Hip-Hop Artist Debuts Video On Blood
Diamonds From Professional Jeweler, By Peggy
Jo Donahue, Jun 2005
Hip-hop recording artist and music producer Kanye West's new music video, called
'Diamonds from Sierra Leone,' features images of children working in diamond
mines, with a voice-over explaining what the artist calls "their plight." Also
featured are what one reviewer called a "chilling sequence" involving a woman
wearing a diamond ring, and a sampling of Shirley Bassey's rendition of the song
'Diamonds Are Forever.'
After the release, a Vibe magazine online story commented: "Diamonds may be
forever, but the meaning of Kanye West's single 'Diamonds are Forever,' has
changed since the rapper found out the price some Africans pay for the ice he
and his fellow MCs hold so dear."
Vibe goes on to say: "Illegal diamond trading has led to the deaths of thousands
of civilians in the last 10 years in the small country of Sierra Leone, as
battles continue for control of diamond mines and the stones found within."
In fact, Sierra Leone's long civil war ended in 2001 and the country has
struggled ever since to normalize diamond mining, help poor workers earn more
for their efforts, and stem the tide of smuggling that still bedevils the
country. Though most efforts are still in early planning stages, there is hope
they will work. Sierra Leonean officials have visited Israel and next week go to
Antwerp to discuss official contracts with diamantaires in those two diamond
cutting sectors.
Official diamond exports from Sierra Leone, which are monitored by the Kimberley
Process Certification Scheme, showed an almost 100% rise to $126 million last
year, from $74 million in 2003, said human rights watchdog group Partnership
Africa Canada and a Sierra-Leone based group called Network Movement for Justice
and Development. The groups said in a recent report that Sierra Leone had made
great strides, though it still had a long way to go before the majority of its
citizens began to benefit from its diamonds and smuggling was more effectively
curbed.
Various diamond industry initiatives have begun in Sierra Leone, including an
effort to invest more than $20 million to open two kimberlite mines by Koidu
Holdings, a company majority owned by Steinmetz Diamond Group. Industrialized
mining is the key to Sierra Leone's future success, believe many experts, as
artisanal mining by individuals is hard to control or manage.
There are also efforts to help legalize and better control artisanal mining and
take it out of the hands of smugglers. The Rapaport Group, for example, is
cooperating with the U.S. government Agency for International Development, to
fund digger cooperatives in Sierra Leone so that local people receive a tangible
benefit from their diamond resources. U.S. AID and the local Kono Diamond Peace
Initiative will select, support, monitor and coordinate the diggers'
cooperatives. Human rights group Global Witness will monitor all aspects of the
venture.
De Beers also announced in March it is cofounding the Diamond Development
Initiative with several human rights groups. It's exploring the viability of
establishing an initial partnership of parties in various places in western and
central Africa to mine alluvial diamonds for the greater benefit of local miners
and communities.
"While we have not viewed Mr. West's new video, the lyrics of the song certainly
do not reflect the tremendous work the diamond industry has done in conjunction
with the U.N.-sanctioned Kimberley Process introduced in 2000," Carson Glover,
of the Diamond Information Center, said in a released statement. "In response to
the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, the diamond industry introduced a
'certificate of origin' allowing only legitimate diamonds to be traded on the
global market, therefore creating a zero tolerance environment for conflict
diamonds around the world.
"The diamond industry is one of the cornerstones of economic and social
development of many sub-Saharan African nations. Without it, the fantastic
growth and prosperity impacting millions will be jeopardized, further delaying
Africa's long struggle to catch up with the rest of the developing nations
around the world," said Glover.