Illicit Diamond Trade : The Significance Of A Diamond Essay

When one is on the other side of the earth, there is only so much information that a person could obtain. This was a great enough reason for the author, Greg Campbell, of "Blood Diamonds" to expose what all eyes are not seeing and what many are blind to in this world. Campbell went out to research the tracks and origins of a very valuable stone known as the diamond. In doing so, he urges to research the origins and life of this precious rock. He goes about researching just exactly how the life of the diamond begins in the jungles of Sierra Leone and ends up in the London on its market. This is what could be said to be the ultimate reason for this book "Blood Diamond”. Evidently, Campbell wanted to expose or let it be known how African

In the film Blood Diamond, the director Edward Zwick uses the opening and closing scenes to show the socio-political effects of western consumerism in an underdeveloped society, in particular the Conflict Diamond trade and its effects, he uses this to highlight the idea of the ‘boy being the diamond’ within the film. Consumerism is seen to be the cause of death and destruction in the once beautiful landscape of Africa with portrait shots of mountains and beautiful sunsets. In both scenes the director uses camera shots, sounds and overall mis-en-scene/editing to create these themes/ideas.

Besides Keith Simmons, there were eleven individuals and a few companies linked to the Black Diamond Ponzi Scheme. According to an U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission complaint, Deanna Ray Salazar and her companies Life Plus Group, LLC and Black Diamond Holdings, LLC worked closely with Keith Simmons to make the Ponzi scheme expand (U.S.C.F.T.C, 2015). According to the United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Deanna Salazar is 55 year-old woman from Yucca Valley, California (FBI, 2013). Salazar is the owner and manager of the limited liability company Life Plus Group, LLC (“Life Plus”) established in Wyoming in 2007 (FBI, 2012).

To buy expensive jewels or even be gifted one has always seemed ridiculous to me. To wear 10,000 dollars on your finger seems a bit gratuitous. Not only that but diamonds aren't that rare just hard to get and can be artificially made, unlike gold. For me, it has always been the symbol for why the trickle-down effect does not work. It is rich peoples priority to keep their money, to keep it in their family, not to pump it back into the economy. I have thought about the consequences of buying such an expensive piece, but I have never felt about the horrible process in how they are found bought and sold until watching the movie Blood Diamond (2006).

Diamonds are made of carbon so they form as carbon atoms under a high temperature and pressure; they bond together to start growing crystals. Diamonds are formed underneath the Earth’s surface requiring them to be mined for, which can be a very high labor task. Out of the top ten countries in the world with the most diamonds, Africa has six of those countries (Said, Sammy. “Top Ten Countries with the Most Diamonds Found”). With six African countries being among the world leaders in diamond mining and exportation brings a lot of controversy. Some of these African countries have already been banned in the past from mining and exporting diamonds for many human rights violations. Angola is one of the world’s leading exporters of diamonds. Just

The film marker is trying to raise awareness of the illicit conflict diamond trade and reinforcing the Kimberley process1 and showing how it will stem the flow of conflict diamonds. This is successful mainly due to the public outburst after the movie. The great impact of the movie has caused diamond

Diamonds have become the ultimate symbol of luxury and money and are highly valued throughout the world today. However, in the spectrum of time diamonds have served a variety of other purposes. Diamonds were formed 3.3 billion years ago by extreme heat and pressure within the earth and are formed entirely out of carbon, making it the hardest natural surface known to man (debeers.com). Archaeologists believe that early humans actually used diamonds as spear heads and other tools. However, over time diamonds have become a luxury good, connected with much prestige. The high status of diamonds helped create the diamond rush that would forever alter the fate of South Africa.

Diamonds have been successfully marketed so that they are perceived to be the ultimate way to demonstrate heartfelt and enduring affection and commitment towards others (Stein, 2001). This allied with the fact that they are given as gifts to celebrate many births, weddings and anniversaries, means that they hold a unique place in the hierarchy of jewelry and as such there are no substitutes for them. To a certain extent other jewelry such as gold, silver and platinum are substitutes, however they are all complementary products as often diamonds are mounted on gold and silver in their final form as consumer jewelry. Large amount of synthetic diamonds are produced each year however most of these (3 billion carats) are for industrial use, with only a few thousand carats of gem quality synthetic diamonds being produced annually, against production of 120 million carats of natural diamonds. As there are very few non-clear natural diamonds produced each year (0.1%), synthetic diamonds produced for the jewelry industry are generally colored in order to meet excess consumer demand for colored gems (Stein, 2001). As they have few if any substitutes, diamonds are an elastic commodity. De Beers have managed to attach an emotional value to diamond jewelry, thus ensuring it is a necessity for every marriage proposal, as well as a

Although the war is now over, it still does not mean people are still suffering from the effects of the war. It is also said that there are many issues with child labor in the diamond industry being that because they have small hands, it is easier for them to sift through the diamonds easily. This allows for efficient mining. Today, workers get an average wage of 0.07 cents a day. The workers are heavily underpaid which shows the major unjust issues when it comes to labor in the diamond industry. Labor regulation is not heavily found in the country which means various people can simply start mining for diamonds, as long as they know how to use. There are millions of workers who help boost the industry as a whole but that doesn’t mean that

Blood Diamonds, also referred to as conflict diamonds, are diamonds that derive from areas controlled by forces or sections opposed to lawful and internationally recognized governments, and are used to fund military action in resistance to those governments, or in breach of the decisions of the Security Council. These radicals sell these diamonds, and the money is used to acquire weapons or to fund their military actions, and used to bribe foreign officials. Blood Diamonds are often created through the involuntary strained labor of men, women and children. They are also stolen during delivery or stolen by attacking the mining operations of lawful manufacturers. These assaults can be on the extent of a large military

| During the late 1990s South African diamond product De Beers and other companies on the diamond industry discovered that some of the diamonds they were buying or selling came from groups who used the proceeds to finance brutal civil wars. In Sierra Leone, rebels took control of diamond mines by systematically chopping off the arms and hands of as many as 20,000 children, women and men until the diamond operations were turned over to them. Similarly events took place at diamond mines in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. About 4 million civilians have died in the civil wars financed by the diamonds. Anxious to avoid a

Decision: We have decided to penetrate the emerging markets of China and India with a new line of luxury diamonds created with a special serial number and inscriptions bearing the name of the special promotional line that they will be a part of and the De Beers logo. To restructure ourselves as a private-type luxury brand retailer in the Chinese and Indian markets, we expect to harvest new growth opportunities and profit potential. Synthetic diamond creation is fine for small sizes to be marketed as saw blades and abrasive wheels but that sector represents only a small percentage of the need for diamond production. The cost is too high to manufacture a larger size diamond for the jewelry consumer. To continue on the path that we are on is not a valid option because the market, the demand and the consumer are all changing with the times. To stay stagnant against

A man gets down on his right knee and pulls out a small box from his back pocket. His soon to be fiancé turns around and looks down and her face lights up. As he mutters the words, “ Will you marry me?” he opens the box revealing a diamond-encrusted ring. “ Yes I will marry you !” she exclaims, he then slides the ring onto her finger and the newly engaged couple is overjoyed. On the opposite side of the spectrum, that ring has caused a great deal of suffering to many others. Across the globe, child workers in Africa spend long hours in diamond mines with little to no compensation for their hard work in retrieving those same diamonds encrusted in that ring. The things that bring joy into our lives are often created from someone else's suffering.

Old Diamond waits patiently to be hitched-up to the wagon. Six days a week, if the weather is cooperating, I hitch Old Diamond for the thirty to forty-minute ride from the family farm to the Iron Mine and the seventh day, he goes to church. If the weather is bad we have a corral for Old Diamond at the mine and extra room off the office for me. I wasn’t thinking when I hitched up Old Diamond this morning. When we left and were down the road a piece I noticed I left my coffee cup on a fence post. That 's happened twice this week. Remembering, I have freight at the train depot I need to pick up, on the way I’ll swing by Swansson’s Creamery and grab a quick cup.

Color. Clarity. Cut. Carat Weight: These four words are what jewelers in the industry use to determine the monetary value of a diamond. However in 1947 De Beers found a way to not only boost their sales but also make a psychological necessity out of this sparkly stone, and it all began with four vastly different words, “A Diamond Is Forever” (Frances Garety), and accompanied by phrases such as “Isn’t two months’ salary a small price to pay for something that lasts forever (N.W. Ayers)?