While diamonds carry an aura of romance to most, there are a growing number of people who have objections to the economic, environmental, humanitarian and political consequences of modern diamond trade.
I will not go into specific issues here. In fact, I wish I didn't know about them at all.
However, if you are interested in learning more, try starting with a few internet searches that pulled up interesting articles in Jan '07. I've suggested a few topics because information about the movie "Blood Diamonds" dominated normal search results. Feel free to also read about the multi-million smear campaign against the movie.
Economic:
"atlantic monthly: Have you ever tried to sell a diamond"
"resource curse"
Humanitarian:
"diamond hunters brutal wars"
"Sierra Leone amputee refugees"
"small hands of slavery" child labor in India
Environmental:
"Canadian Diamonds not conflict-free"
"environmental impact sierra leone diamond mining"
Political:
"Botswana diamond dependency"
"De Beers price fixing"
"Glitter and Greed" - a book by Janine Roberts
-Jan 2007 |