After reading two disturbing articles today in reaction to Blood Diamond I’ve decided to elaborate a bit on my own knowledge of blood diamonds as well as tell my own story and why I refuse to buy diamonds. But first the articles. Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly wrote a review of Blood Diamond whose main point of contention was that the film was a “term paper disguised as entertainment.” I know she works at Entertainment Weekly, but COME ON! I for one appreciate it when the films I go to see have a point, or speak to a larger issue in our world, or move me to change the way I live. If all we want out of movies is entertainment then we’re living in a self-imprisoned tyranny of shallow consumerism. And it’s those people that need to see movies like Blood Diamond the most!

        Article two is from Parija B. Kavilanz of CNN Money.com. Parija points out that jewelers are sweating Blood Diamond because it’s the holiday season and this is when they do most of their business. The movie is “a concern” for Diamond cartels like DeBeers, etc. What makes me sick about this is it’s the movie that is the concern, not the conflict diamonds! If DeBeers had even a shred of integrity they would be pushing hard for strengthening the Kimberly process, or sending some of their billions to victims of DeBeers business partners. That and not this movie, should be thier PR concern.

        Okay, so here the story of why I didn’t buy a diamond.

        Reason One: Violence
My sophomore year of college a girl name Jenn Tracy sent out an email to a list I was on about blood diamonds. I was listening. I quickly found out that people in Sierra Leone were being mutilated by soldiers from a militia called the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). These militant revolutionaries were waging a war against the government of Sierra Leone as well as the civilians. They funded their violence by capturing diamond mines and enslaving locals to work in them. As a way of instilling fear in the slaves the RUF would randomly amputate the limbs of the people they captured, leaving behind tens of thousands of amputees. De Beers among other companies knew that this was happening and didn’t do anything to stop it. (Guardian Article)

        Reason Two: The Deceptive and Manipulative Diamond Business
The diamond business itself became increasingly sickening to me as I began to study it more and more. Diamonds as jewelry and as an engagement ring is a relatively new thing. Diamonds are useful for ONE thing, as blades in industrial machines. In the late 1800’s when the first diamond “mines” were discovered in Africa the diamond a once rare stone was now about to boom, and diamond business was in big trouble. Prices of diamonds used as blades would drop and diamonds used as jewelry depended on the notion that they are rare (and since the 1900’s they’ve been anything but). Enter DeBeers. They invented the myth that diamonds symbolize love and launched a huge advertising blitz to move these diamonds they were raking in. A little less than a century later and Americans have bought the myth that diamonds are forever, are rare, symbolize love, are expensive, and that every engaged woman is entitled to such a stone.

It is the diamond business itself that sickens me to the point of never wanting to buy a diamond even if it was proved the diamond was clean. Even after assuring me that a child had not lost a limb for the diamond I’m looking at there would still be the incredibly evil system of the diamond industry itself that has relentlessly deceived and manipulated its customers.
(The full text of Jay Epstein’s book The Diamond Invention is avaliable online)

So when I asked Kara to marry me, I was ready with an Emerald.

More resources…

Also check out this interview with screenplay writer Charles Leavitt.

Amnesty International - Did Someone Die for That Diamond?

Amnesty International - Conflict Diamond

I went and saw Blood Diamond last night and 24 hours later it’s still all I can think about. Blood Diamond tackles a slew of issues facing Africa such as hyper-violent rebel militia groups (like the RUF or LRA), the first world’s insatiable greed over Africa’s resources, blood diamonds, the diamond industry itself (De Beers, etc.), child soldiers, the rampant small-arms trade (for more see Lord of War) and STILL manages to tell an incredibly compelling story of redemption in the midst of such tragedy. And good stories are more compelling than documentaries.

There have been a number of good films recently bringing to light the suffering in Africa; Hotel Rwanda, Lord of War, Constant Gardener, Invisible Children, Tsotsi and now Blood Diamond. I hope and pray that films like these help us to act in response to what’s happening NOW in Africa. Janjaweed are still committing genocide against black Africans in the Darfur region of Sudan. Just to the south the LRA is still capturing children and forcing them to fight in their resistance to the Ugandan government. Let’s hope that Christians start imagining what a redemptive response to these situations could be. Some people are already thinking… check out InvisibleChildren.com