It makes me sad that so many people suffer for items of such great beauty. Initially it even made me want to stop buying diamonds, but then I decided that would do more harm than good because it would only serve to put these poor people out of work entirely.
I mean, if you think about it the only people who would accept these working conditions are the ones who have absolutely no other options. It’s quite depressing.
Here is a long article that was a real eye opener. Not from the standpoint of the working conditions or detailing conflict diamonds but on how the idea of the diamond being rare and valueable is a result of marketing manipulation that started around 1940. It is an impressive case study on how DeBeers took control of a market and worked for generations to develop a mind set in America to be what it is today.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/198202/diamond