VS asked me today at lunch why I was so dead set against the diamond industry. (Her uncle is a jeweller.)

I told her a bit about blood diamonds (not for the especially squeamish)

http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/kevin.binfield/BloodDiamonds.html

and she came back to me with “well, I’m not that deep… I do know that I want a diamond engagement ring.”

I was pretty stunned… Her attitude was “sure, people suffer, but I want my rock”.

Sakes… if you must have one, you can certainly do a little research and work around it.

AUF INTERNATIONAL DIAMOND BOYCOTT
MERCENARY CORPORATIONS: LEGACY OF APARTHEID

On October 1, 1999 the leadership of the African Unification Front, declared the international boycott against the diamond industry. The AUF is asking members of the public not to buy diamonds for the following reasons:-

Diamond companies including: Diamond Works, De Beers, Anglo-American, American Diamonds and others, are perpetrating human rights violations on African soil. Millions of Africans have become displaced, sick, or have been killed as a result of violence resulting from competition for control of diamond concessions in the Congo, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone and Angola.

Diamond companies employ soldiers who served in Death Squads in Apartheid South Africa, and use the services of mercenary outfits such as Executive Outcomes, Saracen International, International Defense and Security, and the Gurkha Security Guards.

Diamond companies continue to opearate unsafe mines, and have dumped solid mineral waste, and flooded thousands of acres of land with toxic waste-water. The failure of the mining industry to adhere to safety guidelines in mines and alluvial plains poses a health hazard to all humans.

The diamond industry is exploiting and abusing African labourers. Working conditions for diamond workers are hazardous and have resulted in disease and deaths in South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania, Congo and Angola.

The entire gems industry is responsible for these abuses, not just certain companies. The entire industry is regulated by a handfull of organs including DeBeers, and the Central Selling Organization.

Almost all of the world’s diamonds come out of Africa, and those that do not come from Africa are marketed by DeBeers and the CSO. The entire industry is benefiting from the human rights abuse, political weakness, and military violence in Africa.

NB: The AUF International Diamond Boycott will remain in place indefinately or until the industry stops degrading the environment, ceases the flaunting of labour laws, and ceases to disrupt good civil order in Africa.

from – http://www.africanfront.com/diamondboycott.php