[Jewelry making - Article 00159] - [Orchid] Film on Conflict Diamonds

[Karen Christians Metalwerx]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========

    There is a new film soon to be released on conflict diamonds. 

    As the saying goes, "even bad news is good news". I suspect that
    attention towards any kind of jewelry will make a big jump. 

    DiCaprio movie takes the shine off diamonds
    John Harlow, Los Angeles

        DIAMONDS may not be for ever. Gem merchants are concerned that a
        new Hollywood film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and exposing the
        violent underworld of "conflict diamonds" may dim their
        glittering reputation. The Oscar-nominated actor has signed up to
        make The Blood Diamond, in which he will portray a smuggler
        embroiled in the civil war in Sierra Leone, wher= e guerrillas
        systematically mutilate miners to enforce their grip on the west
        African nation's export trade. 

        DiCaprio took the role after speaking to experts from Survival
        International, the London-based human rights organisation whose
        lobbying also influenced the rapper Kanye West to compose his
        recent hit single Diamonds from Sierra Leone. 

        De Beers, which has dominated the trade in diamonds since 1930,
        has expressed misgivings about the film, which will start
        shooting next spring. 

        At a mining conference in Cape Town, Jonathan Oppenheimer, head
        of the company's South African operations, warned that the movie
        could undermine efforts to maintain the image of its diamonds as
        "untarnished and ethical". 

        Oppenheimer said that a recent global trade agreement called the
        Kimberley Process, which seeks to authenticate the origins of the
        =A3500m of new stones sold each year, had curbed the number of
        conflict diamonds, but warned that the film could undo much of
        its positive effect. 

        "Can you imagine this film's impact on the audience in America
        if the message is not carried through that this is something of
        the past," said Oppenheimer, whose family commissioned the
        marketing slogan "diamonds are for ever" in 1947. 

        While De Beers insists that "conflict diamonds" account for
        fewer than 4% of the world's new gems, lobbyists say that the
        true figure is closer to one in four. "Anything that shines a
        light on the atrocities carried out for such diamonds is to be
        welcomed," Amnesty International, the human rights group, said
        last last week. 

        Hollywood and diamonds have been linked since Marilyn Monroe
        claimed in the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes that they were
        a girl's best friend. Elizabeth Taylor set the trend towards ever
        bigger stones when she married Richard Burton for the first time
        11 years later. 

        Recent films have focused a colder eye on the business behind
        the symbol of love. The most recent James Bond movie, Die Another
        Day, revolved around diamonds from Sierra Leone. 

        This week sees the British premiere of Lord of War, starring
        Nicolas Cage as a Ukrainian arms dealer, which highlights
        government fears about links between illicit diamonds, arms and
        terrorism. 

        DiCaprio, dismissed by some in the past as a baby-faced party
        animal, said recently that he wanted to use his fame for a
        greater good. "In this town you can either be a vain movie star
        or you can try to shed some light on different aspects of the
        human condition," he said. 

        Friends say that his attention was drawn to the African diamond
        trade by his girlfriend Gisele Bundchen, the Brazilian
        supermodel. Bundchen knows the British model Lily Cole and the
        Somali-born Iman, both of whom stopped modelling for De Beers
        after the company was accused of expelling Kalahari bushmen from
        a mining area. De Beers says that the 2,000 bushmen moved out of
        the Botswana region of their own accord. 

        Americans buy 55% of the world's diamonds compared with 3% that
        go to Britain. Although it remains to be seen whether the new
        film will change opinion in America, there are already calls for
        a stricter enforcement of the Kimberley agreement and for buyers
        of diamonds to be more aware of their origins. 

        West annoyed fellow rappers recently when he accused them of
        being childishly obsessed with "the bling", or show-off
        jewellery, a fashion that is fuelling the demand for ever-larger
        diamonds which are most easily obtained from African war zones. 

        "Black Americans in particular should be ashamed of the bling
        which comes seeped in black Africans' blood," the rapper said. 

        "They should ask more questions when they are buying their
        watches and chains. Like what is the true cost of the bling?" 

M E T A L W E R X
School for Jewelry and the Metalarts
50 Guinan St.
Waltham, MA 02451
781 891 3854
www.metalwerx.com
____________________________________________________________________
T h e   O r c h i d   L i s t
Open Electronic Forum for Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Procedures
____________________________________________________________________
Orchid FAQ:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/faq.htm
Orchid Archives:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive
Orchid Galleries:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
Invite a Friend:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm
____________________________________________________________________
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Article Archive
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm
The Jeweler's Selected Bibliography List
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books
Buy Orchid Jewelry:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/shop
____________________________________________________________________
-Unsubscribe:
-Email: orchid-request AT ganoksin.com Body=unsubscribe subject=blank
____________________________________________________________________