I heard about this book last year but read it a few days ago so my speech will give information regarding diamonds that I got from this book.
The writer of this book, GREG CAMPBELL, is a freelance journalist. He was allowed to enter SIERRA LEONE with a photographer by the UN to collect news material because he wanted to uncover the truth behind the diamond industry.
Do you know where diamonds come from? Most diamonds had come from India and Brazil until 1870 but a little accident happened in 1866(in SIERRA LEONE of West Africa) that changed a lot. Hear's the story.
→ One day a fifteen year old boy found a very shiny stone next to Orange River in South Africa. He put the stone in his pocket to give to his sister. A few days later, the boy and his friends were playing with the stone outside. At the time, one politician passing by there snatched the stone from the children because he thought that the shining stone might be a diamond. And it was true. It was a 21 carat diamond. This little incident changed all of SIERRA LEONE and its people.
The news that a diamond had been found there spread all over the world quickly and a lot of people started to come to get diamonds. Just like SIERRA LEONE people, they all thought the same thing, "I'm going to be a rich!!"
Before this happened, SIERRA LEONE people were not rich, but they were better off than now. So, what was the problem? What made SIERRA LEONE people unhappy...and eventually tragic? There were many causes such as greedy people, companies and political authorities, but I'll tell you the two major reasons.
Have you ever heard “De Beers” or “Cecil Rhodes”?
I told you just before that many people went to SIERRA LEONE to be rich. There was a very smart guy among them. His name was Cecil Rhodes. He thought that controling land meant controling diamonds so he bought a huge amount of land in SIERRA LEONE for 10 years, and as a result, Cecil Rhodes became the only man who controled diamonds absolutely. For a better understanding, Cecil Rhodes controled 90% of diamonds in the world when he was 35 years old. He established a diamond company "De Beers" in 1888 and it has been a monopoly ever since. De Beers by Cecil Rhodes is the first cause of this tragedy of SIERRA LEONE and the other one is RUF.
SIERRA LEONE has had historical and political problems. The situation has become more serious because of many political troops and they started to rob people's estates and lands by force. And one of the troops was RUF. The most serious issue was RUF's slaughter in 1996. RUF just killed civilians to make them fear. Sometimes they even cut people's hands, legs, ears and noses. The most fearful truth is that many of RUF were children(younger than us). RUF also forces civilians to work. They find diamonds all day for only 50 cents and two cups of rice. Even though some have miraculously escaped from RUF, most civilians of SIERRA LEONE were deprived of their estates and house and always live an obscure life.
This kind of situation has lasted for a long time. A few years ago a new president was selected in SIERRA LEONE. However this didn't do much to better the situation.
Sales of De Beers' diamonds have dropped from 90% to 30% but De Beers still has much power in the diamond industry.
I think there are more ironic matters in the world than we think or know. We don't believe or we don't want to believe these matters. The story about diamonds is one of them so I wanted to tell you this topic today.
While reading this book, I could find characters who are very smart and who are very foolish. For example, Cecil Rhodes was much smarter than others. On the other hand, the married couple was very foolish because they were anxious to have a diamond to better marriage. It's not that I'm criticizing(blaming) the people or think they are pitiful. It's just interesting to see the difference.
Have you ever heard of or seen the tv commercial "A diamond is forever"? This commercial made everyone want a diamond. A lot of people in SIERRA LEONE and couples really want diamonds whether they are rich or poor. These kinds of people seem to be controled by De beers.
Some people may think that this whole story is meaningless. But when we know the truth, we can change the situation or make it better. Knowing the truth is the first step. So I want you to consider this matter and the truth about SIERRA LEONE and De Beers. Even though we can't improve the situation right now, we can know the truth.