Author Topic: Another Stupid Urban Legend... That Somehow Not Buying Diamonds Will Help Africa  (Read 1302 times)

TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96'

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I just heard it in a Nas song today.  Something about, "I don't buy the diamonds they steal from Africa."  And then these black nationalists that want to perpetrate myths, telling some dude off who has diamonds in his chain or on a ring or something that he is somehow fueling war in Africa and that that diamond comes at the expense of Africans being killed for it.  This is a stupid as myth.  For this myth to work, you would basically have to have the evil white man somehow going into Africa and killing these Africans and taking their diamonds, which I'm sure makes sense to them, but it's not reality.

The real situation is that African's in the region are extremely poor.  Diamond mining in a place like Sierra Leone is a job for these people, many whom would not have any job if it wasn't for the diamond trade.  Yet because Sierra Leonne doesn't have a stable government, turf wars have developed in the past over the mining of these diamonds.  But to stop buying diamonds from there is to throw the baby out with the bath water.  Because even if you bought the diamonds that were approved by the government and stayed away from the so-called "blood diamonds" you are not helping Africans.  Because, for many of these Africans the only way they can make money and mine the diamonds is if they do it on the black market, otherwise the government can have them arrested and say they are unlicensed or take the diamonds and not crediting them with the original discovery of the diamond.

« Last Edit: August 09, 2010, 06:09:49 AM by Infinite- Free In An Unfree World »
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Fraxxx

Why would I buy diamonds in the first place?
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13th Duke

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People don't buy diamonds because they disagree with the criminality of the process and the salve-trade conditions people work in at the bottom level of it. Its nothing to do with whether it "helps" Africa or not.
 

The Overfiend

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Exactly. A few people buying or not buying diamonds won't make a difference because the diamond industry is worth billions.

For the black nationalists, its probably more a cultural symbolic gesture. People are reduced to mere gestures in the face of forces beyond their control.


 

TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96'

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People don't buy diamonds because they disagree with the criminality of the process and the salve-trade conditions people work in at the bottom level of it. Its nothing to do with whether it "helps" Africa or not.

That's really smart.  Don't buy diamonds, try and take away the one job they do have, and one of their most valuable resource and force them to be totally jobless and push them deeper into poverty?


This is like the people that didn't want to buy clothes from so-called "sweat shops" over in East Asia, because they forgot that the people had no job at all before the job at the factory, and that they were only making things even worse for them.
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The Overfiend

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Not buying the clothes, is also like I said, a symbolic gesture (which people are reduced to in the face of such forces beyond their control), its more adequately done as part of a campaign along with pressure from the public and NGOs, to force a company to change its behavior.


Also, buying diamonds from an unstable country like Sierra Leone will only make a few people rich. You are deluded if you think the wealth will trickle down to the outstretched waiting palms of the masses.


Likewise, not buying diamonds doesn't mean shit when its already a multi-billion billion dollar industry.
« Last Edit: August 09, 2010, 11:41:16 PM by illuminatic »
 

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LONDON!!

I just heard it in a Nas song today.  Something about, "I don't buy the diamonds they steal from Africa."  And then these black nationalists that want to perpetrate myths, telling some dude off who has diamonds in his chain or on a ring or something that he is somehow fueling war in Africa and that that diamond comes at the expense of Africans being killed for it.  This is a stupid as myth.  For this myth to work, you would basically have to have the evil white man somehow going into Africa and killing these Africans and taking their diamonds, which I'm sure makes sense to them, but it's not reality.

The real situation is that African's in the region are extremely poor.  Diamond mining in a place like Sierra Leone is a job for these people, many whom would not have any job if it wasn't for the diamond trade.  Yet because Sierra Leonne doesn't have a stable government, turf wars have developed in the past over the mining of these diamonds.  But to stop buying diamonds from there is to throw the baby out with the bath water.  Because even if you bought the diamonds that were approved by the government and stayed away from the so-called "blood diamonds" you are not helping Africans.  Because, for many of these Africans the only way they can make money and mine the diamonds is if they do it on the black market, otherwise the government can have them arrested and say they are unlicensed or take the diamonds and not crediting them with the original discovery of the diamond.



i know you are a brother thats on a level and all that, but i think your getting certain truths mixed up, the diamond trade in the past that was connected to wars and beefs in certain country's in the motherland, were blood diamonds, they were connected to misery and pain, because of this trade, it wasn't giving anyone jobs, it was fuelling beefs and mass murder's all across africa and the system was the root of this, witout them, no diamonds would be sold in exchanged for guns and so on and so on

other than certain parts of congo right now, theirs no real wars or beefs thats going on because of the diamond trade in africa right now, but the system linked company's still controls this trade at the root and top and you must be joking if you think those brothers working in the frontlines in those mines would call the pittance they get money or a job, its the heads at the top of clicks that get the real money and the system linked companies that mint off the most off sweatshop labour there sitting behind there comftable desks behind somewhere in comftable somewheresville just collecting there checks

but me personally, other than conflict diamonds, i don't have a problem wit brothers and sisters working hard and playing hard, enjoying there fruits of labour, getting there floss on, blinging a little, you see what i'm saying, i love to see stand up brothers and sisters do there thing enjoying themselves, no frontman, if you fantazize about the streets and glamourize it but you don't have stripes in anyway, shape or form or don't rep it in anyway, shape or form, the streets will see you as food out here, poverty is a crime, it ain't music or a movie, human being brothers is hungry out here, truss me on that, rags(crazy) like, you get me, i mean i ain't a gangsta or anything like that, but i wanted to bling way back in the day, but moved off that shit after i learnt about the history of the diamond trade and like i said before, i ain't a gangsta, you've got to have stripes out here dawg, to bling, you get what i'm saying, at least in your own ends(hood, area) anyway, let alone other ends, because i ain't a punk or a wannabe, i play my position out here on a adult level, i'll show you that adult respect to human beings and expect that adult respect back, i ain't a gangsta, but i ain't a little kid neither, you get what i'm saying, i just appreciate my human being people thats stand up, doing there thing still, you get what i'm saying, theirs nuthin wrong wit that, so long as it ain't conflict diamonds and you know it ain't, whats the big deal
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I like to get my queen a little jewelry now and then...I usually seek out blood diamonds with the intention of keeping Africa in ruins.

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LONDON!!

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TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96'

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You are deluded if you think the wealth will trickle down to the outstretched waiting palms of the masses.


Likewise, not buying diamonds doesn't mean shit when its already a multi-billion billion dollar industry.

I'm not deluded because I'm not talking about wealth "trickling down" at all.   Because the process often starts with an impoverished African in Sierra Leone who digs and digs often without much equipment other than a shovel, and he's lucky enough to find a diamond that's worth something.  So he takes that diamond and he has a choice, he can either go give it to the government and possibly get busted for digging without a license, or receive something far below the worth of the diamond.  Or he can take that diamond and sell it on the so-called "black market" (which is often in reality the "free market") and get some serious money that could actually help him and his family.
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TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96'

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I just heard it in a Nas song today.  Something about, "I don't buy the diamonds they steal from Africa."  And then these black nationalists that want to perpetrate myths, telling some dude off who has diamonds in his chain or on a ring or something that he is somehow fueling war in Africa and that that diamond comes at the expense of Africans being killed for it.  This is a stupid as myth.  For this myth to work, you would basically have to have the evil white man somehow going into Africa and killing these Africans and taking their diamonds, which I'm sure makes sense to them, but it's not reality.

The real situation is that African's in the region are extremely poor.  Diamond mining in a place like Sierra Leone is a job for these people, many whom would not have any job if it wasn't for the diamond trade.  Yet because Sierra Leonne doesn't have a stable government, turf wars have developed in the past over the mining of these diamonds.  But to stop buying diamonds from there is to throw the baby out with the bath water.  Because even if you bought the diamonds that were approved by the government and stayed away from the so-called "blood diamonds" you are not helping Africans.  Because, for many of these Africans the only way they can make money and mine the diamonds is if they do it on the black market, otherwise the government can have them arrested and say they are unlicensed or take the diamonds and not crediting them with the original discovery of the diamond.



i know you are a brother thats on a level and all that, but i think your getting certain truths mixed up, the diamond trade in the past that was connected to wars and beefs in certain country's in the motherland, were blood diamonds, they were connected to misery and pain, because of this trade, it wasn't giving anyone jobs, it was fuelling beefs and mass murder's all across africa and the system was the root of this, witout them, no diamonds would be sold in exchanged for guns and so on and so on

other than certain parts of congo right now, theirs no real wars or beefs thats going on because of the diamond trade in africa right now, but the system linked company's still controls this trade at the root and top and you must be joking if you think those brothers working in the frontlines in those mines would call the pittance they get money or a job, its the heads at the top of clicks that get the real money and the system linked companies that mint off the most off sweatshop labour there sitting behind there comftable desks behind somewhere in comftable somewheresville just collecting there checks

but me personally, other than conflict diamonds, i don't have a problem wit brothers and sisters working hard and playing hard, enjoying there fruits of labour, getting there floss on, blinging a little, you see what i'm saying, i love to see stand up brothers and sisters do there thing enjoying themselves, no frontman, if you fantazize about the streets and glamourize it but you don't have stripes in anyway, shape or form or don't rep it in anyway, shape or form, the streets will see you as food out here, poverty is a crime, it ain't music or a movie, human being brothers is hungry out here, truss me on that, rags(crazy) like, you get me, i mean i ain't a gangsta or anything like that, but i wanted to bling way back in the day, but moved off that shit after i learnt about the history of the diamond trade and like i said before, i ain't a gangsta, you've got to have stripes out here dawg, to bling, you get what i'm saying, at least in your own ends(hood, area) anyway, let alone other ends, because i ain't a punk or a wannabe, i play my position out here on a adult level, i'll show you that adult respect to human beings and expect that adult respect back, i ain't a gangsta, but i ain't a little kid neither, you get what i'm saying, i just appreciate my human being people thats stand up, doing there thing still, you get what i'm saying, theirs nuthin wrong wit that, so long as it ain't conflict diamonds and you know it ain't, whats the big deal

nice post, but you have to ask yourself, why were these Africans killing each other over diamonds?  Because it was their MOST valuable trade and commodity, obviously!  So if people stopped buying diamonds, then you are only destroying the value of their most important resource.

Let's imagine that all the sudden, they found Oil in Haiti.  And let's say that many poor Haitians were selling this oil on the black market and finally making some serious money for the first time in their lives, but then let's say there was a struggle for power and control over the oil, like a struggle between some gangs, militia, and a corrupt government.  Yet all the sudden, everyone just stopped buying oil from Haiti, do you think that would make Haitians happy?  Cutting off the demand for their #1 resource? 

 
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The Overfiend

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You are deluded if you think the wealth will trickle down to the outstretched waiting palms of the masses.


Likewise, not buying diamonds doesn't mean shit when its already a multi-billion billion dollar industry.

I'm not deluded because I'm not talking about wealth "trickling down" at all.   Because the process often starts with an impoverished African in Sierra Leone who digs and digs often without much equipment other than a shovel, and he's lucky enough to find a diamond that's worth something.  So he takes that diamond and he has a choice, he can either go give it to the government and possibly get busted for digging without a license, or receive something far below the worth of the diamond.  Or he can take that diamond and sell it on the so-called "black market" (which is often in reality the "free market") and get some serious money that could actually help him and his family.

Ah ha I see. My apologies. Good point