Thoughts provoked by Leo di Caprio

Do you know what a blood diamond is? Not a diamond the colour of blood. Not just that movie that I watched that stars Leonardo di Caprio. Wikipedia says a blood diamond is 'a diamond mined in a war zone and sold, usually clandestinely, in order to finance an insurgent or invading army's war efforts.'
In a nut shell, wars need money. Diamonds get money. Diamonds get money to fund wars.
then again...
Wars get labour. Labour gets diamonds. Wars get labour to get diamonds.
Hhhmmm.....
It's a vicious cycle of war, labour and diamonds which supposedly isn't happening in the world today. Where there's money to be made, i doubt it though.
I really recommend the movie Blood Diamond. di Caprio did a really great job, and his accent is reminiscent of the South African experience, but the portrayal of conflict diamonds in the movie is excellent. If not for a great eye-opener, then at least for a good action movie.
I hope you check it out and take something out of it.
If you're interested in reading up about blood diamonds, this blog sums it up pretty well.

war-torn Angola (1999)

child soldiers in Sierra Leone

Children forced to leave their families and homes by rebel forces to commit horrendous atrocities. It was literally kill or be killed. Many of them never found their families after the war.

war victims in Sierra Leone

reunion after years of fighting against their own people.

Sometimes the world sickens you : child soldiers, civil wars, broken families, the burning down of entire villages.
We've got to believe that there's more good out there.

For greater insight into what's happening in Liberia, you can find a great photo essay by Teun Voeten of the World Press Review here. I'm glad it's in black and white because some images are pretty graphic. Reading up on Liberia, it seems US has a part to play too. Liberia is a Latin name, meaning 'Land of the Free', precisely what it was for newly freed African American slaves. They were sent back to Africa and needless to say could not assimmilate completely into African culture, choosing to adopt American ways and calling themselves 'Americans'. These 'Americans' consolidated the upper class of Liberian society, monopolising trade and contributing to the wealth disparity. Ironically enough, some of these newly freed 'American' slaves found it necessary to dominate the uncivilized and inferior 'natives'. How fast one forgets...