 million dead. for what? Some due to political instability, some due to the continued ethnic conflict between the Hutu and the Tutsi, and a multitude of others due to disease or starvation. This, The Second Congo War, is the deadliest conflict in the world since World War II. While I was only three months old at its outbreak and unable to retain a single memory of the events that took place while I was there, I do believe that the Second Congo War and the massive, seemingly insurmountable obstacle which it posed for me and my family, almost single-handedly changed the direction of my family's life as well as the attitude we have in everything we do. I was born on May 12, 1998, alongside my twin sister and following my older sister,
...l the flow of conflict diamonds. Both assure consumers that more than 99% of rough stones today come from conflict-free sources which are regulated by the Kimberley process. According to the people who profited from diamonds, the blood diamonds problem is passé5. Further research tells us that it is not. According to Father Rocco Puopolo of the Africa Faith and Justice Network, he says “It’s not passé,” “the diamond industry can claim what they want and the film will always serve as a template for what is going on in Africa today.” This point out that labour exploitation and conflict (for control of precious resources such as gold) may still be going on in Africa.
, when people ask me where I’m from, I cringe and lower my head in admitted shame. Dayton, Ohio is a dying city. However, after just being home for Thanksgiving break, the first time I’ve been home since recently turning twenty one, I’ve discovered that there is an artistic awakening happening in my home city; that is, the Gem City has a few hidden gems. I am referring to the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC). Founded in 1968, DCDC is Rooted in the African-American experience and is a culturally diverse contemporary dance company committed to reaching the broadest audience through exceptional performance and arts-integrated education. My best friend decided to take me to see their restaging of the family-friendly holiday presentation of Charles Tazewell’s endearing 1946 children’s story “The Littlest Angel” in the Kennedy Union Boll Theatre of the University of Dayton. I was moved.
The seemingly insignificant little box sat in my hands, staring me down, just waiting to reveal its contents (personification). I took a deep breath and sighed. With shaky fingers I slid a loop of ribbon off a corner and attempted to lift the lid, but I hadn’t noticed the two pieces of tape that tacked the top in place (alliteration). Slightly embarrassed, I immediately began to pick at the clear strips, knowing she was anticipating my reaction. After fumbling around for twenty minutes (hyperbole), I was finally able to peel back the tape and carefully open the box. Nestled inside along with some crinkled royal blue tissue paper was a necklace. A clock face made up the pendant, which was strung onto a long silver chain (adjective clause), and
I was lying in my own filth, being tied up for several days, without being able to go to the toilet; it's not a pretty sight. My body was slowly wasting away, no food, and only drops of water I couldn't cope. I could see my team-mates, my friends, slowly going insane. They were talking in there sleep, screaming for freedom, but what was the point. The guards treated us like filth, something they'd stepped on and couldn't get rid of. I could see their point though, we killed their friends, and so they determined to kill ours. But I had to escape, I was the only sane one in there, my mind was at ease. You see, everyone else was going crazy wondering about their loved ones, but I had no one.