Were all aware of the poverty that the continent of Africa faces, and that the people of the countries that make up the continent rely on gold and diamonds to keep them alive?
Are we also aware that we funded genocide every time we bought Diamonds?
Before I stated that Africa relies on gold and diamonds, but a serious matter needs to be brought up for the people who are not dying for these diamonds we buy.
We call this the “Blood diamond” Issue because in countries like Angola, Sierra Lenone and ,Liberia a civil war was acted out and was being funded by diamonds people in outside countries were buying, being sold for 3.72 billon dollars at a time for a substantial amount of the clear colored rocks. People were urged to stop gluttonously spending money on diamonds and various protesters held signs saying things like “Boycott all diamonds”, “Diamonds are forever; on your conscious” and “ Think about the life that ended just for a tiny stone.” Diamonds are supossed to be symbols of love, joy and new beggings but for the children having their hands cut off to find your ring or necklaces...
Deep within African mines, elusive diamonds lay enveloped in the Earth’s crust. Possessing much influence, beauty, and tension, nature’s hardest known substance causes parallel occurrences of unity and destruction on opposite sides of the globe. Diamonds, derived from the Greek word "adamas", meaning invincible, are formed deep within the mantle, and are composed entirely from carbon. Moreover, only under tremendous amounts of heat and pressure can diamonds form into their preliminary crystal state. In fact, diamonds are formed approximately 150km- 200km below the surface and at radical temperatures ranging from 900-1300 C°. When these extremes meet, carbon atoms are forced together creating diamond crystals. Yet how do these gems, ranking a ten on Moh’s hardness scale, impact the individual lives of millions of people besides coaxing a squeal out of brides-to-be? These colorless, yellow, brown, green, blue, reddish, pink, grey and black minerals are gorgeous in their cut state, but how are these otherwise dull gems recognized and harvested? Furthermore, how and why is bloodshed and violence caused over diamonds in Africa, the supplier of approximately 65% of the world’s diamonds? (Bertoni) The environmental, social, and economic impact of harvesting, transporting, and processing diamonds is crucial because contrary to popular belief, much blood has been spilled over first-world “bling”.
It is thought-provoking, in the sense that Africa’s need for foreign created a race to the bottom, much like what Pietra Rivoli described in The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy. Due to some African states’ reliance on foreign aid in order to mine and profit on their resources, they allow business standards to be lowered and for Chinese firms to tip the contracts moresoever in the favor of Chinese firms. This lowers the potential earnings of African states by lowering royalty rates, for example. Additionally, Burgis’ research was thorough and transparent. When he did not receive a response or if his questions were dodged, he made it obvious to the readers. Sure, some could view this book as too anecdotal to be used as a credible source of Africa’s situation. However, this is due to the nature of the system Burgis is writing about; after all, they are shadow states for a reason. Some readers will be saddened by this text, others angry, most curious to learn more, but above all, everyone will be intellectually stimulated and
What would you say if I asked you to tell me what you think is causing the death of so many people in the horn of Africa? AIDS? Starvation? War? Would it surprise you if I told you that it all boils down to the women of Africa? Kofi Annan attempts to do just this in his essay “In Africa, Aids Has a Woman's Face.” Annan uses his work to tell us that women make up the “economic foundation of rural Africa” and the greatest way for Africa to thrive is through the women of Africa's freedom, power, and knowledge.
To conclude, the video “Caravans of Gold” by Basil Davidson, the aim of the video was to give the viewers a better understanding of how Africa and its empires used their supply of gold as an advantage to their success. It embodied critical points to vindicate why Africa was such an intricate nation because how they use gold and the various empires that used gold to their benefit. By discovering the complexity of Africa, people are able to have a better clarification of this continent and how it flourished because of its
The African Diamond Trade is a large cycle of exploitation. An estimated 65% of diamonds mined worldwide originate in Africa (Cahill 2009). In 2016, the U.S. diamond industry grew 4% to reach $40 billion, approximately half of a global $80 billion industry (DeBeers Group 2017). But how do these diamonds make it from African river banks to American engagement rings? According to Time Magazine, there are 6 steps that take diamonds from the ground to the jewelry store; exploration, mining, sorting, cutting and polishing, manufacturing, and retailing (John and Jones 2015). Each of these steps adds value to the final product that is offered in jewelry stores worldwide but this value isn’t added fairly to those who create the most value.
In Zaire, or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, many children wake up to go mining for diamonds instead of going to school. When we think of diamonds, we tend to think of a precious gift that is a rarity which is tended to be given in proposals or other special occasions. The truth is, diamonds are quite common in west and central Africa, but to profit more off these blood diamonds the industry markets them off to be much more rare than they actually are. Blood diamonds, why are they called blood diamonds? Possibly because they are made by the bloody hands of small children who are in physical, mental, and emotional harm from working this burdensome job every day.
Africa is a continent with two fronts. First is the façade that Americans create with our misrepresentations and stereotypes. They tend to be negative and create a negative image for those who live on the continent. The other front is the truth. Although there are some truths in American connotations, it isn’t the full truth. The stereotypes make two people look bad – Africa and those who do the stereotyping. Misrepresentations are created from a variety of different things, but it is up to the ignorant to teach themselves the truths that lie in Africa.
Africa is commonly referred to as "The Heart of the World"; if this were interpreted literally our heart has a serious condition that’s not receiving the attention it so desperately deserves. The purpose of blood diamonds is simple; they’re used as currency to buy warring factions and warlords armaments and fuel civil wars in unstable countries as well as continued guerrilla tyranny throughout countries like Angola and more famously Sierra Leone. When addressing the issue of blood diamonds mined from Sierra Leone, understanding the country’s geography, civil and political aspects are crucial. Blood diamonds often have a misconstrued meaning, and the definition of what they are requires a clear explanation. The brutal process of acquiring the diamonds begins with the actions of a greed driven rebel, to diamond company executives trying to extend their control in the international diamond market. Even with United Nations implementing the Kimberly process there are a few weak links in the chain that make it very easy to bypass the laws that prohibit the purchasing of conflict diamonds. Lastly, workers forced into slavery, most often children, are subject to horrid working conditions and extreme abuse. The issue of Blood diamonds is a complicated subject involving civil war and forced labor that leaves an ominous cloud of transgression over Sierra Leone, as well as numerous other diamond rich countries.
There are many different types of diamonds that vary in value. Koh-I-Noor is one of the most expensive diamonds and the Cullian is another that can be bought at the price of 400 million (3,106.75 carats) and it is one of the largest diamonds found. Diamonds represent wealth, love, and elegance, while the history behind them is brutal, awful, sickening, and bloody. Millions of diamonds came out of areas that have been mining for 50-60 years. The slaves that participate in the mining process are poor; some slaves get paid a share of what they did, others work simply for food, and some work under false hopes of one day catching the big one. They were known as the “Casino economy” because sometimes they found diamonds and other times they went home empty handed (Africa’s Diamond Trade). Blood diamond slavery didn’t get the world’s attention until the late 1990’s in Sierra Leone (Diamond facts.org). Blood diamonds originated in Sierra Leone, Angola, Democra...
Firstly, when the Europeans arrived in Africa mainly the Portuguese, they had a good motive of trade. At that time Africans were the main producers of gold and when the Portuguese arrived they had to establish trading relationships. That trade was of a great significance to the African community because they were able to profit from it by exchanging their gold, ivory and other minerals with the European goods, such as copper, brass, cowrie shells and cloths (Shillington, 1995, p. 169). But still Africa lost its vast minerals and raw materials at that time.
Priscilla. “The World Economy and Africa.” JSpivey – Home – Wikispaces. 2010. 29 January 2010. .
The unbalanced relationship between Africa’s resources and European and American financial interest can first be analyzed from 1600 to 1860 leading up to the emancipation proclamation. This era was characterized by Africans giving up their human capital, or human resources in the form of slaves to European’s to trade over to the Americas to support the plantation economy. This was the largest loss of humans for Africa as they sent millions through the slave trade. Many Europeans, such as the Dutch West Indian Company and the Royal African Company, made an enormous amount of money running the slave trade while African’s got little to nothing in return. American’s profited by having free labor for a one time fixed payment to acquire the slaves. This fueled the plantation economy in which Americans deepened their pockets leading up to the civil war. Overall, this relationship heavily favored the westerners and caused Africa to lose a great deal of human resources.
Africans should not blame Mr. Tony Blair, Prime Minister of Britain, The World Bank, George W. Bush, the president of the United States of America, any western developed country or the United Nations for attempting to redress through the Commission for Africa report, and decades of imbalances and injustices visited on Africans by both African rulers and their western collaborators. It is this callous and wicked conspiracy that has brought the beautiful and virgin continent on her knees, largely impoverishing its people and turned them into beggars, crying babies and laughing stocks of the global community.
Be it diamonds, gold or any valuable resource, conflicts will continue to rear its face on this Earth due to the insatiable greed of humans. We must be contented or we are preparing for an Armageddon.
Throughout the centuries Africa has been a continent of agricultural achievement and plenty. Agrarian practices and technologies developed in Africa were emulated by the world’s great civilizations and radiated to every corner of the world. It’s speculated by many naturalist (most notably Charles R. Darwin) that modern agriculture originated in Africa. Ancient cave paintings discovered by archeologist in Africa are certainly some of the earliest evidences of plant and animal domestication. Arabic and European historical accounts agree that African diets were varied and abundant from the beginning of recorded history up until the middle ages. The African continent is rich with natural and intellectual resources. Northern Africa has rich oil deposits that, once discovered, have made billions of dollars. Sub-Sahara Africa is rich with deposits of precious minerals such as gold and diamonds. Throughout much of history Africa has been thought of as a rich land. But the Africa we know today as being plagued by famine, poverty and war came about at a much later date. These tragic circumstances could have been partly caused by the massive economic dislocation caused by the slave trade and colonization of the 19th and 20th century (Hopkins 13). Colonial powers representing outside interest setup “extractive institutions” across Africa. These “Extractive Institutions” refer to those entities that exist for the sole purpose of pull resources out of a country. Now that many of the colonialist powers have left, these “European-style institutions” still exist well into the turn of the century.