Blood Diamonds and De Beers

A couple of nights back I caught a documentary on TV. It was about the trade of diamonds in Africa for military hardware. Particularly Sierra Leone, where diamonds are taken and sold on for guns, bullets, tanks etc. The program deliberated on how miners had became slaves to the waring factions, how innocent peoples of the country would be killed and how demand in the west for jewels through De Beers had made the situation worse. Even today the program makers pointed out how De Beers still bought these blood diamonds. By purchasing them indirectly from a neighbouring counties to Sierra Leone. The countries they do purchase them from are known not to actually have such deposits of diamonds. So De Beers are guilty of perpetuating the trade in these diamonds. Though they have tried not to get their already sullied name more sullied. I for one will never purchase diamonds from them.

Everybody suffered in the wars, there was horrific torture of miners and innocents. Miners would be watched over by guards. They were barely given enough foot to live on and if they tried to escape they'd be killed. For the public politicians were rife with corruption. One method of punishing opposition voters and miners suspected of thieving diamonds is to cut their hands off. Which is not only barbaric it is inhuman to say the least.

At lunch I sat down and ordered a Mexican hat plate sized of Singapore rice. Not good for my waste line but tasty. After 10 minutes of reading my magazine and eating the rice a short black man came and sat directly opposite me. I took no notice and carried on. But I saw as he moved the menu on the table. The blatant and obvious. Where there should of been hands, there were stubs. I looked up and it seemed he wanted acknowledgement so I said "hi" and he smiled the most wonderful gentle smile. We got chatting about my rice because he seemed to like the look of it and he then placed his order for a plate. He struck me as a nice bloke and I refused in myself to accept him anything other than a genuinely nice person. In the back of my mind I thought of what he had gone through. Possibly in Sierra Leone or the Democratic Republic of Congo or one of those other closely situated waring states. And i thought I would run away from my own country if such atrocities happened. Immigration has a place and unfortunately is very necessary in some cases.

I walked out having re evaluated how lucky I was to live in the UK. How even if I didn't like some aspects of my life at least I was complete bodily wise. I don't know about upstairs, but then the most interesting people I find are usually a little bit nuts.