Introduction This report represents weeks of research into a topic that my family has been raised to question since we were children. That topic is the circulation of diamonds across the world that were bought from mines that used the funds to help create a military that would enslave many parts of Africa. These diamonds, widely known as ‘blood diamonds,’ can be found in almost every corner of the world. These days, it is hard to find a diamond that doesn’t have a conflicting history. I made this report to investigate the questions: • Are there any alternatives to diamonds in circulation? • How can you tell if a retailer stocks blood diamonds? My findings come from a plethora of different sources. I have found multiple peer reviewed articles from the Salt Lake Community College databases offered to every student. I also have an uncle who orders diamonds for a product that he produces. And there are also multiple websites I discovered that offered plenty of information regarding my topic. Hopefully, my findings will help enlighten others searching for conflict free diamonds. Findings A brief history of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Christopher Mullins offers a history of every major power to be in control of the Congo in his article “Gold, diamonds and blood: International state-corporate crime in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Colonized by the Belgians in towards the end of the nineteenth century, the explorer Henry Stanley was ordered to create a base that claims the land under Belgian rule. Africa was ripe with unused resources, such as trees, and multiple minerals. This area of Africa was subject to being dominated by whites looking to mine the resources for good money. After World War 2, Belgian began to lose p... ... middle of paper ... ...ence Mullins, C. W., & Rothe, D. L. (2008). Gold, diamonds and blood: International state-corporate crime in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Contemporary Justice Review, 11(2), 81-99. doi:10.1080/10282580802057678 Nyota, S., & Sibanda, F. (2012). Digging for Diamonds, Wielding New Words: A Linguistic Perspective on Zimbabwe's ‘Blood Diamonds’. Journal Of Southern African Studies, 38(1), 129-144. doi:10.1080/03057070.2012.656436 Schlosser, K. (2013). Regimes of Ethical Value? Landscape, Race and Representation in the Canadian Diamond Industry. Antipode, 45(1), 161-179. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8330.2012.00996.x Winetroub, A. H. (2013). A Diamond Scheme is Forever Lost: The Kimberley Process's Deteriorating Tripartite Structure and its Consequences for the Scheme's Survival. Indiana Journal Of Global Legal Studies, 20(2), 1425-1444. doi:10.2979/indjglolegstu.20.2.1425
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”.
Hochschild concludes that the world must never forget the events of Leopold’s Congo. This event is evidence that it is the result of human greed that led to so much suffering, injustice, and corruption.
It is widely debated why exactly King Leopold decided to conquer the Congo, but the general consensus seems to be that it was out of the belief that “the highlands of the Congo may be as rich in gold as the mountains of the western slope of the American Continent” (Stead). In the mid-1870s, the King hired Henry Stanley, who was familiar with many parts of Africa, to help him go about conquering. During the following years Stanley stayed in Africa, talking various tribes into signing over their lands and rights. After this was completed the King officially took over the Congo, renaming it the Congo Free State. This was especially ironic because all natives of the country were either forced to give up their way of life in exchange for virtual slavery in the ivory trade, agriculture, or the rubber traffic, or die trying to escape fate. Leopold was undeterred by the amount of suffering and death in the Congo, brought on by his rule. Belgian soldiers and officials were known for their cruelty in their methods to make, and then keep, Congo natives wo...
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.
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.
At The top of society was a small group of Europeans. Rubber agents and other government officers controlled every aspect of life in The State. They even held control over when natives could visit family. (Doyle, 1909) These Europeans had a section of land that they were to supervise and oversee the production of goods. In Belgium, a very selective group of people had control over the region with King Leopold II at the top. He had the final say in all policy of The Congo Free State. Although he held this power, most of the decision making was sub-contracted to government owned companies, such as The Anglo-Belgian Indian Rubber
About status within your peer group. Even people on low monthly salaries would buy a high quality diamond: it was a family driven purchase.
The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/exclusive-the-return-of-blood-diamonds-1718027.html>.
It’s hard to imagine that a mineral could be fueling wars and funding corrupt governments. This mineral can be smuggled undetected across countries in a coat pocket, then be sold for vast amounts of money. This mineral is used in power tools, parts of x-ray machines, and microchips but mostly jewelry. Once considered the ultimate symbol of love, the diamond has a darker story. "Blood" diamonds or "conflict" diamonds are those mined, polished, or traded in areas of the world where the rule of law does not exist. They often originate in war-torn countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola, and Côte d'Ivoire were rebels use these gems to fund genocide or other questionable objectives. Even with a system known as the Kimberly process which tracks diamonds to prevent trade of these illicit gems, infractions continue as the process is seriously flawed. The continuation of the blood diamond trade is inhuman, and unethical, and in order to cease this illicit trade further action to redefine a conflict diamond, as well as reform to the diamond certification prosess is nessasary.
... attention allowed economic exploitation in the Congo and its people devastated by human rights abuses, and even today the lack of international attention has caused many conflicts in and around the Congo. The economic exploitation of the Congo during colonial times robbed the country of wealth which could have been used to develop the land, and the lack of wealth has contributed to Congo’s poor standing in the world today. Lastly, the human rights abuses in the Congo Free State contributed to economic and political troubles during the colonial period and has continued into the present day, as human rights abuses are still prevalent in that region of Africa. Due to the lack of international attention, economic exploitation, and human rights abuses, the Congo Free State was harmful to the Congo region of Africa and its legacy continues to harm that region of Africa.
The film marker is trying to raise awareness of the illicit conflict diamond trade and reinforcing the Kimberley process1 and showing how it will stem the flow of conflict diamonds. This is successful mainly due to the public outburst after the movie. The great impact of the movie has caused diamond companies like De Beers2 to start a pre-emptive PR (public relationship) campaign, even before the movie was released to inform people that their diamonds are conflict-free.
Fought over for centuries and claimed by many, the owner of this diamond only yields it to another at the cost of an empire. Believed to have originated from the depths of an ancient Indian mine, the Kohinoor Diamond is a missing link to an illustrious past of a fledgling modern nation. Since its independence, Indians, both in the Republic of India and those who reside throughout the Commonwealth, have demanded the return of the sacred jewel. A demand the British government has continually refused. For the British, the diamond is also a reminder of their renowned past when the sun never set upon their domain. Forever covered in the blood of its past owners, men and nations will continually fight one another, rather with words or war, just for the opportunity to hold the cursed gemstone.
Santarossa, B. (2004, January 13). Diamonds: Adding lustre to the Canadian economy. Retrieved November 06, 2017, from https://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-621-m/11-621-m2004008-eng.htm
...er’s diamond cartel, the world’s most powerful monopoly, no longer exists, the company itself is still a billion-dollar business. The demand for diamonds is still great and the supply scarce. Diamond engagement rings are no longer seen as the only accepted form of engagement rings; therefore people look to cheaper alternatives. Although substitutes for diamonds are increasing in popularity and diamonds are no longer seen as the only symbol of love, are still in high demand. The interdependence of firms in the oligopoly market structure stabilizes diamond prices and still allows for the firms’ profits to be maximized. De Beers and the Central Selling Organization monopoly managed to set the price of diamonds extremely high. Although the oligopoly market structure regulates diamond prices, in relation to the useful value of a diamond the price of diamonds is too high
... rebel fighters and insurgencies. The practice is most often associated with conflicts in Africa. The argument surrounding blood diamonds was brought to light in the early 1990s with civil wars in Sierra Leone, Angola, the Republic of Congo, and Liberia. During this time, blood diamonds comprised about 5 percent of the world diamond market, according to the World Diamond Council’s DiamondFacts.org website.