Cathie and I watched the movie Blood Diamond last night, about the blood diamond trade in Sierra Leone and throughout Africa. It was one of the most disturbing movies I've seen in a long, long time. I'd read about the De Beers diamond cartel and heard about some of the wars caused by the diamond trade, but this movie made it painfully real. It showed the kids being used as soldiers and told the story from a Dad's perspective of one of the kids who'd been taken into one of the guerrilla armies. I couldn't stop thinking, "What if that was my son?" The guerrilla armies would come into the villages with their weapons and decimate the families, with the people helpless to stop it.I feel safe in my community and my home and I couldn't imagine living like this, not knowing that I could protect my family. The movie was sad and depressing, but it made me want to do something to stop it. I just don't know what.
5 comments:
I agree. Pretty disturbing but a great movie!
You can use that movie as an excuse to never have to buy Cathie a diamond again. Tell her she only gets cubic zirconium from now on....
You know I read your blog as a novelty and am sometimes aghast and other times inspired. Your work in the church is admirable and balancing work family and faith is something we all struggle with.
I decided to comment today because I was aghast at your commentary about blood diamonds and am trying to calm down to compose a reasonable response.
Your basic hypothesis is that we should all be outraged at the atrocities which occur during the harvest of diamonds. How drugs, power and bad music are being used to corrupt the most innocent among us (our children). Very easy to make the statement but I think more difficult to lead through actions.
I harken back to the many hours you have spent detailing the technical problems you have with your iPod, or how cool your new phone is (guessing you probably splurged on the iPhone or are about to) but do you know the history of the company that contracts with Apple to mass produce the items
http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/06/12/ipod.factory.labor.abuse/
A new report entitled "The iPod City" states that Apple's iPods are constructed primarily by female employees who earn as little as $50 per month, but who work 15 hours per day. Foxconn's Longhua plant employs 200,000 workers who live in dormitories -- each housing 100 people -- which do not permit visitors from outside world, according to Macworld UK. Another factory in Suzhou, Shanghai rolls out iPod shuffles with workers who are housed outside the facility. Employees earn roughly $100 per month, but must pay for accommodations and food, which consumes half of their salaries. One security guard said that the Shuffle production lines are staffed by women workers because "they are more honest than male workers," while Apple's iPod nano is manufactured in a five-story factory that is secured by police officers, according to the report.
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?at_code=358729
The report first appeared in British tabloid The Mail on Sunday. It alleged that workers in the factory, which makes Apple's famous iPods, were extremely underpaid and were forced to stand for 12 hours a day.
Afterwards Apple investigated the allegations and found that although Foxconn was in compliance with most regulations, there were "violations to the company's Supplier Code of Conduct, including overcrowding in some housing provided to workers, a complex and overly incentivized pay structure, an outdated payroll system, over-worked employees, and some instances of harsh treatment." (Source)
Two Chinese journalists working for China Business News (CBN) decided to follow up the story and published a report on June 15, making further allegations about poor working conditions in the factory. Foxconn, which had been very critical of the Mail, this time reacted more seriously and filed a lawsuit against the two journalists.
When this happened the Chinese Internet community accused FoxConn of threatening press freedom.
The journalists, Wang You and Weng Bao, had their personal assets frozen by the Shenzhen People's Court, and FoxConn asked for 30 million yuan RMB (US$3,750,000). Many Chinese journalists and bloggers were furious. They strongly condemned the company and fully supported the journalists and CBN.
Despite public pressure, FoxConn did not drop the case but reduced the compensation demand to one yuan (US$0.12). The journalists and their newspaper refused to apologize or pay even this compensation. About one week later, to many people's surprise, FoxConn and CBN released a joint statement of reconciliation, apologizing to each other.
Even though FoxConn had decided to drop the lawsuit against the journalists, the Chinese Internet community were still not happy about it at all. They argued that the reconciliation between FoxConn and the newspaper only covered up the pressing issue of labor rights in China.
Considering Apple has a code of conduct and investigating it was a good step, but think of the intrigue with this story, censorship, exploitation of women, disgusting living conditions and general profiteering. But why not call it “Blood iPods”. Well probably because there are 50 million consumers and well diamonds are run by a cartel.
But let’s go further…..Why stop at the beloved iPod and why not look at the dinner table? Where did the food come from and how many migrant (legal or illegal) workers were paid below minimum wage to harvest the food?
I bring this up because in your position it is irresponsible to say “Diamonds are bad, iPods and Whole Foods are good”. What type of mixed message does this send your family, community and interested readers. I am all for French fries in the nose, but if you want to talk about atrocities, globalization or third world conditions try to give more than a typical knee-jerk reaction.
Some things to try;
1) Act locally – Use locally produced foods, learn to eat with the climates. I am sorry perfect tomatoes or orange peppers are not a normal occurrence in Michigan in January. Make conscience choices about how your family should eat and the impact that has on the world.
2) Spend wisely – Want the new xBox for the kids…..Try to understand where it is mass produced and what type of impact that has that local economy and hold the ultimate resellers accountable for “supply chain”.
3) Invest with your conscious – How are companies generating profits and how are they investing in local communities. Codes of Conduct are neat, but are the companies your are investing in acting responsibly. It is no longer okay to turn a blind eye to your 401k options and acquiesce
I admit that perfection is unattainable, although I strive to make purposeful decisions I also have been known to grill peppers in Febuary, but as with all noble pursuits, if it was easy it would be less satisfying. And as I add parsnips and carrot to the menu in our house, or decide not to buy that new TV, MP3 player or revolutionary phone, I a more satisfied that my children are getting more than a meal, they are getting an example of a purposeful choice……..
Will it change the world…..no…..but it can change a couple of lives I care for deeply.
Wow. I think that was one of the longest, most thought out comments on my blog to date. I'm not where you're at yet with some of the labor policies.
It's probably ignorance of the issue on my part, but I'm not sure I'd compare the gravity of some of the labor laws with the issues of warfare and murder that goes on with the diamond trade in sierra leone. Looking at India and the way they started with low-end, low-cost labor and transformed their economy to a point where the pay-scales will likely balance the US in four years, I think it's impressive and gives me great faith in laissaiz faire capitalism.
My brain can only grasp so much injustice at once, and I'm just not there in some of this... I'm still trying to get my hands around how to deal with the environment in a way that honors God but doesn't kow-tow to some of the stupid, popularist environmental crap that people to do make themselves feel good but does nothing in reality.
To Moondawg,
Unless you knit your own clothing, walk to work, drink water from a river, and wipe your butt with a leaf... you may just want to stick to worrying about how you can better this planet, versus point out the flaws or shortcomings of others.
Dave,
Keep up the good work.
Dave, I love the fact that you are not blinded to others and are open to change. I see moondawg's response and feel like they said if you don't see all the bad then your comments or care is wasted.
I appreciate your desire to look at what we can do. I am challenged also, to see what we can do. The issues at times are so big and complex. I know that I can think locally and look out for myself but how does that help the migrant farmer? I know I can avoid diamonds from cartels but does that stop the hundreds to thousands of deaths from these guerilla armies? the question I think I hear you asking and I am asking is "is it enough to look out for me and keep myself clean from this disguising mess or do I need to go further and help my fellow person abused by this?"
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