Sunday, November 19, 2006

Blood Diamond


The movie Blood Diamond (which comes out Dec. 8th) sheds light to African war many know little about.
TheWarner Bros. movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio is set against in the civil war and horror during the 1990's in Sierre Leone. The movie based on a ex-mercenary and a fisherman who are both African, but have opposite lives. Then of course, their lives come together to join in the quest in finding a rare pink diamond. This diamond can change or even end their lives.

The fisherman is forced to work in the diamond fields, and find the rare diamond and hides it even though at great risk. When word gets out people go hunting for the diamond and the fisherman life. Now I wont spoil anymore. However the war about diamonds sadly continues. Diamonds have funded devistating wars in South Africa killing millions.

Diamonds were sold in order to fund armed battle. Sadly the profits from the diamond trade is in the billions, thought the country so poor, were used by warlords and rebels to buy guns and arms during the wars. The war in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone, have costed an estimated 3.7 million lives.

The physical war is over, though the lives are still lost. The issue with Diamonds in South Africa is still at large. There are still diamond mines controlled by rebels. Other issue continue with the smuggling of diamonds into surrounding countries as exports of the legitimate diamond trade.

Finally, a governement program called the Kimberly Process was put into place to help control and stem the flow of diamonds. The proces is trying to create sales that do not allow conflict or blood diamonds to be sold.

So when Christmas comes around, or Valentines Day, an engagement and a girl recieves a diamond. Who really knows whether someone died for it? There are ways to help our culture and the society of South Africa by being cautious of how or where you buy the sparkling jewelry. Asking questions is a start.

We all remember Kanye West's song "Diamonds are Forever" which features a replica of a diamond mine in his video. He is resonding to the horrible history of diamonds from Africa. Another artist Ziggy Marley has created the song "Still the Storms Come" which refers to the continuance of deaths and aftermath of the wars. He sings that Africa was effected in ways no one really knows both from Slavery and the Diamond war.

Well, the war has ended and precautions have been put into place, but are people even aware that millions of people died for a simple peice of jewelry? The lives that were lost do not cost one carat. I feel horrible that our country glorifies the size of a womans ring, or wishes for a diamond necklace for an gift without realizing what it took to get that diamond onto your hand or neck.

I hope this movie opens peoples eyes to the situations across the world. And I hope that maybe people will be ever so less materialistic after seeing what happened to so many lives.

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