Blood diamonds are for never

Movie, music bring awareness to conflict gems

Posted by Sarah van Schagen at 12:29 PM on 08 Dec 2006

Read more about: Leonardo DiCaprio | green living | fashion | mining

diamond A diamond is forever. A diamond is a girl's best friend. Lucy in the sky with diamonds. Neil Diamond.

Call it bling, call it ice, call it the most beautifulest piece of sparkly you've ever seen and yes-yes-yes-I'll-marry-you. Diamonds are more than just super-polished rocks. They symbolize true love and economic status. They adorn everything from ring fingers to pierced ears, gangsta grillz to bra straps.

But a recent string of films, music, and media coverage is beginning to shed light on the, shall we say, less-than-sparkling reputation of the industry that produces these gems. The New York Times has even called it "Hollywood's multifaceted cause du jour."

Perhaps the most publicized of these efforts, Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, and Djimon Hounsou, opens in theaters today. Named for the stones mined in war zones and sold to finance the conflicts, the movie is set in the midst of Sierra Leone's civil war. The story follows two African men -- one (DiCaprio) a smuggler and the other (Hounsou) a fisherman sent to toil in the diamond fields -- as they join in a quest to recover a priceless diamond that has the power to change their lives. Connelly plays an American journalist who (surprise, surprise) falls in love with the smuggler and gets entangled in their quest.

Though it focuses on the fictional story of the characters' lives, the blockbuster film may also bring wide attention to the importance of buying "conflict-free" gems. The diamond industry has certainly taken notice, beginning a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign to offset any unfavorable publicity.

"It's so rare that a film of this scale or magnitude, that is highly entertaining to an audience, also says something very pertinent to the world we live in, and is very specific about how we live in modern society," DiCaprio said in an interview at the film's premiere.

Two upcoming documentary films will also be drawing attention to conflict diamonds. Airing on the History Channel Dec. 23, Blood Diamonds [PDF] takes a historical look at the industry, highlighting West Africa. And in Bling: A Planet Rock, hip-hop artists visit Sierra Leone and speak out about the disadvantaged communities there.

Hip-hopper Kanye West has also become a supporter of "conflict-free" diamonds. After releasing a single that sampled the 1971 Bond theme "Diamonds Are Forever," West learned of the plight of West African children mining the gems. He then used the music video to get this message out and recorded a remix of the song featuring Jay-Z, during which he talks about conflict diamonds. "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" went on to win the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Rap Song.

Also tuned to the issues, Sierra Leone's Refugee All-Stars, musicians who fled the country's war zone and became the subject an award-winning documentary, have released their first album and are now touring the U.S.

Though none of these efforts explicitly focus on the environmentally destructive processes involved in diamond mining, the truth is it's not pretty either.

Gristmill readers, have you seen Blood Diamond or any of the other documentaries mentioned here? Was it enough to dull your diamond desires?

For story: Blood diamonds are for never
25 Comments | Post a Comment

Blood Diamond

I saw the movie. I felt it accurately portrayed the devestation of the civil war in Sierra Leone.

by katherose at 9:20 PM on 08 Dec 2006

Thanks for an important post

The movie hasn't made it here yet, but probably will at some point.

It's funny, I knew about this, but frankly, had forgotten. It's interesting and sad how so many problems can slip below our event horizon.

patrick

by bookerly at 10:01 PM on 08 Dec 2006

Namibian coastline

One of the places that's received scant attention is the southern Namibian coastline, where De Beers have trashed over 100 continuous kilometres of one of the world's great wildernesses over the past century or so. Tourists and journalists are not allowed in (it's a Forbidden Zone) but luckily, as I have previously written, you can now see the astonishing scale of the mayhem for yourself on Google Earth.

Start at the mouth of the Orange River (approx 28 deg37minS, 16deg27minE) and work your way up the coast to Chameis Bay (27deg55minS, 15deg40minE), then measure that. All the roads, spoil heaps and pits along the way are unnatural landforms, to put it mildly.

De Beers has very successfully kept public attention away from this area, and makes a big deal out of relatively small and useless conservation projects it funds elsewhere.

What do you expect from the company that has for so long convinced the public that diamonds are rare and valuable? (They are actually very common, and De Beers spends most of its time and effort keeping them off the market rather than bringing them to market.)

Don't buy diamonds. If you have any, sell them. We need to drive their value down to pull the rug out from underneath this terrible industry.

Cheers

Whiskerfish

by Whiskerfish at 1:55 AM on 09 Dec 2006

sapphires, anyone?

A student and friend of mine recently told me he has become engaged to be married to the woman he has been living with. She happens to be from a West African country (I do not remember which), and is strongly opposed to the marketing and sale of diamonds. So, he went to Tiffany, with his sister along as consultant, and picked a ring with a beautiful sapphire. It is surrounded in its setting by a few very small diamonds; but apparently they did not matter, because the fiancee was/is thrilled, and has been seen affecting that suddenly-prominent-and-held-on-high-hand act that newly engaged women are said to do.

It would be interesting if, among African-Americans, thanks in part to the efforts of Kanye West and the success of "Diamonds from Sierra Leone," diamond-awareness becomes a big deal. And it would be really great if diamond-awareness crosses over to the mainstream bridal industry.

As for the movie, which does not sound like anything I would want to see, Leonardo never looked so ruggedly handsome as he does in the poster, peering out from behind a palm frond. Hopefully his presence will fill a lot of seats. Last night, on Jim Lehrer's News Hour, the essayist Richard Rodriguez did an essay on the spectacular show of Greek Orthodox icons from Saint Catherine's Monastery at Mount Sinai, at the Getty Museum in LA; he meaningfully set up one shot, in which he was standing in front of a "Blood Diamond" billboard, on a typically homely street in LA, the capital of pop icons.

Yes, it is high time for Grist to do an interview with Leonardo di Caprio. It is interesting that his biggest success, "Titanic," also involved jewelry, and deadly social injustices.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 9:28 AM on 09 Dec 2006

the bridal industry

And it would be really great if diamond-awareness crosses over to the mainstream bridal industry.

It would be really great if, say, some common sense could cross over the the bridal industry. Perfectly sensible, down-to-earth women suddenly turn all materialistic and demanding and fiscally disastrous when you say the word "wedding", which has made it hard to have a wedding that's actually meaningful.

I say this as someone who's been engaged for the last two years and can't figure out what kind of wedding, if any, to have. Part of it is that our families are kind of a bummer--his is standard-issue dysfunctional, mine is practically nonexistent (both of my parents are dead), and what's left of mine is just sort of disappointing (two sisters, neither of whom is particularly happy with her own husband, and neither of whom likes my fiance very much, so that when I told them we were engaged, they both said "Are you sure?" rather than "Congratulations!"...). The other part is that it seems hard to have a meaningful ceremony these days, and I have no desire or ability to throw a bunch of time and money at something that's not very meaningful.

I think as a society we have lost the ability to conduct meaningful ceremonies, which is why we spend such vast amounts of money on stupid meaningless ceremonies. But I could just be being curmudgeonly.

by willa at 6:04 PM on 09 Dec 2006

Conflict free?

Idiotic. But at least it publicizes the criminal nature of the diamond industry.

If you have a woman you want to marry (or at least impress enough to get some), even though she can't bring herself to forego a diamond, get her a fake. She won't be able to tell.

Neither will any other idiots who go gaga over "bling".

The diamond trade will quietly "certify" their whole stock as "conflict" free within a few years. How so?

Because there exists far more diamonds than the market will accept. It is a monopoly, just like oil monopolies, that keeps diamonds off the market to support the price.

It will be simple to play let's pretend these diamonds from this particular mine are not blood stained, then slip the vast majority that are mined under slave labor conditions with massive eco-devestation into the mix later.

The real problem is the status connected with diamonds and other useless, high end, ostentatious crap. Buy your bride a piece of land to conserve with your 15 to 100k, fold the deed up in the bottom of the fake diamond box, and give it to her.

If she turns you down, good riddance!!

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

by amazingdrx at 8:15 AM on 10 Dec 2006

"meaningful ceremonies"

Right, "as a society" we have a hard time finding meaning. And throwing lots of money into costumes and props at weddings seems an extremely superficial way to acquire "meaningfulness."

And so far as that includes environmental destructiveness, we should keep in mind the need for lots and lots of new gold jewelry in traditional Indian weddings. Gold, of course, is if anything an even worse environmental no-no than diamonds.

My husband and I hate ceremonies that are about us, personally. So, our civil-unionizing in Chester, VT, was just the two of us in the living room of the justice-of-the-peace, and was remarkably moving. And our legal marriage took place in a coolly elegant office, decorated with tasteful flower arrangements, in the provincial courthouse in Montreal; again, it was just us, and the friendly, smiling judge, and two clerks as witnesses, all women, all smiling.

We had already considered ourselves sacramentally married -- without a public ceremony, of course, but we are Catholics of a creative sort. And we had exchanged rings, at one point or another, both silver. His is by a Native American artist from the Northeast; mine is based on a European design, and has the inscription "Amor vincit omnia" inscribed around it, "Love conquers everything."

So, you see, we all do what we can, and often enough are content.

In our particular case, I am the one with the dysfunctional family; he still has his mother, alone of his close relatives, whom I love, but who rather distrusts me.

In the face of such difficulties as you describe, I have no doubt your wedding cannot fail to be brilliant. Hopefully, a horse or two will be in attendance. Whether there will be a chuppah and a wine glass and a ketubah is of course up to you.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 8:45 AM on 10 Dec 2006

nontraditional ceremonies

Whether there will be a chuppah and a wine glass and a ketubah is of course up to you.

Heaven forfend! My fiance's family is Lutheran, and kind of nuts, and the first thing his stepmother wanted to know was whether he was going to convert to Judaism (neither of us has been to a religious service in years, except on rare occasions to satisfy various family members). So I think a Jewish wedding is Right Out. Sigh.

It strikes me that feminists really should say more than they do about the utter offensiveness of the way diamonds are portrayed as the currency of the realm when it comes to wooing the impressionable female. And then all those ads that imply that men who fail to produce diamond jewelry for important occasions are dooming themselves to the doghouse for eternity! Maybe we've just gotten tired of the sound of our own voices, since society at large appears not to care. As Amazingdrx said (look, we agree on something! Quick, someone take a picture or something!) any potential partner who would turn you down for want of a piece of jewelry is not worth having.

Anyway, I think most women want big diamonds more to make their friends jealous than anything, which is about the worst reason I can think of.

It seems, among people I know anyway, that gay couples of both genders don't get hung up on this crap much, although I guess being outside the "norm" makes you think about things more in general.

by willa at 10:00 AM on 10 Dec 2006

Namibian diamonds 'blood free' (sick ha ha ha)

I see the Namibian govt/De Beers are about to unleash an ad campaign saying how 'blood free' their diamonds are...

The abusive labour practices of De Beers were one of the main propaganda props of the SWAPO movement (now the leading party in Namibia's government) in their fight for Namibian independence. What De Beers did for decades wasn't termed 'slavery', but you might as well have called it that.

Now they're spending millions to prop up their former plantation-master's image.

Perhaps governments do get the corporate donors they deserve?

Whiskerfish

by Whiskerfish at 10:18 AM on 10 Dec 2006
[ Parent ]

"blood free"= slavery free?

Thanks, Whiskerfish, I always appreciate your contributions. Regarding human rights, there is little more interesting happening today than the evolution of southern African societies. And, needless to say, it is disgracefully under-covered by the mainstream media.

Amazing, whatever did you say to upset poor Willa? You both have hearts of gold, so it is a mystery to me why you are not best friends. Well, frankly, I am surprised she was not provoked to leap at your throat, on account of that light-hearted remark: "Get her a fake. She will not be able to tell."

Not to be too cynical, but interested parties, both male and female, most certainly can tell. You are right, beyond the fourth row of the orchestra, most of us could not tell. But there are others who indeed know how to tell, even looking down from their private, droplet-spewing, CO2-emitting jet.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 12:22 PM on 10 Dec 2006

concentration of $$$

Let us not forget that part of the utility of diamonds is that they are concentrated money. So, for example, if you have to flee a country, you can easily take money with you. Or, for example (as happened to a good friend), if your spouse has a habit of pawning everything he can get his hands on, a diamond is easy to keep close, even when asleep.

I realize that most westerners don't think of it this way, but you can bet that people in unstable countries where diamonds are found do.

by mihan at 10:34 AM on 11 Dec 2006

"money makes the world go around"

"a mark a yen a buck or a pound, it makes the world go round, oh,
money money money money money money money money money
a mark, a yen, a buck or a pound, is all that makes the world go round,
is all that makes the world go round!!!"

Meanwhile, out in the Biergarten, the cute young blond Nazi is standing up and singing,
"O Fatherland, Fatherland, show us the sign/ your children are waiting to see:
Tomorrow will come, and the world is mine! / Tomorrow belongs to me!"

"And you don't belieeeeeve meee? Haahaahaa!!!"

"Cabaret" is just about the scariest movie ever made.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 11:28 AM on 11 Dec 2006

Unrestrained consumerism

My husband and I were married for $10 in the city's marriage license office. We followed the ceremony with a nice lunch. We married this way in part because we wanted to avoid the seemingly inevitable materialism and excessive consumerism that accompanies planning a wedding.

I have never been interested in wearing diamonds, particularly after learning about conflict diamonds several years ago. I wear a titanium wedding band, which helped stem some of the guilt and shame I felt watching "Blood Diamond" this weekend. However, I realize that while some of us have not personally contributed to the suffering associated with conflict diamonds, most of us contribute to the suffering of others (war, human rights abuses, environmental destruction, etc.) through our all-American super-consumerism, largely regardless of the specific products we're consuming.

The film was decently entertaining and I think will be effective at educating a main-stream (probably already diamond-bedecked) audience about conflict diamonds.

by lah at 11:34 AM on 11 Dec 2006

not the most important thing...

My wife and I were married with hemp rings (no diamond).

That was the civil wedding.

For the "real" one, no ring at all. The 'climax' of the wedding was when we exchanged flower garlands, after which the brahmin tied my chaddar to her her sari. Yes, "Tying the knot" actually means something.

by Pandu at 12:08 PM on 11 Dec 2006

De Beers monopoly and 'blood diamonds'

A friend of mine has a theory that the whole 'blood diamonds' thing was concocted by De Beers to stop small operators (like private miners in West Africa) from breaking their effective monopoly on the supply of diamonds to the world market.

I have no proof for the theory, but it is rather convenient for them that a 'blood diamonds' campaign, if conducted in a certain way, harms non-members of their cartel. If the movie succeeds in slowing the pace at which diamonds are mined, De Beers wins, because it increases the value of their massive stockpiles (held mainly in London).

Remember, diamonds are not rare, and De Beers has pulled any number of stunts (from closing rival mines to getting national parks declared in diamond-rich areas) to prevent them coming out of the ground and into the market in a way that they can't control.

De Beers have always been marketing geniuses who have had Hollywood eating out of their hands for decades. Why would Hollywood turn on them now with this film?

If someone could answer me that question it might shut off a rather persistent bullshit-detector alarm that I can't seem to silence...

Whiskerfish

by Whiskerfish at 12:57 PM on 11 Dec 2006

Conflict-free diamond alternatives

Acknowledging that a significant number of people will continue to buy diamonds despite the impact of the Blood Diamond movie, it is good to see the emergence of companies providing a more responsible product. I have worked with one such company in San Francisco, Brilliant Earth (www.brilliantearth.com) which has been getting lots of press for carrying exclusively traceable conflict-free Canadian-origin diamonds and using recycled gold in jewelry. Not zero-footprint but a whole lot better than most of the stuff out there. The comapany also donates a % to Diamonds for Africa (www.diamondsforafricafund.org), a nonprofit doing development work in African diamond communities.

by mk3000 at 11:02 PM on 13 Dec 2006

"traceable"

Well, it is not altogether clear how "traceability" is to be achieved. I for my part -- but I have no desire to own a diamond, and so am hardly a typical customer -- would find any diamond I might consider purchasing very much more interesting if I knew where it came from.

Last night, on Jim Lehrer's News Hour, it was suggested that a boycott of diamonds is at this point perhaps inappropriate, since such important African diamond producers as Sierra Leone, DRCongo and Angola rely on commerce in diamonds as a substantial source of income.

Of course, Whiskerfish's charge of virtual slave labor in Angola remains extremely important.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 12:12 AM on 14 Dec 2006

African diamonds

You've got to remember that with very, very few possible exceptions (Botswana might - I stress might - be one) African diamond wealth goes to prop up a ruling, corrupt elite and does not spread throughout the population in any useful way.

Angola is a case in point. When you read the country's balance sheet it may show that diamonds are important to the economy in terms of % of GDP. What you don't see is that over 90% of the cash goes to the thoroughly barbaric, corrupt elite and their corporate co-operators. The vast majority of Angolans still live in total poverty. By buying Angolan diamonds you are just supporting the system that keeps the people down.

The only way that an ordinary 'peasant' Angolan can gain significantly from diamonds is to become an illegal diamond-digger so he can personally sell the stones to a middle-man and thus pocket a higher percentage of the sale price. (Otherwise he just gets a measly day-wage from an 'official' diamond mining concern who keeps him in slave-like conditions in a guarded compound.) Of course, if he digs his own diamonds and sells them on the black market they become classified as 'blood diamonds'... De Beers wins again!

Don't buy African diamonds, period. Sell the ones you have.

Whiskerfish

by Whiskerfish at 1:04 AM on 14 Dec 2006
[ Parent ]

"keeping the people down"

Right, Whiskerfish, I believe you. In fact, the Newshour program that I referred to mentioned only Botswana as possibly a model for fairly decent distribution of wealth through the diamond trade, though there was no elaboration on how that was working.

And, perhaps ironically, perhaps hopefully, BBC World had a report (by one of its best and most valiant reporters, a woman, whose name escapes me at the moment -- Kiera something, I think) on how Kalahari Bushmen in southwestern Botswana won a court case against the apparent policy of forcibly transporting them off their traditional lands, which had been done so as to enable the diamond industry to move in.

On provenance: It is great to say, "Don't buy African diamonds." If all diamonds on the market are of African origin, then that advice would be easy to follow. My earlier point was, It would be ideal if every diamond on the market came with a certification, not only that it was "bloodless" and "conflict-free," but also with information regarding its provenance: from which country, from which region. Is that wildly unrealistic?

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 1:25 AM on 14 Dec 2006

OK, "Don't buy diamonds", period

De Beers will fight tooth and nail to prevent any system that reliably determines provenance to come into the diamond trade. One of their chief means of manipulating the market is by stockpiling stones from different regions and releasing different quantities and grades on to the market when it suits them. To make their system work they need to be as unrestricted in this as possible.

Africa is the region of the globe where they have their most reliable control on diamond sources - they will not do anything to prejudice their African diamonds (i.e. virtually all formally-mined African diamonds), as this will play into the hands of possible rivals in, particularly, Russia, where their monopolistic hold on diamond mines is currently less secure.

Caniscanida - are you an insomniac? Or not in N America???

Whiskerfish

by Whiskerfish at 1:53 AM on 14 Dec 2006
[ Parent ]

"insomnia"

Hello Whiskerfish,

as I wrote before, I very much appreciate your perspective on these serious matters.

I am not an insomniac. Perhaps, better, I am a monk, and I am awake at an unusually early hour, doing my version of the Office of Vigils, or Mattins.

By the way, does SA suffer the same sort of problem with fires that Australia is apparently suffering? I remember earlier this year, the unique environmental region on the coast east of Cape Town was threatened by fire.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 2:17 AM on 14 Dec 2006

Fires are not really a problem

The fynbos ecosystem of south-western South Africa is a fire-driven system. It has evolved with fires and needs fire every few years so that many of the plants can re-seed.

Every now and again a big fynbos fire spreads to pine plantation or threatens urban areas, and this tends to make it into the news.

Anyhow, this is off-topic... Don't know if there's some way you can email me privately via my gristmill ID? I'm not a great fan of splashing my email address on the web!

Whiskerfish

by Whiskerfish at 2:53 AM on 14 Dec 2006

Huge energy wasting earth destroying mining

That is where the "conflict free" Canadian and other diamonds come from. Just say no! Get a synthetic if you must.

But what about the certification and appraisal? A really greedy prospective partner who loves money and bragging about it to their friends that much, could still be fooled.

The old switcheroo might work for the really mistrusting, gold digging types. Get 'em a real diamond, making sure it is a reasonable match for a fake you have already purchased, then make the switch once the all important appraisal and bragging has been acomplished!

Think of the sense of satisfaction, not to mention the karma. And of course saving all that cash when you return the real diamond!

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

by amazingdrx at 9:07 AM on 14 Dec 2006

Movie made it...

I mostly agree with Whiskerfish on this one, except for the part about selling the diamonds you already own. This would, in my mind, merely confuse the market.

Besides the jewelry market, we should also remember the industrial market. I don't know where their diamonds come from.

The movie was quite good, much better than I expected, despite the unrealistic ending (IMHO). But as a thriller with a message, pretty well done.

(It certainly wasn't perfect, but really, compared to movies like Pirates of the... and anything with Arnold or most of the other action stars, it is nice to see something that at least has some heart.)

patrick (who also liked Babel, but for different reasons!)

by bookerly at 2:03 AM on 08 Jan 2007

Conflict Diamonds

We are participating in a Model United Nations and are topic in DISEC(Disarmament and International Security Committee)is conflict diamonds. We are representing Namibia and were wondering if you have any more information on coflict diamonds and Namibia. We would really appreciate your help.

Thanks

Vera & Julia

by conflictdiamonds at 1:41 PM on 10 Jan 2008
[ Parent ]

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