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Blood Diamonds Research Paper

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Blood Diamonds: The Real Story Behind The Diamond Trade.

Most of us live in a world of luxury; three meals a day, food on the table, clothes to wear, and a temperature regulated house which in fact, has a roof over our heads. We are so privileged that we even complain about the things so freely given to us, such as our food, clothes, phones, and our given right to education. But what about those who yearn to live a life that isn’t made to feed our privileges? After years, greed captivates the heart of man- being able to send countries into poverty, corruption, and other forms of ruin- all in the hopes of richness. Our clothes are sewn by underpaid labour. Food we enjoy, such as bananas, oranges, and coffee is grown outside of the northern …show more content…

It often demeans the voice of people such as the Sierra Leonean- but as such, there is always a lack of care for the impoverished as long as the upper class get what they want. “There is no lack of buyers for their goods...there was little concern about where they originated, or the amount of suffering the sellers had inflicted on innocent people,” (xxii). People are being forced to evacuate their homes for the diamond trade. Civilians are being amputated, mutilated against their will by rebels, to prove their domination over a potentially peaceful country. Those living in the northern hemisphere, in first World nations, would rather share information about celebrities, rather than the lives of those in need, which feeds the notion of the rebels who believe that they can do anything. Sierra Leone’s civilians have a shot at fighting those who have overthrown them, to have an ally who has more power; it’s only that the privileged ideals have turned to something …show more content…

Massacres have been conducted with self explanatory names, such as Operation Pay Yourself, to Operation No Living Thing (xxi). “Not only is the country (Sierra Leone) rich in gem and quality diamonds, but it’s also a repository for oil, rubies, gold, rutile, and bauxite. It should be the Saudi Arabia of Africa, but it’s not,” ( xxii). Fair trade was created for a reason similar to this, those usually distributing the product abuse the labour they have, which will only intensify the gap between the rich and the poor. Stones stolen from Sierra Leone at the tip of a machete and the barrel of an AK-47 could be anywhere, from safe houses in Monrovia, to deposits in Belgium, to display cases of jewelry stores in the neighborhood mall (226). This proves it has been close to impossible where diamonds have come from, which only equates this issue to being

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