[Jewelry making - Article 01186] - [Orchid] Blood Diamonds, Blood Gemstones

[Richard Wise]

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    Blood Diamonds, Blood Gemstones
    by Richard W. Wise 2006

    The much feared, long anticipated movie Blood Diamond opened
    December 8th and has succeeded in resurrecting the debate about the
    use of diamonds to finance armed conflict in Africa. Numerous media
    outlets have done features on conflict diamonds and the industry is
    nervously chewing its fingernails waiting to see o what extent the
    negative fallout will impact Christmas sales. 

    Blood Diamond is a fairly well crafted action-adventure flick set in
    the West African country of Sierra Leone and features Leonardo
    DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Housoun. DiCaprio plays the
    cynical diamond smuggler, Connelly an idealistic but tough-minded
    reporter with azure eyes to die for and Housoun the part of Solomon
    Vandy, a simple fishermen who, along with his son Dia, is forced into
    slavery in the diamond fields; Soloman finds a big rock and the
    action begins. DiCaprio wants the diamond, Connelly a story and the
    fisherman wants to retrieve his son who has been turned into a child
    soldier. 

    Some reviewers have had difficulty seeing the good looking DiCaprio
    in a tough-guy role. I have no such difficulty. DiCaprio doesn't
    overplay it. He displays just the right combination of
    punky-arrogance and fits the part well. As for Connelly's character,
    a lonely expat's dream, I met my dream one night years ago in Kowloon
    and will never forget the night. 

    The locales fairly reek of authenticity. Speaking as one who has
    been there, I can say that the film suceeds in capturing the real
    look and feel of real gem workings and the back-alley hubbub of
    boom-town commerce as it exists today in many places, not only in
    Africa but in Southeast Asia and South America as well. For a look a
    the real thing see my Ruby Boomtown:
    http://www.colored-stone.com/stories/jul06/madagascar1.cfm 

    Although Blood or conflict diamonds have been a front burner issue
    for several years, diamonds are not the only gemstone or the only
    commodity used to exploit and enslave our fellow man. If you drink
    Florida orange juice, eatin Burmese sugar, buy Chinese products, wear
    Egyptian cotton or eat chocolate, according to the 2002 issue of
    National Geographic, you may be funding human misery. 

    The U. S. currently imposes economic embargos on goods made in a
    number of nations, North Korea, Iran, Burma, in an attempt to
    economically throttle these malignant and repressive dictatorships.
    Does it do any good? Those who advocate the use of economic sanctions
    point to the experience in South Africa where a worldwide boycott,
    that somehow did not inclued diamonds, contributed to the fall of the
    white minority regime and the end of Apartheid. Others are not so
    sure! 

    Take Burma, a country that I have visited several times. The Burmese
    army has insinuated itself into and exerts a degree of control over
    all alspects of gem production from mining to cutting to
    distribution. Syndicates in which the generals are full partners,
    control all the larger mines in Mogok, the old ruby producing area of
    Upper Burma. If you are involved in large scale mining in Burma, you
    are in business with the army. However, much of the mining and more
    than half of the gemstones are produced by small-scale Mom and Pop
    opoerations that fly beneath the government's radar. A sucessful
    boycott may hurt the bad guys but it will also have a devastating
    effect on small business as well. The General's may have to cut back
    on their caviar ration but the little guy may literally starve. 

    "While Burma's gem mines are nominally under the control of the
    military, the very nature of gem mining means that the lion's share
    of production is smuggled out by freebooters. Funds from these
    smuggled goods sustain both odinary miners a.nd traders, as well as
    rebel armies fighting against the Burmese military." Richard Hughes 

    "Legal" gems are auctioned every year at the government-sponsored
    emporium. At the event held this October over a thousand merchants
    from twelve countries attended the event. Myanmar started to hold
    these gem shows in 1964 and since then the government has grossed 600
    million dollars. 

    Part of the reason why the anti-aparthieid boycott suceeded in South
    Africa was that the boycott embarrassed the white power structure.
    White South Africans are culturally European and were shamed by their
    European and American cousins. These same countries were also South
    Africa's main trading partners. Burma's main trading partners are
    India and China and the generals have demonstrated that they simply
    don't care what Europe and America thinks. 

Richard
www.secretsofthegemtrade.com
www.rwwise.com
gemwiseblogspotcom.blogspot.com
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