After the movie “Blood Diamonds” the social, media, and moral awareness of “conflict” diamonds has become a topic of casual conversation. Now when I meet new people, I try to avoid the question of “what do you?”. I usually lie when I know I’ll never see that person again. I’ve told people I’m an accountant, a school teacher, a student, unemployed, and even a belly dancer once. I’m afraid that if I tell them I’m in the jewelry industry, they will follow up with a quirky question like: “Do you sell Blood diamonds?” Obviously, I get annoyed. And “No, I don’t sell blood diamonds” and no it’s not funny.
There’s much more to the smuggling of diamonds that wasn’t covered in this mainstream Hollywood movie. In the next few days I want to scratch the surface of this elusive topic. I will talk about beneficiation, the Kimberly process, human carriers, politics, ethics, drugs, “black” money, tax evasion and how all this relates to the smuggling of diamonds.
I hope I will help to clear some of the misconceptions associated with diamond dealers being of morally questionable standards.
