Diamond Diamonds Essay

Improved Essays
The conflict diamonds started to be present and problematic in Sierra Leone as soon as DeBeers mining company took control of all diamond prospects throughout this region. Although DeBeers was keeping a moderate watch on the trading and actions being taken through it, traders from Lebanon (bordered by Syria and Israel to the south) were able to easily smuggle and mine diamonds out through the company. Later towards the 1950s, countries, such as Sierra Leone, had to give up the chance of regulating the illicit diamond industry, thus having to warn owners of the mines to provide their own security measures for the mines and land they owned. The issue wasn’t justly political or economic until Sierra Leone gained its independence in 1961, letting …show more content…
First off they are light, valuable, easy to smuggle, and with numerous ways to hide them to clear borders. Diamonds are also one of the most sought out products, and in countries like America, seem like a crucial part of our lives. It is much easier to control and restrain a diamond mine with many laborers under a leaders belt following his every step, much like how the cotton gin needed slaves to build and become an industry. Furthermore, diamond laborers would have a hard time stealing these diamonds because the leader of their rebellion area will check each worker thoroughly in case they will try to hide it anywhere in their body. If the diamond is found they will immediately be killed, proving the title of blood diamonds perfect again. The ultimate way a diamond goes from rock to money is intelligent, and beautifully precise. The diamonds are mined through slaves and then collected in medium sized amounts. Next the camp general will send one of his best men to smuggle the diamond through Liberia(or any other African Nation) using methods like cutting a slit in goats and inserting the diamonds under the skin, or even using fake teeth to conceal them. Once done, they are taken to a middle man, showed to diamond examiners, sold, mixed in in with the other diamonds, and put into production. A company that is trying to stop the way diamonds are accepted and verified is the Kimberly …show more content…
Drugs are sold in secret, and doing drugs, like taking on the pursuit of diamond mining in these countries such as Zimbabwe, takes a big risk. Life is not good in these countries and the risk is that to which your country could go downhill rapidly, become shunned from possible U.S diamond trading, and feasibly leading to no U.S trade at all. But on the other hand, millions of dollars is left open to mine for these diamonds, and it’s not almost whether you have diamonds, but if you’re willing to get your people involved with it, possibly addicted, and then slowly relying on it. As nations such as these in northwest Africa show, The other way that this can be related back to the drug metaphor is that selling drugs can be quick relief for many people to make a living, even though this will not be long term or last forever. This is a perfect parallel of how countries sell diamonds as a quick fix on poverty. This is not providing them with long term security, making the dependability of selling these diamonds goes way up, leading to a cycle. Moreover, the rebellion would like for different groups and gangs of people to be exploited, and known for power, very evident in Sierra Leone. The prospect of money is recognizable as the main capitalization goal that these diamonds are reaching and being used for. The amount of diamond influence and risk is also directly reflected onto the level and

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    In the class reading “The Hold Life Has,” Catherine Allen talks about her life as an ethnographer living among indigenous peoples and discusses their culture and ways of life. A major aspect of the indigenous culture is the growth and usage of coca leaves. The leaves have been used in the Andes by the natives for generations. However, these leaves are unfortunately also used to create cocaine. With the United States’ “War on Drugs,” the coca leaves have become a source of contention between local governments, who see the leaves as a potential drug violence problem, and indigenous societies that see growing the leaves as a cultural right.…

    • 1652 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Addiction is something that has destroyed many families and lives. When you are addicted to something you are willing to do anything for it. Some people have lied, stole, and even killed for their addiction. In the script it talks about ho w Odessa had a two children while she was still into drugs. While needing a fix for her addiction she left them alone while they were sick.…

    • 713 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A UN report from the DRC stated that “through control of the military or other security forces, western companies use intimidation, threats, or they carry out selected acts of violence” (UN) in order to keep the human labor profits maximized. The acts of violence results in a vicious cycle of mineral extraction that drives national and international competition, promotes the exploitation of the Congolese natives, diminishes the DRC’s resources, and further drives more competition (Murhula, 13). The technology demands in western societies are ever growing, and this further increases the more human labor that is needed in order to meet the western societies’ needs. Although the western industrial societies are huge, the wealth of the western technology industries doesn’t benefit the Congolese miners for their back-breaking, perilous and poorly paid work because of the western industrial societies’ want for massive economic earnings(CNN). The western industrial societies, along with many of the western consumers, knowingly and unknowingly, have accommodated this practice since the early colonialism days, and they will both further create human labor including children in order to achieve the maximal economic gain until international…

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In his book “Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City,” Elijah Anderson explores the idea that people turn to the drug trade because they are excluded from the mainstream economy. The shift from manufacturing to technology and globalization have both taken many jobs from working class Americans, and the low economic status, stereotypes, and lack of education keep them from other jobs. All people need some amount of security to survive; those who cannot achieve this safety by legal methods repeatedly turn to the underground economy. Because people in the inner city struggle to work in the mainstream economy, they turn to jobs in the underground economy. HBO’s…

    • 2007 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    CIA Drug Controversy 1986 The United States said to been dealing with illegal drugs and selling them as Crack-cocaine and Heroin. The CIA has tried everything to avoid questions, but they’ve gotten answers from Representatives and CIA officers. May 1, 2003 The Heroin Of politics by Alfred W. McCoy gave all evidence that the CIA’s drug trafficking did become a fact.…

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mining itself if not the problem, but it is what the people are doing in order to reach these minerals that is the problem. Entire villages are wiped out in order to get to what they need. Murder, rape, and forced labor are not strangers in this situation and millions or Congolese people are succumb to this horror. Now don’t get me wrong these minerals should be mined because of their importance to our industries, but there is a far better alternative to do so. Though these minerals are important to us, they are not worth the millions of lives sacrificed to retrieve them.…

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The War on Drugs has had negative consequences on people and has not been very effective. Joel Miller in his book Bad Trip: How The War Against Drugs Is Destroying America outlines several of the negative consequences of the War on Drugs and I will discuss some of them. One of Millers biggest arguments that lay’s a foundation for his book is that he believe making drugs illegal and criminalizing them creates the circumstances for crime and violence (Miller 1). While the government approaches drugs as though they themselves are the cause of crime and violence, Miller says this is wrong because just by making something illegal does not mean you eradicate the demand for it. An illegal market will arise for the illegal substance and without the…

    • 1285 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The illegal substance problem in Bolivia is gradually improving due to the country's own effort; however, there are still issues to be resolved. One statistic that represents this growth in Bolivia, is:” According to a new report from UNODC, Bolivia has slowed down illicut coca production by 34%” (Rodger. 1.) This shows us that illegal coca production, which is used to produce the addictive and illegal substance cocaine, has been declining. This is good news for Bolivians and the world at large because it shows that the source of this drug is being controlled effectively.…

    • 312 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Instead of passing power to the active government officials, Britain passed power to,” a clique of powerful families who set about plundering the country” (Marxist.com). The goal of these powerful families was to strip the country of its wealth and take complete control. This corrupt government left the country in it’s worst shape ever. Not until 1997 did the U.N. try to strip the government of its power but it was already too late, poverty struck, and nothing could stop it from ending. The wrath of the corrupt government is still being felt by Sierra Leone today, and that is what has ultimately left the country where it is at…

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sierra Leone Imperialism

    • 1068 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Sierra Leone, which means “Lion Mountains”, is a very diverse country located on the west coast of Africa. Sierra Leone is impressively known for the country’s wealth in diamonds, also known as “blood diamonds” because of the blood that is shed to get these diamonds. The country is home to approximately 6.3 million people. Although English is the country’s official language, the languages of Temne, Mende, and Krio are also spoken. Sierra Leone’s inhabitant history, first contact with the Portuguese and British, transition from imperialism to freedom, and its modern nation is what makes the country unique.…

    • 1068 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    King Leopold Imperialism

    • 923 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Almost three times as big as Texas with 905,600 sq feet, the Democratic Republic of Congo, known as Africa’s second largest country; is abundantly filled with natural resources like, rubber, coal, copper, diamonds, ivory and more, is unfortunately considered to be the most underprivileged and poverty-stricken. It’s vast and lush land and natural resources have stimulated the most preposterous history. The Congo should have been the pride of Africa but rather the people of Congo are the poorest in the world and most are victims of abnormal deaths; these people have been the sufferers of about a hundred years of greed, torment, terror and pillage. All these were a legacy of a man who never even set foot in Congo, King Leopold II of Belgium.…

    • 923 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cocaine Unwrapped

    • 793 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In our class of the History of Latin America, we watched the film Cocaine Unwrapped, which was able to provide an understanding of Venezuela’s wraith thiss drug. Being more curious about this topic, I was able to find a documentary series, Narcos, which gives the battle of cocaine in the neighboring state. Both of these states had been having a long, hurtful battle with cocaine. Two different sides of the war on narcotics that affected every citizen of the cities and towns in multiple ways. Venezuela and Colombia had violent history with cocaine, but Venezuela had more of a problem with the people of the government and wanting to be able to provide for their families from planting the coca plant legally.…

    • 793 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) had also kidnapped the young kids and trains them to become the child soldiers. They brainwash the young kids to be joining as member of them with the promised of they will protected under the RUF. The villagers in Sierra Leone had live in turmoil. The issue was portrayed when the Solomon Vandy having a good time with his son, Dia Vandy.…

    • 861 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    First of all synthetic diamonds are more luster like because they come from the lab. This means that they do not have the coat of dirt that the mine diamonds have. “ The diamonds that come from the mine are coated in dirt which makes them a little less valuable” Chicago fox 5. Also when the diamonds are made from the lab they are made with minerals used in real mine diamonds. But without the coating of dirt.…

    • 354 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Necklace 1. After paying off her debt, Mathilde wonders what her life would have been like if she had not lost the necklace. The narrator does not suggest an answer to this question. What do you think would have happened to her?…

    • 780 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays