Illegal miners in South Africa risk death for a share of the diamonds that shaped the continent's biggest economy. In sparsely populated Namaqualand, diamond giant De Beers was once the top employer, but its mines were closed in 2008. |
Blood Diamonds
The True Story of Blood Diamonds
BY DIANA BROWN
Diamonds were a
girl's best friend long before Marilyn Monroe sang that iconic
number in the 1953 flick "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes."
But diamonds haven't
always been the status symbol of love that we think of today.
In the 1930s, the
diamond market had been experiencing declining sales.
Due to post World War
I austerity, the stones were seen by many as frivolous purchases - money down
the drain.
But then, something
changed - and changed the world forever.
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know hosts Ben Bowlin and Matt Frederick
discuss what sparked that change with BrainStuff's Lauren
Vogelbaum, and the three examine the often-grisly history of the stones so
beloved by brides in "Diamonds: The
Conspiracy."
Before
1870, most diamonds were mined in India and South America, and they were pretty
rare. Only kings or queens had them; they just weren't for "regular"
people.
But
then, a huge deposit of diamonds was discovered in South Africa.
That's
when British imperialist, Cecil Rhodes, moved in and started buying up all the
property he could, including a farm owned by two brothers named de Beer.
Several
owners of smaller diamond mines joined up with the owners of larger mines to
create a consortium called the De Beers Consolidated Mines, led by Cecil
Rhodes.
By
1888, Rhodes controlled the entire South African diamond supply.
But
with control over so many diamonds, they worried about flooding the market,
making the price too cheap to be worth the expense of mining them.
So
Rhodes controlled the supply by creating intermediaries to buy the uncut
diamonds from the De Beers company, send them on to cutters and polishers,
and from there on to retail jewelers to sell.
De
Beers controlled every step of the sale and distribution of the gems, and was
able to decide how many diamonds to release, as well as set its own price
points that had to be met worldwide, regardless of a jeweler's association with
the De Beers diamond cartel.
That
took care of the supply, but how about the demand? The diamond engagement ring
wasn't even a tradition in any country before De Beers got into the diamond
business.
The
company hired New York ad agency N.W. Ayer to basically create demand for
diamonds, which they did admirably, thanks to a copywriter named Mary Frances
Gerety.
Since
diamonds had no physical value, Gerety assigned them emotional value.
Suddenly,
men didn't love their ladies if they didn't give them a huge diamond to signify
the strength of their feelings.
That's
because in 1947, Gerety wrote the famed ad slogan "A Diamond is Forever," acknowledged today to be the
greatest slogan in a century and studied even now in advertising classes.
Thanks
to Gerety and the Ayer ad agency, 75 percent of brides wears a diamond
ring on her finger.
De
Beers has been challenged many times, like when a mine was discovered in
Siberia in 1955.
Instead
of trying to compete with the new mine, De Beers offered to buy its supply, to
incorporate it into the company's already-existing structures.
These
diamonds were a lot smaller than what the market wanted to buy, having
always been told that the bigger, the better, but De Beers fixed that by
creating the four C's system — clarity, carat, cut and color —so even smaller
diamonds could cost as much as larger ones if they were
"higher quality."
Eventually,
the De Beers monopoly came to an end, and today diamond prices are driven by
supply and demand.
But
the industry is still plagued with corruption.
The
human cost of mining diamonds claims hundreds of lives, contributes to poverty,
and causes environmental devastation.
And
that "high price" of mining also wreaked havoc in the market around
the turn of the 21st century — especially once consumers learned the sales of
black market diamonds were funding terrorist militia groups.
People
didn't want to buy these "blood diamonds," so the Kimberley Process was
established 2000 as a sort of passport system for diamonds.
It
now indicates all stones countries of origin and ensures that no money
generated by their sales will fund militia groups.
Unfortunately,
the Kimberley Process can't regulate or prevent the numerous human rights
violations inherent in the diamond trade, including child labor, worker
exploitation and even death.
To
hear more about the entire history of the diamond trade, including what's going
on today, you'll have to listen to the entire podcast. (It's worth a listen just to hear Ben's Leonardo
DiCaprio impression.)
Diana Brown
Diana Brown
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