atlantablackstar.com/2013/12/15/7-facts-about-africas-blood-diamonds/
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De Beers Diamond Cartel Was Founded by a White Supremacist
De Beers, the company that single-handedly made the diamond industry what it is today, was founded in 1888 by British colonizer Cecil Rhodes. He went to southern Africa when he was 18 years old and eventually took over the diamond mines at Kimberley, South Africa, and other areas.
Being a ruthless capitalist, Rhodes passed laws, levied colonial taxes, and used brutal punishments on Africans to force them to work for near slave wages in diamond mines. African miners were forced to work in extremely dangerous conditions and live away from their families in shanty-like compounds. This trend continues today.
The conflict diamond atrocities that took place in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and other parts of Africa are rooted in Rhodes’ violent quest for acquisition of Africa’s diamonds and natural resources for the benefit of European consumption.
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Diamonds Are Not Rare
Contrary to popular opinion, diamonds aren’t rare or even hard to find. They aren’t rare in an economic sense because supply exceeds demand. To maintain the high price of diamonds, De Beers creates an artificial scarcity by stockpiling mined diamonds and selling them in small amounts. There’s millions of them locked in vaults in London.
Even though there are other diamond makers in the world, De Beers is able to manipulate the supply of diamonds because they dominate the market and operate essentially as a monopoly. In 2008, the South African diamond company settled for $295 million a class-action antitrust lawsuit about price-fixing in the United States.
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The Most Shrewd Advertising Campaign of All Time: A Diamond is Forever
The concept that an engagement ring is an ancient tradition that is deeply embedded in human history in societies around the world is false. The idea of a diamond engagement ring is roughly a century old, and it was invented by the De Beers cartel. In the 1940s De Beers launched a long-running propaganda campaign around the theme “A diamond is forever.”
Over many decades, the company spent hundreds of millions of dollars to market the notion that diamonds signify romance and love. The campaign involved sending diamond lecturers to classrooms to target high school students, placing diamonds in the fingers of Hollywood stars and suggesting stories to newspapers on how diamond rings symbolized romance. Thanks to their long and successful propaganda campaign, men around the world now spend a few months’ salary on diamond engagement rings.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
De Beers Diamond Cartel Was Founded by a White Supremacist
De Beers, the company that single-handedly made the diamond industry what it is today, was founded in 1888 by British colonizer Cecil Rhodes. He went to southern Africa when he was 18 years old and eventually took over the diamond mines at Kimberley, South Africa, and other areas.
Being a ruthless capitalist, Rhodes passed laws, levied colonial taxes, and used brutal punishments on Africans to force them to work for near slave wages in diamond mines. African miners were forced to work in extremely dangerous conditions and live away from their families in shanty-like compounds. This trend continues today.
The conflict diamond atrocities that took place in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and other parts of Africa are rooted in Rhodes’ violent quest for acquisition of Africa’s diamonds and natural resources for the benefit of European consumption.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Diamonds Are Not Rare
Contrary to popular opinion, diamonds aren’t rare or even hard to find. They aren’t rare in an economic sense because supply exceeds demand. To maintain the high price of diamonds, De Beers creates an artificial scarcity by stockpiling mined diamonds and selling them in small amounts. There’s millions of them locked in vaults in London.
Even though there are other diamond makers in the world, De Beers is able to manipulate the supply of diamonds because they dominate the market and operate essentially as a monopoly. In 2008, the South African diamond company settled for $295 million a class-action antitrust lawsuit about price-fixing in the United States.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The Most Shrewd Advertising Campaign of All Time: A Diamond is Forever
The concept that an engagement ring is an ancient tradition that is deeply embedded in human history in societies around the world is false. The idea of a diamond engagement ring is roughly a century old, and it was invented by the De Beers cartel. In the 1940s De Beers launched a long-running propaganda campaign around the theme “A diamond is forever.”
Over many decades, the company spent hundreds of millions of dollars to market the notion that diamonds signify romance and love. The campaign involved sending diamond lecturers to classrooms to target high school students, placing diamonds in the fingers of Hollywood stars and suggesting stories to newspapers on how diamond rings symbolized romance. Thanks to their long and successful propaganda campaign, men around the world now spend a few months’ salary on diamond engagement rings.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
