Protest takes some of the sparkle off diamond show (London)

[struggle4progress]

LONDON: Diamonds, a new exhibition in London, boasts an impressive carat count and some of the world's most glittering gems, but protests over the treatment of African bushmen by mining giant De Beers exposed some flaws.

The company, which controls about two thirds of the world's uncut diamond supply and is sponsoring the show, strongly denies claims by advocacy group Survival International that evictions of bushmen by the Botswana government are linked to its diamond mining activities.

A group of about 50 protesters, led by actress Julie Christie, carried placards outside the exhibition venue as guests arrived for the gala opening on Wednesday.

Similar demonstrations marked the opening of the De Beers LV store in New York last month, although for most visitors to the show at London's Natural History Museum it was the fascination and beauty of diamonds that mattered most. <snip>

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3342254a11215,00.html

[Redstone]

1. For once, I'll agree with a protest about something that

most people don't think is worth protesting.

DeBeers is NOT a nice company, and is NOT run by nice people.

They do a lot of wretched things so you can put that ring with a sparkly rock on your finger.

Oh, and by the way: did you know that if DeBeers released all of their hoarded stock into the market at once, diamonds would be worth about ten buck a carat?

They're not all that rare, really.

Redstone

[Cassandra]

2. Really large, clean stones are rare...

as with any gem material. But under a carat of average color and clarity.....very common. When DeBeers decided, a few years ago, to stop propping up the price of little brownish diamonds, the price dropped 50% overnight.

[Redstone]

3. I used to be a jeweler, and always despised diamonds.

Just a clear rock with some sparkles, and a good white zircon is just about as sparkly.

Now a ruby, well, now there's a stone worth the kind of money and intrigue and murder that people have utterly wasted on diamonds, if it's a good one.

Redstone

(Whoa. I just thought of something you're probably thinking, and it's reasonable to guess, but not true: My name doesn't have anything to do with the fact that I like rubies.)

[Cassandra]

4. I am a jeweler....

and the prices on melee are ridiculous.

[leesa]

6. I love the colors too. Never could understand the appeal of diamonds.

[KeepItReal]

8. Here's how DeBeers can now do business in the USA...

"HOW much turmoil can the diamond industry sustain without shattering? On July 13th in an Ohio court De Beers, the world's largest producer of rough stones, finally pleaded guilty to charges of price-fixing of industrial diamonds and agreed to pay a $10m fine, thereby ending a 60-year-long impasse. De Beers executives are at last free to visit and work directly in the largest diamond market, America.

A few days earlier, on July 9th, the first case of successful industry self-regulation against trade in so-called “conflict diamonds” took place when Congo-Brazzaville was punished for failing to prove the source of its diamond exports. And on June 28th Lev Leviev, an arch-rival of De Beers, opened Africa's biggest diamond-polishing factory in Namibia.
...
But its decision to settle American antitrust charges laid against it in 1994 points to how much it is feeling the pressure. De Beers executives should now be free to travel to America to conduct business without fear of arrest. That should make it easier to promote De Beers LV, a hitherto disappointing partnership with the luxury-goods firm LVMH to market De Beers-branded diamonds."

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2921462

[leesa]

5. Was our favorite 'Man of God' and native African abuser Robertson there?

[silverpatronus]

7. diamonds make me fucking angry...

and de beers even angrier than that. if ever a company deserved to rot in the shitter...but no, the people must have their sparkly status rocks.

[NuttyFluffers]

9. yay! crapping on diamonds! count me in!

hate the damn stones. cheap, sparkly shit that everyone thinks is all that because they don't know there's essentially an international monopoly.

[iverglas]

10. me too! me too!

There'll be no tug of war over my mother's and grandmother's wedding diamonds in my family. They can just keep on getting passed on down in some other direction -- sure, I'd be sentimental about 'em, but as objects go, I'd rather have the gravy boat.

How anyone could have any excuse for buying the things for the last couple of decades, I dunno. But then I couldn't figure out why people bought South African wine, or California lettuce, or Chilean grapes ... either.

Now, if you actually do happen to like the boring things, there is a way:

http://www.abeautifuldifference.com/webdoc.611.html
(no, I don't have stock, it was just the first thing up at google images)

Canadian Arctic® Diamonds are mined & cut in Canada and laser engraved with a logo or certification number to denote their origin; most from the Ekati mines in the North West Territories; "conflict free"

...The Government of the Northwest Territories tracks certified CANADIAN ARCTIC® diamonds by way of a stringent monitoring system. This monitoring system follows the diamond from the mine to the consumer - the only program in the world to do this.

Another site:

http://www.canadian-diamonds.i8.com/

Diamonds symbolize happiness and eternal love. Sadly for many, they mean conflict, misery and poverty. In African countries such as Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone, the profits from unregulated diamond trade are used to obtain weapons and fund armed conflicts. Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed, mutilated or abducted. Canadian wholesale diamonds are currently the only alternative to conflict diamonds.

(Ask google images for canadian diamonds or polar diamonds and there are all sorts of vendors.)

If you know a starry-eyed couple about to spend too much money on a chunk of carbon, pass it on.

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. Diamonds are over rated hunks of carbon

yet De Beers continues to rape Africa for her resources, while the African people are the poorest in the world. What's wrong with this picture?